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Believe it or not, your brand’s activity on the web just got a bit harder to get a handle on. In addition to other factors, the introduction of approximately 1400 new gTLDs poses an unlimited number of new avenues where your brand can be exploited.

First, here are some numbers we hope will inspire you to implement a brand protection strategy and solution.

• The G20’s Internet economy will reach £2.7 trillion by 2016
• Digital Piracy currently costs over 75 Billion dollars (USD) annually.
• One of 6 products purchased online today is identified as a counterfeit. Counterfeit sales account for 7% of global trade.
• Over 95% of companies admit that protecting their online entities is critical for their ongoing success. However just about 40% also admit that they do not have a brand protection strategy in practice.

The infinite and boundless nature of the internet are characteristics that empower squatters who can damage and hurt your brand with threats that are constantly evolving. These threats can and will harm your brand if not dealt with in a timely and decisive manner.

As online sales for brands is increasing, along with the squatters lurking out there more and more companies are taking these threats seriously and implementing brand protection technologies. Legal information provider Sweet and Maxwell released figures in 2012 that showed a 6 percent increase in squatting over the same period in 2011.

Squatting

There are quite a few types of squatting and all these pose serious threats to your brand. These disputes are often not reported on.

Domain Squatting

The most common type of squatting occurs when a squatter utilizes a brand’s trademark in their website name in order to steal traffic from the trademark’s rightful owner and/or to hold the brand hostage by requesting huge sums of money for that domain.

Global fashion brands such as Gucci reported six cases that allowed them to regain control of over 100 domains. In another example, Since 2010 Luxury brand Swarovski of Austria has filed and won 32 cases.

Squatters also use these tactics to drive unsuspecting buyers to purchase counterfeit brands.

Experts evangelize the use of brand protection, so that users won’t have to protect themselves once the harm has already been done, and stopping it in its tracks from the get go. They also recommend spending a few hundred dollars to register the most common domains (.com, .net, .org and others) in order not to spend thousands later to enforce protection from squatters. As the number of domains grows, brands must take proactive steps to secure their online presence, while implementing brand protection technologies to scan the web for potential squatting threats.

Typosquatting

In another form of brandjacking and cybersquatting, CyberPirates register the misspelled domain names of trademarks and/or well known brands with the goal of stealing traffic for competitor or counterfeiter sites.

This type of squatting is not only common with domains but also in the realm of social media. For example, the real account of singing superstar Taylor Swift has tens of millions of followers. It won’t be long before someone creates a Twitter account called Tailor Swift. This is just an example.

As you can see, the necessity for having a proactive domain strategy as well as a reactive  strategy (Brand Protection Technology) is not just a nice to have. It is paramount for protecting as well as strengthening your online brand.