Manifest Destiny? The Fourth Circuit’s Inevitable Expansion of “Registers” Under the ACPA

In 2023, in Prudential Insurance Co. of America v. Shenzhen Stone Network Information Ltd., the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit interpreted “registers” broadly under the Anti-Cybersquatting Protection Act to include re-registrations—that is, when a party registers a domain name again after an initial registration. Siding with the Third and Eleventh Circuits, the Fourth Circuit emphasized the growing circuit split over whether subsequent registrations fall within the scope of liability under the Act. This Comment argues that courts should join the Third, Fourth, and Eleventh Circuits in construing “registers” broadly because the plain meaning of the terms encompasses re-registrations. Moreover, this Comment critiques the Ninth Circuit’s reliance on property law in excluding re-registrations from liability under the Act, advocating instead for analysis grounded in contract law.