Cybersquatting according to the United States federal law known as the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act

Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act

The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act ', 15 U.S.C. § 1125, is an American law enacted in 1999 and established a cause of action for registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name confusingly similar to, or dilutive of, a trademark or personal name...

, is registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad faith

Bad faith

Bad faith is double mindedness or double heartedness in duplicity, fraud, or deception. It may involve intentional deceit of others, or self deception....

 intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else. The cybersquatter then offers to sell the domain to the person or company who owns a trademark contained within the name at an inflated price.

The term is derived from "squatting

Squatting

Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....

", which is the act of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use.