NCJ Number
185332
Journal
Trial Volume: 36 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2000 Pages: 48-54
Date Published
October 2000
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article introduces the main areas of Internet litigation, with an emphasis on practical advice and tips for trial lawyers and their clients; it examines some new torts made possible by the Internet as well as some familiar torts being committed online with new efficiency.
Abstract
"Cybersquatting" involves acquiring popular companies' trade names or trademarks from Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI), the company that originally oversaw domain name registrations, and then trying to sell companies their own name as a Web address for exorbitant amounts. Another issue for litigation is misusing trademarks in metatags, which are words embedded in a Web page's coding, unseen by the viewer, that search engines use to find and rank the relevancy of the page in response to a keyword search. A third litigation issue is the infringement of copyright or enabling others to infringe copyrights. Perhaps the largest Internet litigation wave to occur in the next few years will be fueled by business-method patents. Recently, these patents, which protect a procedure or method of doing business, have skyrocketed, particularly as they relate to the Internet. Another litigation issue is "framing" or "windowing," in which hyperlinks (a highlighted word or series of words that, when clicked on, transfers the viewer to another Web page) are added to a site without consent from the owner of the transferee site. This article also describes how the Internet is used to commit traditional crimes in new and efficient ways. Some guidelines for litigators in pursuing law violators who misuse the Internet focus on reaching the out-of-State defendant, determining the ISP's (Internet Service Provider's) identity, and uncovering the anonymous tortfeasor. 32 notes