The question of where to file a lawsuit against a person or entity engaged in cybersquatting often provided a confounding situation for parties whose trade names or marks had been misappropriated. Often times, so-called cybersquatters were geographically removed from the jurisdiction of the aggrieved person or entity. Sometimes they could not be found at all if they used false or fraudulent information to obtain registration.
In Rem Proceedings
On November 29, 1999, the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (Act) became law. Under this Act, the "owner of a mark" may bring what is known as an in rem action against a domain name if the domain name violates any right of the owner of a registered or protected mark. The words in rem describe a lawsuit brought to enforce rights in a thing against the whole world as opposed to a more traditional type of lawsuit brought to enforce rights against another person, known as an in personam lawsuit.
