A domain-name war has broken out at the highest levels of Philadelphia's city government.

Seven City Council members: Blondell Reynolds Brown, Curtis Jones Jr., Mark Squilla, Jannie Blackwell, Maria Quinones-Sanchez, Marian Tasco and Wilson Goode Jr. are feeling the effect of a recent, sort of 'Internet domain-name invasion.' Websites like BlondellReynoldsBrown.com, MarkSquilla.com and CurtisJonesJr.com are redirecting visitors to 5thsq.com. So do websites AnthonyWilliamsforMayor.com, BillGreenleeforCityCouncil.com and even PhiladelphiaCityCouncil.org (Kudos to Philadelphia Magazine for first noticing.)

[...]

The 5th Square operators likely got the sites for cheap too, probably about $50 each, or less, said Duane Morris partner Christi Campbell. She works on these types of cases daily. Often, they have to do with political candidates taking over opponent's domain name sites.

[...]

Neither instance, with Feibush or the 5th Square, can technically be described as "cybersquatting," Campbell said.

"Just because a third party registers your name as a domain name, it does not necessarily mean that domain name registered is actionable under anti cybersquatting or other laws," she explained. "It may be fair use of your name, no matter how concerning or how potentially harmful."

To read the full version of this article, please visit the Philadelphia Business Journal website.