Brand Protection: Domain Names

Building a solid reputation in the IT field requires a significant amount of time, effort and financial investment. The reward, however, is vastly more effective and successful business development and marketing activities, allowing your team to garner greater attention based on the quality of services and solutions the company delivers. Over time, with the proper commitment, your brand becomes more than simple name recognition; it can turn into a valuable asset of your company driving additional growth and success.

Before your company can make that association, it must make a commitment to high standards. A solid brand identity isn’t easy to come by today. You have to focus on every facet of the business, from delivering quality products and services at all times to ensuring that each employee reinforces and extends your brand standards. Brand identity is literally forged from the blood, sweat, and tears of everyone in the company.

Other parties also recognize the effort required to build quality name recognition and some attempt to profit from your hard work. If your company has been in business for any length of time, you may already have encountered others encroaching on your trademark or other proprietary holdings. Whether a single, rogue individual or a large company, there are people actively looking for ways to make money at your company’s expense.   

Expanded Options Increase Brand Exposure

One of the fastest growing threats to your brand is cybersquatting. It involves registering, selling or using a domain name with the express goal of profiting from the goodwill of another company’s or individual’s trademark. They typically target well-known brands with and either attempt to extort a high price from the rightful owner or divert traffic from online search engines. 

With ICANN’s recent release of more than 500 generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) and a similar number of others projected, the cybersquatting issue could grow exponentially in the next several years. Just imagine having more than 1000 iterations of your company’s web address to defend in addition to the .com, .net and .info extensions.

In the past, legitimate brand owners could only pursue domain-name pirates using the relatively ill-fitting doctrines of trademark infringement and dilution. In response, ICANN created a set of policies for resolving these internet naming disagreements: the rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (URRP).

All domain name registrations are now subject to these terms. An applicant must acknowledge that, to the best of their knowledge, the requested URL does not infringe on or violate any third party's rights. There are three circumstances where ICANN will either cancel or force the transfer of a domain name registration now:

  1. The owner consents.
  2. A court orders the transfer.
  3. An administrative panel (Panel) appointed by an approved DRSP decides a transfer is warranted.

If the administrative panel determines that a domain name was wrongfully obtained, it can be cancelled or transferred to the petitioner. The complainant must demonstrate that the other party's domain name is "identical or confusingly similar to" their trademark or service mark ─ which need not have been registered.

Know Your Rights and Where to Get Help

A petitioner must establish that a prospective cybersquatter has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name. While a federally-registered trademark can help your company meet that standard, few solution providers take the time and incur the expense of getting that designation. A solid course of action is to demonstrate that the other organization has no legitimate interests in your domain name, which forces the other party to prove that they do. These new rules give genuine brand name stakeholders more control of their domain names ─ but they have to understand their rights and the procedures for it to work.   

Few channel businesses employ professionals with that level of procedural expertise. You need the support of someone who can navigate the proper legal channels when protect your organization’s hard-earned reputation.

That’s where the CompTIA Legal Services Program administered by ITLA comes in. With fixed-fee service packages for Domain Name Protection through UDRP Arbitration and Trademarks, our team of channel-professionals is equipped to cost-effectively resolve your cybersquatter problems.

Unsure if your organization has current or potential domain name concerns? Sign up for an ITLA business risk assessment to gain a better understanding of your business’ branding and legal exposures. Available as an included benefit to CompTIA Premier Members, completed evaluations will provide an overview of your current and potential liabilities. With that information, we can develop mitigation options that ensure your organization’s long-term viability and value.