Ford joins fight to stop cybersquatting

DEARBORN (AP) - Ford Motor Co. has joined the ranks of other corporations - even celebrities - in making use of a new federal law meant to protect trademark names on the Internet from those trying to cash in on on them.

Signed into law in November, the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act allows damages of up to $100,000 from people who try to profit from using trademark information in Website names.

"Cybersquatting" is the illegal use of trademark information in Website names commonly known as domain names, or addresses computer users enter to access a particular Website.

The law should make it easier for companies to shut down speculators on the Web who sell the names of Web sites, said Rich Wiggins, a Michigan State University senior technology consultant and author of a book on the Internet.

''The cybersquatting gold rush is over, but there is still a lot of money to be made in speculating and registering common words,'' Wiggins told The Detroit News for a story Wednesday.