If you’re a frequent Twitter user, at some point you may have accidentally misspelled the URL and ended up landing on a web page promising you a free iPad 2 for simply filling out a short, anonymous 30 second questionnaire.
On Saturday, I was the first to report that Twitter Inc had filed a complaint with the owner of the domain name twiter.com, who uses the same tactic mentioned above of confusing visitors into thinking they’re on an official, legit site. The story grabbed headlines from The Inquisitr to The Next Web and The Domains to the Financial Post.
Though it could take months for a decision to be handed down by a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) panel, the outcome (if in favor of Twitter) could pave the way for other Twitter (typo) domain names. That is, if Twitter files cases against other Twitter (typo) domains that use the same method of diverting users to an unrelated site that is confusingly similar to Twitter’s own.
If Twiter.com loses, several others could follow.
Here’s a list of other Twitter (typo) domain names using the very same technique as Twiter.com.
twitte.com – redirects users to tweetersurveys.com. The website reported over 20,000 unique visitors in May 2010, according to a rough estimate by Compete.
twtter.com – redirects users to quizedonline.com and other random Twitter-looking survey sites. Twtter.com reported over 25,000 visits in August 2010.
tiwitter.com, twiteer.com, twutter.com, and teitter.com – all redirect users to socialquizcenter.com, a survey site that no longer resolves.
I didn’t list twttr.com. That’s because twttr.com as you may already know, is owned by Twitter and is the original name for the micro-blogging service.