Following ICANN's decision to release thousands of new domain name extensions (gTLDs) in 2013, there have been some concerns. To help you determine whether your brand needs protecting we’ve outlined ten main considerations you should be aware of:
In the 1800s one man had the good fortune of striking gold in California, 300,000 opportunists then made the trip to America's east coast following the news. The Great gTLD Rush is the 21st century's equivalent, which can potentially be just as explosive.
Every continent is currently connected on the internet, news now travels faster and online businesses are increasingly common - this means competition for domain names will continue escalating, and priority access to ICANN's new gTLDs is a huge advantage. After all, some are industry or location based (.shop .security .london etc.) and could enhance your SEO rankings or be used by opportunists to harm your brand.
However, if you have registered for brand protection you will receive privileged priority access to new gTLD extensions before others - If your brand is left unprotected, you risk competing with opportunists with far less to loss in an expensive acqusiiton process.
You are probably wondering how a camera company relates to brand protection.
Kodak spent over a year battling with a cyber-squatter - a somewhat entrepreneurial Russian gentleman - over Kodak.ru who was using Kodak.ru to distribute his own electronics, resulting in a year's worth of time and money wasted in addition to 20+ lawsuits and legal proceedings.
Despite arriving at a satisfactory resolution for Kodak, the incident demonstrated the risks of an unprotected brand and is not a risk all companies can recover from.
Furthermore this took place BEFORE the gTLD rush when extensions were limited, considering the additional number of gTLDs the risks are even greater now - SSL247®'s Brand Protection Service prevents this scenario by notifying you if an attempt to register your trademark is made.
If you are reading this, it means your chosen domain has already been registered by a cyber squatter - someone who has recognised the domain's value, and acted swiftly.
The domain is of course still available - for an inflated price, which is an issue considering the expensive eviction cost.
The recommended course of action is to pre-empt the costly eviction entirely using SSL247®'s Brand Protection Service with priority access to strategic gTLDs.
Your trademark's reputation can easily suffer if your brand image is left inadequately protected e.g. falling into the hands of competitors or worse, and controlling what happens next would subsequently be impossible. Many businesses have already purchased .xxx as a precaution, but ICANN has since released alternative gTLDs with the same effect e.g. .porn or .adult.
To protect your trademark from the darker side of the internet you need the brand protection service before your visitors get more than they bargained for…
“The new gTLDs are goimg to be great,“ did you notice the spelling mistake?
We all have the tendency to skim-read and it hasn't gone unnoticed - phishers may register the www.SSL247.cam domain, have it appear identical to www.SSL247.com and acquire the details of unwary customers e.g. emails, card details, passwords etc.
The consequences of your client's details being exposed are disastrous reputationally and financially - potentially losing out on customers and revenue as a result.
Register SSL247®’s brand protection service and restrict access to domains containing your trademark now.
There’s no denying that new gTLDs have left many brands vulnerable to unauthorised and underhanded tactics. Industry rivals can now purchase domains and "clone" your trademarked site for fraudulent purposes at your expense - at best the consumer will realise and leave disgruntled, at worse they fail to realise and happily pays what should have been yours - either way the unwanted diversion is bound to leave a bad impression.
SSL247®'s Brand Protection service will block any unauthorised parties from registering your trademarked name or divert your hard-earned traffic.
If your brand is unprotected, you won’t receive notifications alerts that inform you someone is attempting to register a domain containing your registered trademark. Only the Brand Protection service provided by SSL247® will notify you and prevent your brand from being abused - Enabling correct defensive measures to be implemented in good time: Uniform Rapid Suspension.
It pays to stay ahead of fraudulent individuals who registers your brand in bad faith. Proactively protecting your brand is always cheaper than recovering from an unauthorised registration.
Register with SSL247® now to ensure your brand's security.
Not everyone may exhibit these symptoms, but you’ll certainly experience stress and anxiety if your brand’s security is left to chance. Any of the seven listed points could take place if precautions were ignored.
Will someone attempt to steal my identity, my traffic or exploit my reputation? How will I even know?
Avoid all the stress and anxiety by safeguarding your brand (and your hair), receiving notification alerts only when an attempt on your brand is made.
Register with SSL247® and secure your brand now.
Without the brand protection service you could still access the new gTLDs, but you will be faced with manually checking for releases Clicking. Every. Day. For. Updates. and when the gTLD extension you want is finally released you may face steep competition from registered competitors who have priority access.
It only takes five minutes (or less) for someone to cut in and register the gTLD you're targeting, however if you've registered for the brand protection service you’re automatically notified for each gTLD that's released with exclusive priority access.
Ensure you are not left behind and get VIP access to the gTLDs you actually want.
In the worst case scenario, you could be faced with any of the above simultaneously while unknown parties simply waits patiently atop misleading domains for a premium eviction offer to be made.
Your business could face a battle on several fronts if you don’t plan accordingly beforehand.
The only way to ensure your brand's security is through our brand protection service. Without it, uncontrolled risks will become threats and be impossible to contain by then.
Don’t wait, find out how SSL247®'s brand protection service can benefit you now.
Get in touch
If you have any quesitons or want more information regarding brand protection, don't hesitate to contact one of our accredited experts:
+44 (0) 204 519 2097 (London office)
domains@SSL247.co.uk
You can also have a look at the Brand Protection section of our Knowledge Base.