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Cybersquatting escalates in Asia

Inexpensive domain names are fuelling the growth of cybersquatting in the Asia continent. For example, Chain’s .cn domain is now so inexpensive that sites are available through a re-seller for as little as $3 a year.

Cybersquatting has been a major issue for the US and EU for many years, now it seems with lower prices and with many Top Level Domains (TLDs) available, not to mention the recent release of the .asia domain, Asia is beginning to see a sharp rise in cybersquatting.

Janna Lam, Managing Director of Singapore-based IP Mirror said that 'the cheaper the domain (name), the more active the cybersquatting activities'.

Microsoft have been active in taking squatters to court in recent months, Nancy Anderson, Microsoft's vice president and deputy counsel, said that the software giant has "brought 15 different legal actions targeting more than 1,500 infringing domain names," and that most of these cases were filed over the past year.

'So far, we've had judgements that have involved more than $5 million in judgement amount, and we've also settled cases to the tune of over $1 million,'

Asked whether regulations were working, Anderson said it will take "a concerted effort" to control cybersquatting.

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