Jail term for P2P.com domain name thief

A New Jersey man has been sentenced to five years in prison for stealing a valuable domain name.

Daniel Goncalves pleaded guilty in December to stealing the P2P.com domain name and selling it on eBay for $111,000.

The Web address was unwittingly purchased by former Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves forward Mark Madsen, who did not realize the name was stolen.

Goncalves was arrested in 2009 after an investigation by the State Police Cyber Crimes Unit revealed he had hacked into an account belonging to the real owners of P2P.com.

The perpetrator transferred the domain name to his own account before making it available for purchase online.

Goncalves has been ordered to pay restitution, with prosecutors claiming P2P.com was worth up to $200,000.

The case highlights the importance of taking all possible security precautions to guard intellectual property and online real estate.