Cyber crime is taking place everyday where Cyber squatting is the most popular one. Of all the cyber related crimes, cyber squatting is increasing alarmingly. That is why to protect the business interest of the original consumer; the U.S. government has enacted the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act in 1999.

Under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, anyone who is responsible for registering a domain name that is confusingly similar to the original one, will be charged or penalized. Most of the time, cyber squatting is done to dilute or confuse the trademark of the original domain where no serious attempt or interest is involved to create a legitimate website.

Trademark is actually the hallmark of an owner’s business. It is the trademark that gives a different identity or entity to an organization. A cyber squatter’s intention is to use this trademark for a vested interest or in bad faith intent to profit from the mark.

If anybody is a victim of cyber squatting, then he can bring a cause of action against domain registrant by consulting a Consumer Protection Lawyer. But there are lots of factor involved to convict a domain registrant under ACPA successfully.

These are stated below:

1. Similarity between registrant’s trademark and original domain name.
2. Sharing the common name
3. Using of the domain name prior to the defendant’s domain name.
4. Non-commercial or fair use of the mark by the original registrant.
5. Registrant’s intention to tarnish the mark or have bad faith intent to profit from the mark.
6. The mark has to be distinctive or famous.

ACPA has also drawn criticism inside USA. Critics of the ACPA are raising their voices about the non-global scope of the Act and its potential to restrict free speech.

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