Knowing your enemy: cybersquatting and new gTLDs

Domain names are vital to brands and trademark holders. Th ey are easy to register and sold on a fi rst come, fi rst served basis—and anyone can buy one. With nearly 300 country (.de, .co.uk, etc) and generic extensions (.com, .net, etc), there are infi nite possibilities. Abusive domain registrations (cybersquatting) will be on the increase due to the 1,930 applications received by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for the creation of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs).