14 July 2006 | Author: R. Green

Sexing up of investment banking – an issue of online brand protection

Brand identity is a vital part of any online marketing campaign, and it is something that always needs to be protected against the risks of counterfeiting and brand abuse. The brand name is the online identity of any company.

One of the main forms of online brand abuse is cybersquatting, also known as typosquatting. This is the practice of registering domain names which happen to be well-known trade marks, with the sole purpose of selling it later to a the trademark owning company. The practice of registering a trademark specifically with this intention was made illegal in the US by the 1999 Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.

Seen by many, as a form of intellectual property extortion, there have been various cases around the world, such as in the UK a dispute between Apple Computers and CyberBritain over the ownership of the iTunes.co.uk web address.

One of the more serious effects of this practice is the damage that can be done to a company's online image if their brand name is demeaned by sites with similar domain names, but containing offensive content in order to force the trademark holder to buy the domain name as quickly as possible.

The latest big name to be hit by Cybersquatting is the world renowned blue chip investment bank, The Goldman Sachs Group. The complaint was lodged by the bank through a fear that the similarly name Goldmansex website could be confused with their own Goldmansachs.com and Goldman.com registered domains.

The owner of the offending website has claimed that he had not heard of the banking group until recently and that the name derives from a nickname given to him by friends.

However, the Goldman Sachs Group see it differently as the site contains links to what they viewed as objectionable "adult" material, which they felt could potentially tarnish their brand identity.

While the case is pending, the complainant Goldman Sachs Group has stated that it will not comment on proceedings; however the defendant has stated plans to fight for retention of the domain name, claiming that he does not think there will be any confusion between the two.

In a phone interview earlier in the week he said, "Would their clients really think this is some sort of new product line?".

It seems that Cybersquatting is a serious growing problem for many big brands, and the culprits are not always just individuals registering a single domain name, as another federal lawsuit demonstrated last month.

Dotster, one of the largest domain name registrars, is charged with participating in a huge campaign of cybersquatting which targeted big name companies such as Disney, Ikea, Playboy, Verizon, and even Google.

The case alleges that Dotster carefully studied hundreds of different domain names which resembled misspellings of those owned by various big brands before registering the ones which received most visitors, and placing adverts to their competitors on them.

But did it make them Dotster cash? (Ouch! -The Editor)

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