Seattle Trademark Lawyer

A friend of mine left my firm a few years ago to become Microsoft’s spam czar. Today, he’s on the forefront of fighting cybersquatters, and he’s using trademark law to do it.

“These sites confuse visitors who are trying to reach genuine company Web sites, which can negatively affect corporate brands and reputations as well as impair the end-users’ experience online,” Aaron Kornblum said in a press release Microsoft distributed today.

In doing so, Microsoft announced its filing of three new or amended suits to combat cybersquatters’ efforts here in Washington:

*Microsoft v. Garba, Case No. 06-1192 (W.D. Wash.). Microsoft amended a “John Doe” complaint it filed in August 2006 to name Sule Garba, Darin Grabowski and Yi Ning, who Microsoft alleges registered 217 infringing domain names using masked identities.

*Microsoft v. John Does 1-54, Case No. 07-2-08568-8 SEA (King County Sup. Ct.). Microsoft filed suit in King County Superior Court against 54 John Doe defendants in an effort to identify the alleged cybersquatters.

*Microsoft Corp. v. John Does 1-105, Case No. 06-1766 (W.D. Wash.). In December 2006, Microsoft filed suit to identify the defendants who allegedly registered infringing domain names and associated them with online ads.

Microsoft’s press release also touted five new actions against cybersquatters in the United Kingdom and three in California.

“We hope that our stance and activity on this issue will help motivate and empower other companies whose brands are abused to take action,” Mr. Kornblum said.

We miss him around the office, but we can’t blame him for wanting to help Microsoft fight the good fight.