Brand owners cannot afford to ignore the new domain name revolution heading our way this summer, and unregistered or dropped domains could provide a way in for cybersquatters. Understanding how and when to protect trademarks is the question of the day.
What does the future hold for brands looking to build their digital strategy in the brave new world of the Internet? The number of available domain names is about to get a shot of digital steroids and the sheer number of digital assets brand owners will have to protect is making them shudder.
However, it is not all bad. This is an opportunity for brand owners to rebuild their digital strategies, reclaiming some Internet space that many thought disappeared when .com and .net appeared on our screens back in 1985. So while the legal departments may be burying their heads in trademark applications for their sunrise registrations, the marketing teams will be plumping up the beanbags ready for a ‘wipe board’ session on how they can take advantage of a .rocks, .cool and .ninja.
If only it were that simple. Today, marketers sit in one of two camps. In the red corner, we have the search evangelists, pouring over the latest Google algorithm, and what changes they need to make to their websites to ensure they retain their rankings at all cost. To them, the launch of the new domain names is an opportunity to connect with new customers (.organic, .promo), differentiate some others (.london and .saarland) or keep some existing ones happy (.reviews or .sucks).
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domain names, Internet, cybersquatters
