Chris Anders - Internet Strategy Consultant

A reasonably common problem occurs when someone else has purchased the web address ("domain name") that most closely matches your or your institution's name.  

Approximately one case in every two thousand involves some form of 'cyber-squatting'.  This occurs when the the domain name, which most closely matches your or your institution's name, has been bought by someone, who does not appear to have a legal or an historical tie to the disputed domain name or to your or to your institution's real-world name.

Some cases of apparent cyber-squatting may be harmless, such as, those that involve two institutions with related real-world names, but with unrelated business activities.  Other cases of cyber-squatting are less harmless.  In fact, they may involve the cyber-squatter trading on the brand awareness of a well known institution.  

One example of such trading concerns the Tribeca Arts Foundation in New York, which was founded by Robert De Niro, and which encompasses several cinemas.  A commercially unrelated, New York cinema listings web site uses a domain name that is a variant of Tribeca, causing confusion amongst potential Tribeca customers.  This has been the source of a long running legal dispute.