Google has won a handful of domains with minor spelling differences from YouTube’s domain: youtbe.com, youtub.com, youtue.com, youube.com and yutube.com.
As Fusible.com reports, the five domains redirected users to visitorsurvey.com, a site that used YouTube’s legal marks while collecting personal information in exchange for “offers” such as gift cards from Best Buy and/or Visa. All five domains were owned by one individual and were registered in 2005.
In his decision for the National Arbitration Forum, Judge Harold Kalina ruled Thursday that the five domains met the three requirements to transfer the domains to Google under ICANN rules:
(1) The domain name registered by Respondent is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which Complainant has rights; and (2) Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and (3) The domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
Google filed its complaint in late November; the domain owner didn’t respond to the complaint.
As we wrote just a couple weeks ago, Google is one of the most oft-targeted companies when it comes to typosquatted domains.
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