Protecting your trademarks in the modern age also means protecting your online brand integrity. You can’t let others harm your reputation by registering similar domain names and doing shady things that affect the views consumers have of you. An Orange County, California trademark lawyer can tell you more about how to defend yourself.

What Can Damage Online Brand Integrity?

One of the biggest challenges here is going to be a practice known as “cybersquatting.” This can come in a few different forms. Some people grab a website if someone releases information about a product or initiative without securing domain rights first. Others grab a website that’s similar, meant to draw in people who make a simple typo.

Some do this to get money out of a company or individual. They may offer to sell the domain back to you for an inflated price. Others do this and use your trustworthy brand to route web visitors elsewhere. Let’s say you sell electronics. This domain, similarly spelled to your brand’s name, lures in people who make a mistake and sells them electronic products that aren’t from you or your company.

What Can You Do to Keep Your Image and Online Brand Intact?

Obviously, any of the above scenarios can be a problem for your online brand integrity. These websites that are meant to impersonate you and mislead potential customers harm your reputation. You could even receive backlash if someone buys counterfeit products that are faulty because those people buying them thought they were coming from you!

This is why you should make a claim with WIPO under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. The UDRP allows a trademark holder to call out a domain name holder who is attempting to defraud others. You could reclaim the domain name and put any fraudulent activities to a stop. You have to show that:

  • The registrant of the domain name has no legitimate rights to it
  • The domain was registered in bad faith with the purpose of defrauding people
  • The domain is purposely similar to your registered trademark

What Can Be Done to Enhance My Trademark Rights?

It can be tough to keep up with all threats to your online brand integrity, but there are a few things that you can do to strengthen your rights and make future challenges easier to undertake. We recommend:

  • Registering all trademarks you use
  • Keeping an eye on domain registrations that could be similar to yours
  • Registering domain names that are similar to yours so that others can’t

Taking steps like these could help you reduce your need to issue additional UDRP challenges in the future.

Talk to an Intellectual Property Attorney

If you want to learn more about how to protect your trademarks and online brand integrity, we want to hear from you. Contact Burns Patent Law and schedule a consultation with a lawyer who knows how to safeguard your intellectual property.