Domain Owners File Class Action Lawsuit Against Google

Ceres · #1 (**permalink**) 10-14-2008, 03:49 AM

A group of domainers have filed a class action case against Google. The domainers are claiming that Google is profiting from typo-squatting websites. Apparently, many typo-squatters are now implementing Google's Adsense For Domains (AFD) on their websites.

What is typo-squatting?

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Typo-squatting sites are found at domains that have one letter different from legitimate, trademarked domains ? bankofdamerica.com, for instance, as depicted in the screenshot above, which has a "d" in the URL

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Google says in response to the lawsuit that it "has no way to know ? and no reason to know ? whether a given domain in the AFD program could infringe a valid trademark," Google's Moran writes. "And even if Google did somehow have the ability to pluck out those domains which could infringe a valid trademark, Google has no way to know who has registered the domain, be it an infringer, a licensee of the trademark owner or the trademark owner itself."

Google Profiting From Typo Squatting, Report Charges | Threat Level from Wired.com

A hearing of the case will be heard next month. It will be interesting to see what the outcome of this case will be.

Ceres · #2 (**permalink**) 12-23-2008, 06:53 PM

Update: The US court has denied the plaintiffs' motion for class certification:

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Last week, the court ruled on class certification, and perhaps not surprisingly, the court denied certification—giving Google and the other defendants an early Christmas gift. Happy holidays! This ruling doesn't completely squelch the lawsuit, but without class certification, the case becomes a whole lot less interesting to the plaintiff's lawyers. For that reason, it also wouldn't surprise me to see them appeal the class certification denial.

Source: Vulcan Golf v. Google Class Certification Denied