A big company doesn't want to find out a 12-year-old kid has already registered its name," Ms. Bailey says. This was pretty much the case for Apple Computer Inc. when it discovered 16-year-old Calgary student Abdul Traya held title for the domain name appleimac.com, which he registered two months after Apple announced the iMac computer launch. Mr. Traya received a letter from Apple's lawyer saying he committed an act of "blatant cyberpiracy.

Porsche, which intends to appeal against the court's ruling, claims the regular use of false names and addresses by people registering domain names has made it virtually impossible for famous trademark holders to find and sue registrants individually.

Patricia Britton, counsel for Porsche Cars North America, says: "An 'in rem' lawsuit is the only feasible way Porsche can put an end to the cyberabuse and cyberpiracy it faces on the Internet."

These cybersquatters scoured the world for names of large companies, famous brands, and even events like the Olympics 2000, and applied for addresses incorporating these. Approval for addresses was initially granted by a group of volunteers and later an American company, Network Solutions, which did not reject such applications, so cyberpiracy became rampant.