FTC v. Zuccarini

Citation: FTC v. Zuccarini, No. 01-CV-4854 (E.D. Pa. filed Oct. 1, 2001).

Factual Background
In October 2001, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged that the defendant, John Zuccarini, was registering Internet domain names that were misspellings of legitimate domain names or that incorporated transposed or inverted words or phrases. The defendant employed more than 5,500 copycat Web addresses to divert surfers from their intended Internet destinations to one of his sites, and hold them captive while he pelted their screens with a barrage of adult-oriented ads.

For example, Zuccarini registered 15 variations of the popular children's cartoon site, www.cartoonnetwork.com, and 41 variations on the name of teen pop star, Britney Spears. Surfers who looked for a site but misspelled its Web address or inverted a term &mdash; using cartoonjoe.com, for example, rather than joecartoon.com &mdash; were taken to the defendant's sites. They then were bombarded with a rapid series of windows displaying ads for goods and services ranging from Internet gambling to pornography. In some cases, the legitimate website the user was attempting to access also was launched, so consumers thought the hailstorm of ads to which they were being exposed was from a legitimate website.

Once users were taken to one of the defendant's sites, it was very difficult for them to exit. In a move called "mousetrapping," special programming code at the sites obstructed surfers' ability to close their browser or go back to the previous page. Clicks on the "close" or "back" buttons caused new windows to open.

Trial Court Proceedings
The Commission's complaint named John Zuccarini, doing business as The Country Walk, JZDesign, RaveClub Berlin, and more than 22 names incorporating the word "Cupcake," including Cupcake Party, Cupcake-Party, Cupcake Parties, Cupcake Patrol, Cupcake Incident, and Cupcake Messenger.

The FTC alleged that the practices were unfair and deceptive, in violation of federal law.

At the request of the FTC, the court permanently barred the defendant from diverting or obstructing consumers on the Internet and from launching websites or Web pages that belong to unrelated third parties. The court also barred the defendant from participating in advertising affiliate programs on the Internet, and ordered him to give up more than $1.8 million in ill-gotten gains.

The court order permanently barred the defendant from: redirecting or obstructing consumers on the Internet in connection with the advertising, promoting, offering for sale, selling, or providing any goods or services on the Internet, the World Wide Web or any Web page or website; and launching the websites of others without their permission. The court also ordered certain bookkeeping and recordkeeping requirements to allow the FTC to monitor the defendant's compliance with the court's order.