Dell, along with its Alienware subsidiary, has filed a civil suit filed in Florida alleging that several Registrars and individuals have profited from domain tasting and typo-squatting domain names that contain their trademarks.
The suit alleges that the companies engaged in domain tasting, registering more than 1,100 typo-squatted domain names and filled the pages with ads in order to profit from them. Domain tasting refers to the practice of registering a domain, then monitoring the traffic and ad revenue it receives during the initial grace period. If the results are not positive, the domain owner drops the name and gets a refund.
The defendants named in the case are Belgiumdomains, Capitoldomains, Domaindoorman, Netrian Ventures, iHoldings.com, Juan Pablo Vazquez and 10 unnamed defendants, all of which deny the claims against them. Dell states in the filings that the businesses named are mostly registered outside the U.S. and are shell companies engaged in collusion. The company seeks the profits from the names, plus $100,000 per infringed domain.
The Dell case continues in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.