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Coinbase exchange targets alleged cybersquatter in lawsuit Coinbase exchange targets alleged cybersquatter in lawsuit

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Coinbase exchange targets alleged cybersquatter in lawsuit – Crypto News

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Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is taking legal action against a German man it says is misusing the domain coinbase.de to redirect users and pressure the company into buying it, Cointelegraph reports.

Filed in a California federal court last Thursday, the lawsuit claims Tobias Honscha of Isernhagen, Germany, registered the domain in bad faith. Coinbase says Honscha used the site to send people to his app for trading physical coins and later tried to benefit financially as a Coinbase affiliate.

“Coinbase recently became aware that Honscha is using and trafficking in the domain coinbase.de in bad faith to capitalise on the goodwill that Coinbase has developed in the Coinbase name over the past decade and more,” the company wrote in the complaint.

Registering domain names that are similar to well-known brands – often called cybersquatting – is sometimes used to trick users or force companies into paying for the domain.

Coinbase says affiliate link broke its rules

Coinbase said Honscha once used coinbase.de to host an affiliate link, earning rewards when people signed up through it. But the exchange said this broke the terms of its affiliate agreement, which bars using domain names that include “Coinbase” or make it seem like the site belongs to the company.

“Honscha violated the terms of the Affiliate Agreement by using the coinbase.de domain, which fully incorporates the COINBASE trademark and gives the impression that Honscha is one in the same with Coinbase,” the lawsuit stated.

Alleged pressure to buy domain

Coinbase also claims Honscha tried to pressure the company into buying the domain at an inflated price. According to the filing, Honscha warned about risks like phishing attacks and the chance that users might send sensitive information – like ID documents and passwords – to the coinbase.de email account by mistake.

“This is a clear attempt to hold Coinbase hostage by threatening to offload it to a buyer who would weaponise it even more,” the company wrote.

More redirects and email risks

After Coinbase asked Honscha to stop using the domain for affiliate marketing, the site started redirecting to a mobile app for physical coin trading, the lawsuit claims.

Coinbase also said Honscha set up an email account with the coinbase.de domain. That could confuse people into thinking they were speaking with Coinbase, the company argued, and might lead to users handing over personal data.

“The mistaken emails have and will continue to occur,” Coinbase wrote. “The public may very well expect that a company’s corporate or product website can be found at a domain name that consists of or includes that company’s name or trademark or variations thereof.”

As of this writing, the domain points to a coin-collecting forum that lists Honscha as the person responsible for the site. An email listed on the site did not respond to a request for comment.

Coinbase is asking the court to stop Honscha from using the domain, award damages and any profits made from its use, and transfer the domain to the company. It’s also seeking repayment of affiliate commissions tied to the coinbase.de link.

(Photo by Coinstash Australia)

See also: Goldman Sachs and BNY Mellon let institutions buy tokenised money market funds

Tags: blockchain, coinbase, crypto, cryptocurrency, cybersecurity

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