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Cyber-squatting incidents jump 313% following web address expansion

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By John Glenday, Reporter

March 16, 2015 | 1 min read

Incidences of so-called cyber-squatting, where scammers seek to abuse a domain name to profit from someone else’s trademark, have rocketed by 313 per cent since the introduction of an expanded list of web addresses eight months ago.

Figures compiled by internet regulator ICANN coincide with the introduction of over a thousand new web address suffixes; including ‘.vodka’, ‘.london’ and ‘.toys’ to augment the more familiar ‘.com’ and ‘.co.uk’s’ of this world.

Amongst the bulging case files at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) The Telegraph reported on the case of an LA based artist rapper who registered the domain ‘redbull.vodka’ andserial offender Giovanni Laporta, who registered the domain lauraashley.email alongside hundreds of others.

Both have been ordered to transfer their domains to the rightful trademark owners.

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