Google is making millions of dollars from internet users visiting typo-squatting websites that earn advertising from Google's Adsense advertising program, Harvard University professor Ben Edelman says in a report published in the McAfee Security Journal says Wired.
Edelman says there as many as 80,000 typosquatting domain names on the
top 2,000 websites in the US alone, the overall majority showing Google
ads. However Wired note that Google has said "in a court filing that it
has 'no reason to know' whether a domain in its advertising program
'could infringe a valid trademark.'"
"Edelman and other lawyers have filed a class action lawsuit
representing domain owners who claim the Google Adsense for Domains
(AFD) program is assisting in violating trademarks. A hearing is
scheduled for as early as next month in which Edelman will ask an
Illinois federal judge to allow the case against Google to proceed." A
Google attorney has said the "allegations are 'misguided, ' and that
Google is doing nothing illegal because it 'merely distributes
third-party advertisements. '"
To read this report in Wired in full, see blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/google-profitin.html.
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