Cyber-Squatting and the Unfair Preference Given to Big Business

As you may or may not be aware, I have registered domain web site called TimothySexton.com. As you also may nor may not be aware, I share my name with several other writers, including one who was nominated for an Oscar-for reasons I cannot fathom other than the fact that the Oscars rarely reward the best movies-for writing the screenplay of the movie Children of Men. I registered TimothySexton.com first and use it to showcase my writing and get freelance writing jobs. But what would happen if the Oscar-winning Timothy Sexton decided he wanted to buy that domain? Let's just say that he offered me $10,000 for the rights to the domain and let's just say that with my knowledge of how much Oscar-winning screenwriters can potentially charge I said I would accept nothing less than $100,000 to give it up. Could he then sue me since he is the better-known Timothy Sexton? You wouldn't think so, but...

Cyber-squatting is the name given to those who purposely buy up domain names of famous people or trademark company names. These people usually don't do anything at all with the domain, although some go so far as to create a web site that serves up less than flattering information about the titular subject or even derogatory parodies in an attempt to entice the company or celebrity to buy the rights to the name if only to stop the bad P.R. This I can understand; if I had the resources I would certainly want to stop someone from using another Timothy Sexton suffix that contained nothing but lies and false misinformation me. As it turns out, I probably wouldn't even need the resources; precedents are in place for someone with a branded name to sue a cybersquatter of this type and not only not have to pay for the privilege of getting rights to the domain name, but watching in satisfaction as the squatter is ordered to pay all court costs and even punitive damages in some cases. Of course, this eventuality only takes place when the squatter's site contains defamatory or libelous content.