Also called domain name squatting
Domain squatting, explained
Squatters register brand names in new extensions, misspellings of brands, known as typosquatting, brand names plus words such as 'login' or 'support', and lapsed domains a company forgot to renew. They profit by selling the name to the brand, by parking it with ads that trade on the brand's traffic, or by using it for phishing. Product launches and rebrands are common targets, because a name becomes valuable the moment it is public.
Brand owners have fast remedies. Under the UDRP, a panel transfers the name when the complainant shows three elements: the name is identical or confusingly similar to its mark, the registrant has no rights or legitimate interests in it, and it was registered and is being used in bad faith. New gTLDs also offer Uniform Rapid Suspension, and in the US the ACPA adds damages. WIPO handled a record 6,282 domain name disputes in 2025.
The label is often misused. Buying a generic word, a common phrase or a coined brandable and offering it for sale is domain investing, not squatting, and a company that adopts the word as a brand later generally cannot show bad faith at the time you registered it. What separates the two is the target: if a name's value comes from someone else's mark, it is squatting, whatever the extension or the disclaimer on the page.
Check every purchase before you pay. Search the USPTO's trademark records and WIPO's Global Brand Database, look at what the name was used for in the past, and keep parking ads away from trademarked topics, because ads on a parked page can count against you. Never offer a name to a brand whose mark it matches. If a complaint arrives, consult a qualified attorney.
AI brands have raised the stakes. New AI product names gain value the day they launch, which draws squatters, and .ai is now among the top three country-code extensions by WIPO case volume. AI tools also make it cheap to generate thousands of brand variants, which helps both squatters and the brand-protection services that watch new registrations.
Example. Registering a well-known AI assistant's name plus 'login' and parking it with ads is domain squatting; registering a common dictionary word and listing it for sale is not.
Go deeper Is Domain Flipping Legal? Investing vs. Cybersquatting
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Education, not financial, legal or tax advice. Domain investing is speculative and most domain names never sell. Read the disclaimer.
