BlackRock Initiates Legal Action Against Suspicious Domains

BlackRock files lawsuit against 44 alleged deceptive domains

Investment giant BlackRock has taken legal action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, aiming to combat potentially deceptive domains and "typosquatting" websites exploiting its brand.

BlackRock's lawsuit targets the owners of 44 internet domain names, including keywords like "Blackrock," "Aladdin," "capital," "crypto," and "investments." The asset management firm asserts that these domains were registered in bad faith, intending to capitalize on consumer confusion and generate web traffic through techniques like pay-per-click ads, malware, and email phishing schemes.

Wiley Rein LLP, representing BlackRock, referenced studies revealing that over 95% of the 500 most popular websites on the internet are susceptible to 'typosquatting.' This practice involves registering a domain with a typographical error in the legitimate site's name.

BlackRock claims Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act violations

BlackRock claims that these entities have violated the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act by registering domains that closely resemble its own.

While some crypto-related domains like blackrock-crypto.net and crypto-blackrock.com were found, most of the tested domains either failed to open or displayed typical cybersquatting behavior.

BlackRock conducted research using publicly available domain registration data from the Whois database in an attempt to identify the domain owners.

BlackRock seeks control of domains, damages, and legal injunctions

The firm is pursuing the transfer of these suspicious domains under its control, financial damages, and legal injunctions to prevent further cybersquatting and trademark infringement on BLACKROCK, ALADDIN, and BLK by the defendants.

Copycat domain names are often used in coordination with advertising platforms such as Google and Facebook to promote scams or distribute malware.