Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday launched a new offensive against the so-called "cybersquatters," who allegedly earn pay-per-click profits from advertising on thousands of websites including Microsoft's.

The software giant said cybersquatters and the "typosquatters," namely people who register web addresses either with trademarked terms or with common misspellings in the hope of luring web surfers, are now registering more than 2,000 domains each day targeting Microsoft.

Microsoft filed three lawsuits in U.S. federal courts this week claiming that some website operators have registered and operated hundreds of domain names with the sole purpose of reaping "bad faith" profits and in violation of laws.

Two of the complaints, filed in Utah and California, named known individuals accused of running more than 400 such sites. A third " John Doe" complaint is aimed at unmasking alleged cybersquatters, affiliated with 217 different domain names, who have paid privacy protection services to have their registration information shielded.

News source: People's Daily Online