Category: Illegal Domain Activities

Domain Parking with Trademarked Keywords: When Monetization Becomes Infringement

The business of domain names has long been intertwined with creative ways of generating revenue from digital real estate. One of the earliest and most enduring methods is domain parking, a practice where owners of undeveloped domains place them with a parking service that displays advertisements related to the keywords in the domain name. When…

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Buying Stolen Domains: How to Spot and Avoid Title Theft

The domain name industry has grown into a global marketplace where digital assets are traded with the same seriousness as real estate, art, or luxury goods. Domains can command prices in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, depending on their relevance, brevity, and market demand. This value has made domain names not…

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Fabricating Trademark Rights to Win a UDRP: A Legal Disaster

The Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, or UDRP, is one of the most widely used legal mechanisms in the domain name industry. Established by ICANN in 1999, it was designed to provide a streamlined and cost-effective process for resolving disputes over domain names, particularly when a registrant has acted in bad faith by registering…

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GDPR Privacy Law Violations in Lead Gen Domains

The domain name industry has always been closely tied to the business of traffic monetization, and one of the most lucrative models to emerge has been the use of lead generation, or lead-gen, domains. These are domain names specifically created or acquired to attract visitors through keyword targeting, type-in traffic, or search engine optimization, with…

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Domain Leasing to Bad Actors: Vicarious Liability Traps

The domain name industry has evolved far beyond simple buy-and-sell transactions. Among the many monetization strategies that have emerged, domain leasing has become increasingly popular. In this model, an owner retains control of a domain but leases it to a third party for a set fee or revenue share. Leasing provides a recurring income stream…

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Ignoring Court-Ordered Domain Seizures: Contempt and Penalties

The domain name industry operates at the intersection of property rights, intellectual property law, and global commerce. Domains are not just technical addresses but economic assets, often worth millions of dollars, that can be bought, sold, leased, and monetized. Because of their economic significance and their ability to enable or facilitate business activities, they are…

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Impersonating Cryptocurrency Exchanges or Wallets via Domain Names

The domain name industry has always been shaped by the balance between opportunity and abuse. Domains serve as the foundation of trust on the internet, signaling to users that they have reached the right destination for commerce, communication, or financial transactions. In recent years, with the explosive rise of cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers, domain…

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Using IDNs for Homograph Attacks: Criminal and Civil Exposure

The domain name industry has grown in complexity with the introduction of Internationalized Domain Names, or IDNs, which allow non-Latin scripts and accented characters to be incorporated into web addresses. This innovation was intended to make the internet more accessible to users around the world by supporting scripts such as Cyrillic, Greek, Chinese, Arabic, and…

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Reverse Domain Name Hijacking: Lines You Must Never Cross

The domain name industry is built on a delicate balance between property rights, trademark law, and the principles of fair commerce. On one side are domain investors who legitimately acquire and hold names with the expectation of future resale or development. On the other are trademark holders who have a right to prevent the misuse…

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Buying Domains From Sanctioned Sellers: The Strict Liability Trap

The domain name industry is often celebrated as a truly global marketplace, one where buyers and sellers interact across borders, time zones, and currencies in transactions that can range from a few dollars to millions. This global character is one of the industry’s strengths, but it is also one of its greatest vulnerabilities. The rise…

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