Internet can't be totally controlled by laws, that is why the industry should accept new developments and go with the flow instead of against it.
In 1999 the Taubman Company decided to build a huge shopping mall in Plano, Texas. Hank Mishkoff was such a big fan of this new initiative that he created a fan site called ShopsAtWillowBend.com on May 29, 1999. To make sure nobody confused his website with the official website, The Shops At Willow Bend, he created the following disclaimer:
This is an unofficial site. The official site is located at www.TheShopsAtWillowBend.com.Mishkoff had no commercial intent with the website, he created it as a community service. Just like he created AddisonWeb.com and WebFeats. However, on May 17, 2001 he got a letter from a law firm demanding that he should take his site offline. Mishkoff was very surprised about this, because his website was promoting the mall and directing traffic to the official website. The law firm had no intention of listening to Mishkoff's story and decided to sue. After a lot of effort from the law firm and Mishkoff the case was dismissed on February 19, 2003. You can read a short version of the entire story here.
In response to the negative reaction of Taubman Company Mishkoff launched a site called Taubman Sucks!. He has registered the following domain names that all link back to this main site:
WillowBendSucks.com
WillowBendMallSucks.com
ShopsAtWillowBendSucks.com
TheShopsAtWillowBendSucks.com
GiffordKrassGrohSprinkleSucks.com
On Taubman Sucks! Mishkoff describes the entire case that lasted for almost 2 years in detail. Next to this he has written a book about it and has produced a movie called Taubman Sucks: The Movie!. You can view the movie online, but it is even featured in theatres and on tv. Mishkoff is the perfect example of how cybersquatting can go wrong.
Cybersquatting is creating a domain name very similar to someone else’s domain name in bad faith and with the intention to use it for commercial gain (see Wikipedia for more on this topic). In the time that Mishkoff created his fan site, the official site had the domain name: theshopsatwillowbend.com. You can clearly see that the two domain names are almost the same. Just like the domain names etoy.com and etoys.com (Stalder & Felix, 2003 and Wark, 2003). The two companies etoy and eToys had a huge lawsuit and eventually etoy got to keep its website, just like Mishkoff could keep his.
Cybersquatting doesn’t have to be negative. Just like eToys, the Taubman Company was worried that the website of Mishkoff could damage its reputation and image. eToys didn’t want to be associated with the artist group etoy. Taubman Company should have considered the positive and free publicity it would get from the fan site. Instead they have made an enemy out of Mishkoff who actively tries to create a negative image for the Taubman Company.
Internet is a free and public space and it can’t be totally controlled by laws. A lot of bands and artists were against downloading illegal music, now they try to promote downloading music from their own websites. It shows that a lot of developments on the internet can be turned into positive developments for the commercial life. Cybersquatting, like Mishkoff was doing with his fan site, can have a positive outcome for companies.
Literature
Taubman Sucks!
Stalder, Felix. (2003).‘Fences in Cyberspace: Recent events in the battle over domain names’. Retrieved 03-05-2007 from http://felix.openflows.org/html/fences.html
Wark, M. (2003). Toywars. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture, 6. Retrieved 03-05-2007 from http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0306/02-toywars.php