The domain name has acquired considerable commercial value and can become the target of malicious acts such as "cybersquatting", a fraudulent domain name registration technique.
The "cybersquatter" often pursues different goals:
- to resell the domain name to the trademark owner at a very high price;
- to prevent the trademark owner from reserving it as a domain name and damage the image of the trademark;
- to take advantage of the brand's reputation, in particular by redirecting the domain name to its website, and thus generate visits.
Cybersquatting usually targets well-known brands. It can also be carried out by a competitor with the intention of preventing the trademark owner from growing on the Internet. The competitor can redirect the domain name to its own website to take advantage of the brand's image and attract the owner's customers by creating confusion.
Even though cybersquatting is now legally punishable in Belgium, it is better to prevent it by registering your domain name in advance, adopting an effective naming strategy and using the procedures for recovering disputed domain names.
