A federal judge ruled on Wednesday against a motion to dismiss a cause of action for contributory cybersquatting brought by Microsoft against several defendants accused of establishing domain names constituting infringements of the software giant's trademarks. The Court held that contributory cybersquatting is a valid cause of action, though it noted that the claim requires a showing of bad faith by the defendants. "In order to establish a cause of action for cybersquatting under the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, a plaintiff must prove (1) that the defendant registered, trafficked in, or used a domain name; (2) that the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a protected mark owned by the plaintiff, and (3) that the defendant acted in bad faith," says Keli Johnson, an attorney at Scott & Scott, LLP. "This ruling may have wide-ranging implications for web sites designed to imitate more well-known sites in order to divert Internet traffic." For more information, please contact Ms. Johnson at 800-596-6176 or KJohnson@scottandscottllp.com.