This settlement is but the most recent example of the common problem from trademark owners called “typosquatting.” Typosquatters register, as their own domain names, misspellings of popular domain names and trademarks.

Other domain name-related trademark problems include:

-Domain Name Tasting: this is where the domain name registrant takes advantage of the five-day trial period that a registrant of a new domain name receives. During that five-day trial period, the prospective registrant can test the domain name for its profitability on a pay-per-click basis (i.e., whether it receives sufficient hits to make it a viable source of advertising revenue). If it proves to be profitable, the prospective registrant retains the domain name; if not, the tester relinquishes it and gets a full refund of the registration fee. ICANN does have a proposal to deny the refund, which should take care of this issue. The proposal should also resolve the issue of domain kiting, which is the deletion and immediate re-registration of a domain name for consecutive and perpetual five-day periods.

-Domain Name Parking: This is the use of domain names on pay-per-click parking websites; it drives speculative behavior in the domain name marketplace.

-Icann’s proposed roll-out of new gTLDs: “gTLD” stands for “generic top-level domain;” an example of a gTLD is .com. If ICANN’s new proposal comes to pass, there will be unlimited gTLDs with the payment of a $185,000 application fee (think books.amazon; dvd.amazon). This is definitely something brand owners should be keeping a close eye on; at the moment this roll-out is on hold.