ACPA (Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act)

The ACPA (Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act), enacted in 1999 as part of the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)), gives US trademark owners the right to sue cybersquatters in federal court rather than relying solely on the faster but contractually limited UDRP. A plaintiff must show that the defendant registered, trafficked in, or used a domain that is identical or confusingly similar to a distinctive mark, with a bad-faith intent to profit. Courts assess bad faith using a nine-factor statutory test covering, among other things, the registrant's prior use of the name, any offer to sell at a price above out-of-pocket costs, and the degree of similarity to the mark. Unique to the ACPA: in rem jurisdiction allows a trademark owner to sue the domain itself when the registrant is outside US personal jurisdiction, and statutory damages range from $1,000 to $100,000 per domain at the court's discretion. These remedies apply regardless of how the domain is held — whether at a traditional registrar or tokenized on-chain. Source: Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute.