Firefox lover owns IE7.com

Microsoft may be on the verge of releasing the latest version of its Internet Explorer web browser but it has been beaten by a competitor to the use of the IE 7 domain name.

Online users that key in www.ie7.com expecting to locate information on the upcoming Microsoft browser IE 7, will instead see a big logo of Firefox, the open source browser developed by Mozilla.

The logo includes a link back to Mozilla's site, and a disclaimer statement at the top of the web page reads: "Neither this site nor Mozilla is connected with Microsoft."

When contacted, a spokesperson for Mozilla said in an email the site was created by a "web user who is not affiliated with Mozilla Corp", adding that the company has no information about this site.

A check with Register.com revealed that the domain was issued to a UK internet services company called Digital Dataflow. The domain was registered in 1999, and is next due for renewal on 8 March, 2007.

Incidentally, the www.ie6.com URL address also does not belong to Microsoft but to a search portal which features links to a number of Microsoft products, such as Internet Explorer, Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2000.

Last month Microsoft filed three lawsuits in a US federal court against cyber squatters it alleges reaped profits in bad faith. The suits revolve around more than 600 domain names.

At the time of publication, Microsoft was not able to respond to requests for comment.

Vivian Yeo writes for ZDNet Asia