Thursday, August 24, 2017

"Is It Legal to Buy Domain Names to Harass Your Enemies?"

MB:
Tuesday, Business Insider reported that Martin Shkreli has spent the last several months buying up domain names associated with at least eight journalists who have criticized him.

...

According to a legal expert I spoke to, Shkreli could be wrong. Several federal cyberlaws protect individuals like the journalists Shkreli targeted from domain disputes like this one. "There are certainly a fair number of options that these individuals would have," David J. Steele, a lawyer specializing in trademark and internet law and a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told me on a phone call.

What's working against Shkreli, according to Steele, is that he has purchased numerous domains. "You can show a pattern of abusive registrations," he said.

Steele outlined for me three main ways domain disputes like the one Shkreli started can be legally resolved