Abusive registrations

Stop your brand being used in bad faith online

Once your brand becomes visible, it will start to suffer from different forms of online abuse. Sandra Waller should know. She spent 17 years at Reckitt Benckiser defending brands such as Airwick and Finish. Now in private practice, she reports a dramatic rise in the number of complaints from brand owners, mainly objecting to confusingly similar names.

A new generation of cyber-squatters is ready to register every variation of your brand. If someone types in your name, but misses out a vowel or puts in an extra consonant, they are taken to a pay-per-click site, where the squatters route their query to someone other than you. When squatters earn on every click, it justifies registering as many variations of your brand as they can think of.

You will soon find other ill-wishers to your brand online. The fad for "you suck"-sites, solely dedicated to knocking you, is fading. But you still want to watch out for sites that are detrimental to your brand. They might have something legitimate to say, of course. They might be affectionately adopting your brand and turning it into a cult. You cannot censor people’s views and you should be happy for people to chat about your brand. But you have to watch carefully for anyone recommending any form of harmful use.

Equally, as a small company, you cannot register your domain in every country. What happens if someone takes your name in France or Spain though? "If it is not detrimental, leave it," says Waller, who is now working as a trade mark attorney at Alexander Ramage Associates. "If there is any association that you would prefer people to avoid, make a complaint."

Unlike other forms of IP, disputes over domains can be quickly resolved. For top-level names, such as dot com, you go to the mediation centre at World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). For UK designations, Nominet runs its own centre for resolving disputes.

In your complaint, you will have to provide evidence to establish three points:

• the domain name is identical or confusingly similar
• the current owner has no rights or a legitimate interest in the name
• the name was registered and is being used in bad faith.

Clearly, it will help if you have a trade mark as a proof of legitimate interest. Even so, you can make a complaint in a country where your domain and trade mark are not registered. It helps, of course, if you have a screenshot of any offending pages, as well as a record of any rights in your brand that you already own elsewhere.

Once you have made your case, you will be assigned a panellist. All evidence is sent to them electronically. In about four to six weeks, you will be given a ruling. If your complaint is upheld the offending domain can either be cancelled or transferred to you. A single panellist will cost you about £1,000. "It will get a rapid decision," says Waller. "It is not like a court case at all."

Visit the Alexander Ramage Associates website