Joey Dauben really likes domain names.
A company that has registered almost 635,000 Internet domain names, Dauben Inc., adores typing mistakes. Microsoft, for example, complained about Dauben's use of 86 domain Microsofty names, including "mocrosoftoffice.com", "micriosoftsupport.com", and "otlookexpress.com".
Today the Fifth Circuit considered a preliminary injunction that barred Dauben from exploiting domain names "confusingly similar" to "southerncompany.com". The Southern Company, a big electricity generator from Georgia, alleged that Dauben's "sotherncompany.com" and "southerncopany.com" violated the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.
Dauben's strategy, Southern claimed, allowed the "typosquatter" Dauben to convert Internet users' keyboard yips into cash by sending them to Internet pages featuring nothing but ads. If an errant user clicks the link on one of the adverts, Dauben gets money (from the ad's sponsor).
The district court granted Southern's motion for preliminary injunction. The Fifth Circuit reversed (in a non-precedential opinion). The lower court, it held, failed to analyze Dauben's argument that its conduct fell within a "fair use" exception and neglected to explain just how diverting people from Southern's Internet site to the Dauben ad pages would cause irreparable harm. The Southern Co. v. Dauben Inc., No. 08-10248 (5th Cir. Apr. 15, 2009) (per curiam).
Great. Just great. Now Blawgletter will have to look at paying Go Daddy $9.99 a year for the privilege of registering "blawglettr.com". That scuks.
