We read a lot about brand management, brand equity, and brand protection. But what about policing your brand? There are laws to protect copyright, trademark, and intellectual property. But first you have to be aware of infringements as early as they are detectable. Managing and protecting your brand requires diligence in policing it as often and as thoroughly as is possible–especially in the electronic information age.

One such element to guard your brand against are known as “typosquatters.” A typosquatting Web site has a Web address almost identical to that of your company’s Web site (e.g., espnn.com, gooogle.com, beneathtebraand.com, etc.), and is designed to prey on the occasional Web user’s mistyped URL by exposing them to pop-up ads, spyware/adware downloads, and ad-generating search engines.

Typosquatting Web sites generally display auto-generated ads (e.g., Ads by Google) somewhat related to the topic of the intended Web site. If the visitor clicks on one of the ad links, the typosquatter receives ad revenue–all based on someone mistyping your company’s domain name. This misuse of someone else’s trademark can potentially generate a near-fortune annually for typosquatters.

Current figures estimate that there are over 1 million typosquatter Web sites hosted on servers around the globe. This figure may be daunting, but there is reprieve for companies whose domain names have been “typosquatted.”

In the USA, the 1999 Anti-Cybersquatting Protection Act (ACPA), 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d), contains a clause [§ 3 (2)(B)(ii)] aimed at combating typosquatters, that reads, in part, “an identifier… is an Internet domain name or other identifier of an online location that is.. the trademark of a person or entity other than the person or entity registering or using the identifier; or sufficiently similar to a trademark of a person or entity other than the person or entity registering or using the identifier as to be likely to cause confusion or mistake; deceive; or cause dilution of the distinctive quality of a famous trademark.”

The codified ACPA federal statute added a powerful weapon in protecting trademarks online, including URLs.

Even more recently, Benjamin G. Edelman, a professor at Harvard Business School, led a class action lawsuit against Google for contracting with typosquatters to place advertisements on typosquatting Web sites. The complaint accuses Google and typosquatters of profiting from the misuse and abuse of other companies’ trademarks. The class suit represents U.S. trademark holders whose Web sites have been targeted by typosquatters. The lawsuit names Google and several large typosquatting companies as defendants.

It’s clear that typosquatters attribute to the dilution of brands. So how can you police against it?

One way is to register every possible permutation of your domain name to guard against would-be typosquatters from doing it. But there is a simpler way:

Try typing your Web site address, intentionally misspelling it. If you find a Web site using one of these mistyped URLs, leading you to incessant pop-up ads or a malware download, than you likely have a cause for action. If you find that nothing exists, then your online brand is likely in the clear… for now.

Source: The Harvard Crimson

Christine Babick is a blogger at beneaththebrand.com. A marketing strategist and linguist, she specializes in marketing language, website text, “emo copy,” and cause and relationship marketing.

Article Tags: brand | Christine Babick | Copyright | Cybercrime | Cyberlaw | Domain Names | Protection | Trademark | Typosquatting | Web | website
Filed under: Brand Equity, Brand Management, Brand Protection, Trademark & Copyright