The auction/resale value of domain names based on typographical errors of Bigco web sites isn't based on normal metrics. You may have a name with a lot of traffic, but you always live in the shadow of the law. If you typosquat a trademark, your name could be taken away at any time by a court or a UDRP provider, and there is very little you can do about it. In addition to losing the name, you could lose money, perhaps a lot of money, in a lawsuit brought under the ACPA (Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act)...together with the expense and hassle of hiring your own attorney to defend you in what almost certainly will be a losing effort. Typosquatting a Bigco Trademark simply isn't worth it. Which is why a lot of typosquatting has moved to bloggers and podcasters and other individual content creators.

Typosquatting has found a safe and profitable target: the popular little guy.

It all makes sense, when you think about what bloggers have done to the webspace in just a few short years. Sites like Scripting News, TechCrunch, Daily Kos, Post Secret, Mighty Goods, GigaOm, and a slew of others (what's in your RSS reader?) generate literally millions of page views each day. While some of these site operators may have a registered trademark, most simply have whatever common law trademark rights accrue to their commercial efforts through the use of their name.

So, yes, popular bloggers probably have the right to pursue typosquatters in court and through UDRPs, but most don't have the time or the will.

These mega-bloggers may be popular, and making money, but in the grand scheme of things, they are still "the little guys." They are sole proprietors or, at best, small business owners (fewer than 10 employees) working very hard to grow their businesses and their brands. Unlike the Bigco Trademark owners, bloggers don't have a paid team of lawyers on alert for typosquats, phishing, fraud and other common abuses of domain name registrations.

This makes them targets.

Start with Michael Arrington's TechCrunch. Michael is the former CEO of Pool.com and knows as much about the domain name industry as anyone. His TechCrunch site is also an interesting test case because since it's launch three years ago, it's become one of the top five most popular blogs on the Internet. From zero to millions of page views in three years, this has been an amazing climb. On the way up though, Michael has brought others with him. Here are just some of the TechCrunch typos that have been registered in .COM to capitalize on Michael Arrington's business: techrunch, techcrucnh, techcrunchy, techcrnch, techcunch, tchcrunch, techcurnch, techcruch, echcrunch, tecchrunch, teccrunch, tehccrunch, tehcrunch, techrcunch, techcrubch, techcrunvh, yechcrunch, techcrunhc, rechcrunch, techcrumch, gechcrunch, techcrunh, techcriunch, techcruinch, techcrunc, tschcrunch, techcvrunch, techcruncgh, techcrunchj, tevhcrunch, texhcrunch, teechcrunch, techccrunch, tecgcrunch, tech-crunch, techcrunchcom, tecncrunch, techcrinch, techncrunch, techdrunch, techvrunch, techcrtunch, techcruncg, techctunch, techcrnuch, techcrdunch, ftechcrunch.

That's stunning. Those are all "grey box" names, registered to people other than Michael Arrington.

The other bloggers have fared a little better, but they're all still targets. Take a look at the name clouds for Scripting News (15 typographical variants), GigaOm (13 typographical varients ), and DailyKos (a whopping 60 typographical varients), for a few other examples. 

My take is that typosquatters have found an easy target, one they know is unlikely to hit back at them. I'm not aware of any big ACPA case, or even any UDRP proceedings, brought by bloggers against those who would profit from their typographical type-in traffic. Until we see such a thing, we may be just at the start of a new wave of typosquatting. 

I'll have a few thoughts about whether all of this typosquatting is necessarily a bad thing in the final piece tomorrow.

Stay tuned. 

 

 

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