PR Must Confront Cybersquatting Head on – Here’s Why and How

Cybersquatting is increasing and becoming more malicious, experts warn. The trend presents a clear risk to companies’ online reputations.

Online speculators purchase domain names of companies and brands, often in large numbers, with the intention of selling them at a profit. Besides purchasing domain names of brands and companies, cybersquatters buy related terms and misspellings in what’s called typosquatting. They also add words to the company or brand names in what’s called combosquatting.

Cybersquatters initially became infamous for buying domains related to large, well-known corporations as well as celebrities. But they’re now targeting small brands and start-ups, according to The Fashion Law. Paris-based fashion brand JACQUEMUS defended itself against a slew of unauthorized domain-filers, and five-year old e-cigarette company Juul has faced widespread cybersquatting.

Cybersquatters are also becoming more malevolent. More than half of the 14,000 domain names cybersquatters registered in December 2019 went on to host malicious or likely fraudulent content this year, states recent research from Palo Alto Networks. Many devised phishing scams to steal personal financial information. Others hosted malware or questionable software or ran other types of creative schemes.

Covid-19 Increases Cybersquatting

Covid-19 sparked a fresh epidemic of criminal creativity. Cybercriminals registered domains that combined words like “coronavirus” or “covid” with names of popular brands.

The websites also sometimes redirect users to different websites, provide links to merchandise from competitors, and even sell advertising space, warns Cayce Myers, a professor at Virginia Tech’s School of Communications and legal research editor for The Institute for Public Relations.

“This type of trademark infringement is potentially very costly to the actual owner of the mark. It affects online reputation because it gives the appearance of a legitimate site, and it also attempts to take business from the rightful trademark owner,” Myers says.

“All of the trends in trademark law show that public relations practitioners are essential to the protection of this form of intellectual property.”

How to Protect the Brand’s Online Reputation

Companies can protect their domains by proactively registering variants of their domain or company name, including common misspellings and typos. In selecting a brand name for a new product, one of the first tests is conducting a “who is search” on Network Solutions to determine if the domain name is already taken.  Companies can also train their employees to recognize suspicious domains.

Media monitoring can identify websites with names that resemble the company or brand names, as well as schemes fraudsters employ on social media.

When reviewing media monitoring services, it’s essential to select a partner that provides the ability to search for Boolean terms and a customizable dashboard that integrates all data sources into a single view.

Organizations can pursue legal avenues to take down variants of the company’s domain name held by cybersquatters. The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) offers the most common legal solution, advises Jeffrey Gabriel, co-founder of Saw.com, which offers domain sales and acquisitions services. In order to win a UDRP dispute, you’ll need to prove that:

1. The domain is identical or confusingly similar to your trademark.
2. The opposing party has no legitimate rights to the domain they have registered.
3. The domain name has been used and registered in bad faith.

In some cases, the alleged cybersquatter is engaging in legitimate domain investing. “Sometimes, the line between cybersquatting and domain investing involving common words depends on whether a domain name containing, say, “apple” is used for selling fruit or selling computers,” Gabriel states.

Bottom Line: Increasingly common and malicious cybersquatting schemes pose a reputational risk to organizations. Companies can stand up to cybersquatters by proactively registering their corporate and brand domains, assertively pursuing take downs, and monitoring the media for websites that mimic their own sites for nefarious purposes.

Schedule a Free Online Demo of the Glean.info Media Monitoring & Measurement Dashboard