LLC, companies in the UK and three individuals for trademark infringement. The lawsuit against Maltuzi, filed in San Francisco federal court, alleges the company registered more than 400 domain names containing Microsoft's trademarked terms for software or video games, or slight misspellings of the terms. Maltuzi uses the Web sites to lure consumers looking for actual Microsoft sites and profits when they click on the pay-per-click advertisements, according to the complaint.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, also sued three individuals in federal court in Seattle and companies in the UK on similar claims as part of a crackdown on entities profiting from registering Internet domain names using Microsoft product names. The so-called cybersquatters use bogus Web sites to attract customers away from Microsoft's own sites, causing Microsoft to lose potential business, says Aaron Kornblum, Microsoft's lawyer.
"Of growing importance is that we are doing more business online with our customers," Kornblum said in a telephone interview. "Having our customers reach those sites is of growing importance."
A message left at Mountain View, California-based Maltuzi wasn't returned. Maltuzi owns more than 100,000 Internet domain names, according to the company's Web site.
"Our technology includes automated processes that scours the Internet and mines millions of pieces of data to determine domain names that have the potential for generating traffic," the Web site says. "We deliberately exclude registered trademarks and known common law trademarks from our buying program."
