Microsoft Sues Dentist For CybersquattingMicrosoft Sues Dentist For Cybersquatting

Microsoft has filed a trademark infringement suit against a California dentist who has registered more than 40 Internet domains with names similar to the software maker's products or brands.

The domains registered by Dr. Saed Said are "identical or confusingly similar" to Microsoft's trademarks, the company claims in court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California. The domain names registered by Said include aMicrosoftShop.com, aMicrosoftStore.com, XboxOutlet.info, and XboxMarket.mobi.

Microsoft claims Said operates the domains in a deliberate attempt to confuse Web surfers looking for the company's products. "The person has been diverted from the Microsoft Web site he or she was seeking to visit, and Microsoft has lost the opportunity to interact with that person," the company claims in the lawsuit, which was filed in August.

Said profits from the misdirection because his Web sites contain advertising for non-Microsoft products, Microsoft claims. The company has asked the court to order Said to pay it up to $100,000 per infringing domain plus additional damages. It also wants control of the domain names.

Said, who operates a clinic called North Tustin Dental Associates in North Tustin, Calif., didn't return a telephone call seeking comment. Microsoft's lawsuit against Said is part of a larger campaign by the company to combat cybersquatting. The practice "increases the risk that consumers will be led to fraudulent Web sites," said a Microsoft spokeswoman.

The company has filed several lawsuits against cybersquatters in recent years.

Microsoft estimates that 24% of all .com and .net domain names are "parked" by cybersquatters. Many of the sites exist simply to redirect traffic to third parties who hawk goods -- often software -- over the Internet.

Congressed passed the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act in 1999. The law makes individuals who register infringing domain names liable to civil suits from the trademark holder.