Online Brand Protection: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Proactive Strategy

The Internet has made it possible for companies to quickly expand their ability to do business across many different countries, cultures, and continents, and with relative ease that even just a few years ago was unheard of. But the same technologies and techniques that make it easy for corporations to have this global reach are also available to criminals, who are getting smarter at figuring out ways to abuse brands for their own profit and do so by hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet. These abuses cover a wide range of activities, including infringing pay-per-click sites, false association, automated phishing expeditions and cybersquatted domain names. The latter continues to be the most popular exploit and because the most common dictionary words are already used for domains, domainers are increasingly turning to brand names and trademarks when they register infringing domains. In fact, according to the MarkMonitor Brandjacking IndexT, cybersquatting increased by 33% last year. In addition, cybersquatters continually take advantage of the Internet and the system to evolve their abuse tactics. For instance, domain abusers that continually reserve, test out a domain name, release it at the end of the fiveday ICANN grace period, and then re-register the domain name are called Domain Kiters. These abusers don't have to pay for owning the domain, they can place banner ads to gather even more money and "test market" the kited domain to see what name produces the most revenue. The resulting infringing pay-per-clicks can add up to significant lost revenue for the legitimate brand owner as they're unknowingly paying for click-thrus coming from these sites via advertising intermediaries. In addition, these sites can create real consumer frustration, ultimately resulting in a loss of trust and confidence in the brand. While ICANN is evaluating a number of solutions to this problem, some may be more effective than others in dissuading domain kiters. These threats hurt sales, reduce overall consumer trust, and dilute the brand equity that your company has carefully built over the years, and do so in a few days or weeks with some well-timed attacks. This is why online brand protection has become so important, and why it is another current-day essential business concern. Even The Wall St. Journal has recognized this trend: "Protect your reputation. Your good name is your most vital credential and once damaged can't be easily repaired - even if your business prospers and you devote yourself to good works." (August 27, 2007) In the past, companies have tried to protect their brands through manual methods, such as the occasional search engine query or by setting up a few Google Alerts on their key brands. However, this approach doesn't work as the Internet is constantly evolving, domain attacks happen almost continuously, and as a result, infringing sites and Whois records often change before the brand owner has a chance to take action.