SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Facebook Inc. said Thursday it has brought a lawsuit against domain name registrar OnlineNIC Inc. in California for cybersquatting and trademark infringement.

Facebook said it filed the suit against OnlineNIC and its privacy/proxy service ID Shield for registering domain names or web addresses that appeared affiliated with the U.S. leading social media network.

Facebook listed in the court filing many domains that pretended to be part of the company, including www-facebook-login.com, login-lnstargram.com, hackingfacebook.net and facebook-mails.com.

"By mentioning our apps and services in the domain names, OnlineNIC and ID Shield intended to make them appear legitimate and confuse people," said Jessica Romero, director of platform enforcement and litigation at Facebook.

Romero said there are tens of millions of domain names on the web that have been registered using these privacy/proxy services to hide identity.

Romero slammed OnlineNIC and ID Shield for failing to investigate or respond to reports of domain abuse, which enables "bad actors and delays our efforts to fight fraud and abuse."

OnlineNIC based in San Leandro in East Bay has previously been sued by several tech companies, including Verizon, Yahoo and Microsoft, for registering similar domain names.

Facebook is asking for damages and a permanent injunction against OnlineNIC's brand infringement activity. Enditem

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