Domain Name Tracking: Internet Infringement

On the Internet, more than half the battle is finding the individual behind the infringement. Internet infringement ranges from creating confusingly similar or misspelled domain names to actual use of a registered trademark on a website or banner ad, to bogus offers purportedly sponsored or originating from the trademark owners. Infringers can be clever, hiding behind phony identities, post office boxes and fake or inactive companies with no hint of a real entity to send a cease-and-desist letter or upon which to serve a complaint. Practically speaking, an in rem action to obtain an infringer’s domain name is of little value because of the ease with which an infringer can just crop up under another domain name. But each movement on the Internet leaves an information footprint, and with persistent, careful thought and close attention it can be tracked – something our intellectual property lawyers are adept at doing. For example, we recently shut down two fake coupon offers. One of the infringers had myriad Web addresses registered to aliases and inactive companies. We followed the trail from Nevada to Florida and finally located the individual behind the scheme in Miami. One personal cease-and-desist letter put an immediate end to the infringement.