Pinterest has won an injunction against a known cybersquatter who will be forced to give up the rights to over 100 domains that utilize pinterest.com typos to direct users away from Pinterest.com, and to his own locations filled with ads and spammy links.
Qian Jan reportedly registered over 100 domains – mostly Pinterest typos – like “pinterests.com” and “ponterest.com.” Pinterest filed the complaint last year.
Pinterest demanded an injunction that would transfer all ownership of the offending domains, as well as monetary damages. The San Francisco judge ruled in Pinterest’s favor, granting the injunction and damages – although not the entire amount that Pinterest requested.
According to court documents the defendant in the case, Qin Jian is a “serial cybersquatter” who has “registered and owns hundreds of domain names that are very similar to the mark of several large companies.
Of course, Pinterest’s claims was that Jian’s various instances of “typosquatting” hurt their bottom line, directing millions of potential visitors away from their site.
According to All Things D, Pinterest was awarded $7.2 million in damages out of a possible $12 million.
“This is a good outcome for the people who use Pinterest. We’ll continue to work to protect pinners and our trademarks,” said a Pinterest spokesperson.
2013 09 30 [20] Order Granting Default Judgment Against Defendant in Re …
Of course, Pinterest isn’t the first company to file and succeed in such disputes (companies have a pretty good track record with this). Both Facebook and Google have won such cybersquatting cases over the past few years.