The first time I read about something like this was years ago when Arnold Schwarzenegger immediately bought all domain names with his name and the typo spellings to boot. Now it seems to be an industry to have a domain name that is similar to one that is popular. It seems Google has dispelled that lucrative business for some and good job too.
Google Wins 'Typosquatting' Dispute
Reuters - An Internet arbitrator has awarded Google Inc. the rights to several Web site addresses that relied on typographical errors to exploit the online search engine's popularity so computer viruses and other malicious software could be unleashed on unsuspecting visitors.
Ref. https://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...e_typosquatting
I think name squatting in general is rude and underhanded. Using the good name of another company shows that either your product cant advertise on its own, or you are just of malicious intent, or maybe just lazy. I am glad that the arbitrators ruled in favor of Google, maybe it will start a trend away from name squatting. I especially dislike those that use the name of good companies for no other reason than to spread malicious code around to everyone who types the name wrong or fat fingers the URL.
This is a very common problem for me as I tend to type a little fast and completely butcher some of the more simple words and or can't figure out exactly how a domain is spelled. *I leave off the s at the end of a name all the time and end up somewhere I never knew existed. This is so frustrating and tiresome.
This was a good ruling, because, as Bwren pointed out, people will always make typos when typing in URL's. I could see someone visiting googel.com for example, and getting some inappropriate content just because someone didn't spell google correctly. The question is can Google effectively cover all the typographical URL's that are out there?