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7 Vand. J. Ent. L. & Prac. 147 (2004-2005)
Typosquatters, the Tactical Fight Being Waged by Corporations, and Congress' Attempt to Fight Back in the Criminal Arena: U.S. v. Zuccarini

handle is hein.journals/vanep7 and id is 145 raw text is: Typosqafters, The T7aiccaR Fight Bing Waged by Corporations, and Congress' Attempt to .S. vo Zuccrini By David A. Gusewelle* While the Internet is one of the greatest technological advances in history, it has arguably been accompanied by an equally great setback: online pornography. Pornography has become nearly impossible for Internet surfers to avoid. According to a September 23, 2003, press release, the number of pornographic websites has increased 1800% since 1998 and has jumped from 28 million in 1998 to a staggering 260 million pages.' In fact, more than 28 n i million new pornographic pages children NA were created in July 2003 alone.2 pervised a While the advent et of the Internet has eration of brought with it has becom countless advances, the incredible number of pornographic and obscene websites is considered by many to be the Internet's black-eye. Today, offensive material is no longer confined to the counters of disreputable stores. While most types of obscene material are protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution, such protection is not without limits. For example, the transfer of obscene materials to minors under the age of sixteen years is outlawed under the U.S. Code.' Although children cannot be sold pornography in stores, they can still readily find it on the Internet. It has been estimated that over 90 percent of children between the ages of eight and sixteen have been exposed to obscene material on the Internet.4 Further, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that about 70 percent of teens have come across pornography by accident via the Internet.' While the statistics are staggering, the results of the studies will not surprise Internet users. Many pornographic websites lure unsuspecting guests to their sites through domain names which contain no references to obscenity.6 In some instances, Internet users alarmingly stumble into pornography by misspelling the name ag the increasing number of cho surf the Internet unsu- t a young age and the prolif- these websites, prevention e a major issue. 9 of an actual website they desire to visit. This problem is particularly bad when the websites are those which children frequently visit. When an Internet user makes one of these mistakes, and different website appears, they have likely come across a typosquatted website.7 Typosquatting is a form ofcybersquatting. A cybersquatter is a party who possesses no legitimate interest in a trademark and attempts to profit by registering the trademark as a domain name before the rightful trademark owner can do so. 8 Cybersquatters usually attempt to resell or license the domain name back to the company that spent millions of dollars expanding the trademark's goodwill.' A website is typosquatted whenever an advertiser or competitor deliberately registers websites with common misspellings in their names

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