When a business is doing exceptionally well, there are many outsiders who keep an eye on every activity of these businesses. Some of these outsiders have malicious intent that can harm your business with various techniques. Cybersquatting is one of their technique. As a business owner, have you come across a situation where you forgot to renew your domain and now you discover that someone else has acquired it? Worst case scenario, he/she is now asking you to pay a large sum of money to release your domain. This states that you have become a victim of cybersquatting. Read this blog post to know about cybersquatting and various methods to prevent it.
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What is Cybersquatting?
Cybersquatting is a term that refers to the unauthorized registration and use of domain names on the internet that are identical or similar to trademarks, service marks, corporate names, or personal names without permission from the trademark owners. It is also known as “domain squatting”. Cybersquatters with malicious intent use domain names to profit from the goodwill of the trademark owner.
Types of Cybersquatting
There are different types of cybersquatting, some of them are mentioned below:
Typosquatting
Typosquatting is one of the most popular types of cybersquatting. Here, a cybersquatter obtains misspelled domain names of popular brands on an intentional basis. Their goal: developing an illegitimate website for visitors who make a typing error (misspelling or hitting one or more incorrect keys when typing a domain name) to visit.
Adding or removing any figures, characters, or periods from the original spelling of a domain is known as typosquatting Change the order of letters or words within a domain. Any spelling variant that individuals can mistype is included in typosquatting, for example, twiitter.com.
TLDs Exploitation
The TLDs (Top-level domains) are the last section of a domain name, such as.com or.org. There are 1000s of TLDs available in the market. However, some big companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook have a vast portfolio of such domains, small and medium-sized enterprises cannot easily buy all of the TLD variants of their brand name.
Taking advantage of this, cybersquatters will buy matching TLDs for a popular company. Cybersquatters create an inappropriate site using a misspelled domain and blackmail business owners into buying the domain at a premium price in order to prevent their company’s image. Some cybersquatters set up phishing sites exploiting these domains to mislead the visitors of the original website.
Gripe sites cybersquatting
Not all cybersquatters out there have the goal of making quick money, they have other goals. Cybersquatting is used by cybersquatters in order to:
- Ruin the reputation of a business or individual
- Take personal revenge
- Mocking the original site’s values or purpose; or making a satire/comedy of it
They post stuff on such cybersquatting websites that is contradictory to the original site’s values or that puts the original site in an embarrassing situation.
Expiration date exploitation
Some cybersquatters keep a close eye on the domains and their expiry date. If the domain owner fails to renew it on time, cybersquatters grab the opportunity and will register a domain name in their own names.
Luckily, it is rare for large corporations to fail to renew their domain names on time. Despite this, it still occurs. But, this situation mainly affects startups and small businesses.
How to Protect your Business from Cybersquatting?
Be aware of your legal options
There are some laws that protect you if you become a victim of cybersquatting:
- Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA): This act provides protection from cybersquatting and some related factors to consider. But, This law is only applicable in the United States. ACPA cannot act if the domain registrant is based in a foreign nation.
- World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): For international disputes, it can resolve disputes by arbitration or mediation.
Try to renew your trademark as soon as it expires
In both the ACPA and the WIPO, trademark owners are the only ones who are given utmost protection. You won’t be able to take advantage of these regulations if you haven’t registered your personal name or brand name as a trademark or worst if someone buys the domain name before you. Therefore, it’s vital to register your trademark as soon as possible in order to receive regulatory protection.
Make a small investment and buy domain names that are related to your brand
Obviously, you are not going to go out and buy 2,000+ different TLDs. Nonetheless, you need at least register names with important TLDs such as.com,.net,.org,.biz, and so on. You can also acquire domain names that are quite similar to your brand. Also, purchase country-specific domains like.co.uk,.ca, and other similar extensions to expand your business into other nations as soon as possible. In the future, you can redirect these domains to your main site. Taking this step now will save you from a prolonged (and expensive) legal battle in the future.
Communicate with the domain owner directly
Sometimes, the domain registrant’s intention is not cybersquatting, and they may have obtained the domain by innocent mistake. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on legal fees, you may want to try to contact directly with the domain owner.
Sometimes, they may be ready to sell you the domain for a small charge, so that you are not affected financially. It’s possible to make an agreement by communicating with the domain owner.
For website visitors:
- Double-check the spelling of the domain before typing to avoid typosquatting.
- Be alert when an official website seems suspicious like having many pop-ups, encouraging you to download specific software, etc.
- Check if the website has a padlock sign, i.e, an SSL certificate.
- Don’t click on suspicious links or attachments on the website that seems illegal.
Conclusion
Before deciding on a brand or business name, many owners first check if their desired domain name is available or not. They also check if any domain names that match their desired business name have already been registered.
An existing business, on the other hand, cannot simply start over with a new name. It is possible to be a victim of cybersquatting if you discover any domain that appears to infringe on your copyright or brand, and the domain registrar’s intentions seem suspicious. In this situation, you should consult with a legal professional to determine your options.
