Brand Protection

Telecoms Development Booming in the French Pacific Territories

After the nuclear submarine debacle with France, political ties have been restored, and both France and Australia have agreed on further cooperation in the South Pacific, where France has several overseas territories. Also, here telecoms is a key issue. Such cooperation has become more urgent with the increased political interest of China in the region. more

How Are You Solving the Digital Divide

One of the most common questions I'm being asked these days is from local politicians and economic development folks who want examples of other communities that are tackling and solving the digital divide. I'm able to trot out the big-picture stories because they come to my attention in reading about the industry. As an example, just before I wrote this blog, I read an article that says that the State of Maryland will be providing 150,000 laptops to homes... more

Traditional Big ISPs Stagnate

In the first quarter of this year, the big cable companies added 482,000 customers, while telcos added over 50,000 customers. In what is a surprise to the industry, that growth has disappeared, and all of the big ISPs collectively lost almost 150,000 customers. That's a loss of 60,000 customers for the cable companies and 88,000 for the big telcos. The following statistics have been compiled by the Leichtman Research Group, which tracks the broadband performance of the largest ISPs in the country. more

How Companies Can Use the UDRP to Combat Rising COVID-19-Related Phishing

Straightforward out-of-court domain name proceeding can provide efficient relief against fraudulent websites and email. Google has seen a steep rise amid the Coronavirus pandemic in new websites set up to engage in phishing (i.e. fraudulent attempts to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and financial details). Companies in all industries - not just the financial sector - are at risk from this nefarious practice. But one relatively simple out-of-court proceeding may provide relief. more

Brand Abuse and IP Infringements – Part 2: Enforcement and Return on Investment

In the first article in this two-part series, we looked at the impact of brand abuse and infringements against intellectual property (IP) on an organization's brand value. In this second article, we delve into how action against enforceable infringements can deliver tangible return on investment (ROI) for a brand, and demonstrate the importance of a robust brand protection program. more

Spring Clean Your House of Domains, DNS and Digital Certificates

At the start of the year, many responsible for managing domain name portfolios may be considering spring cleaning! Traditionally, such a task consists of a review to check that all domains in the portfolio serve a purpose either from a commercial or defensive perspective. The aim is to ensure budget isn't wasted on domains of little to no value. It's fair to say that for many organizations, this is a difficult process - almost as feared as actually spring cleaning our own homes. more

Building a Base of Knowledge for Advocacy Abroad in the Digital Age

Answering questions at the Internet Association's Virtuous Circle conference last week, Secretary Kerry presented the U.S. Department of State's effort to prioritize global digital economy issues abroad in order to reflect the growing importance of these issues in both economic and foreign policy. The State Department has made real progress on this initiative in the last year and hopes to continue our momentum going forward. more

Exploring the Domain of Subdomain Discovery

Domain name monitoring - that is, the detection of domains with names containing a brand-term (or other string) of interest - is a very well-established element of brand protection services. Branded domain names are of key importance to brand owners (as the basis for business-critical infrastructure (i.e. 'core' domain names), and as part of a 'tactical' portfolio of strategic and defensive registrations), but also to infringers, who can utilise domains as a means of impersonation, passing off, claimed affiliation, or traffic direction and monetisation. more

Back to the Future Part IV: The Price-Fixing Paradox of the DNS

GenX-ers may remember spending a summer afternoon at the movie theater and seeing the somewhat corny but beloved antics of Marty McFly and Doc as they used a souped-up Delorean to travel the space-time continuum. In Back to the Future Part II, Doc and Marty travel into the future, where the bullying, boorish Biff causes a time-travel paradox when he steals the Delorean and takes a joyride into the past to give his younger self a sports almanac containing the final scores of decades worth of sporting events. more

Not Another Yearly Recap: What 2018 Tells Us About .brand Domains

It's that special time again! Time to unwind, spend time with loved ones -- and to reflect on another 12 months of progress across the .brand movement. Over the last few years, we've used this end of year assessment and our efforts with MakeWay.World to show you how the industry is being embraced globally -- through a range of examples, statistics and predictions about how the year ahead will be our best ever. more

Streaming Video Continues to Grow

I saw recent headlines that claim that the time people watch streaming content is now greater than all of the time spent watching content from cable companies. A deeper look at the underlying statistics shows that this isn't entirely true, but it makes for a great headline. But it's still news that the percentage of viewing done through streaming continues to grow while the number of traditional cable customers continues to plunge. more

Br’AI’ve New World - Part 1: Brand Protection ‘Clustering’ as a Candidate Task for the Application of AI Capabilities

As counterfeit networks grow more elusive, AI-driven clustering could revolutionize brand protection. By linking disparate findings, identifying serial infringers, and enabling bulk enforcement, AI offers a smarter approach to monitoring and takedown efforts. Yet, challenges remain - from data reliability to analyzing complex content. Companies that master AI-driven clustering may gain a significant advantage in the fight against brand abuse. more

Further Developing a Word Mark Similarity Measurement Framework

Expanding on a framework for quantifying word mark similarity by examining algorithms and proposing enhancements. This article assesses consistency with UK trademark case decisions and a search tool, explores subsequence analysis for similarity, and suggests using IPA phonetics to measure aural likeness. The objective framework could improve consistency in trademark assessments, despite the inherent subjectivity of legal tests. more

Broadband Labels are Here

On October 10, all ISPs in the United States were supposed to have implemented and posted broadband labels. The labels were required as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Large ISPs had to post labels six months ago, and now the requirement is for all ISPs. I looked at the ISPs in a few counties I'm very familiar with, and I found a few ISPs in each county that have not posted labels that I can find on their website. more

Further Developing a Colour Mark Similarity Measurement Framework: Building a Database

In my recent article on mark similarity measurement, I discussed a possible framework for protecting colour marks. The framework involves the specification of each colour according to its RGB (red-green-blue) specification (in which each component is expressed as an integer value between 0 and 255), with the suggestion that the protection afforded by a colour trademark could incorporate not only this exact colour, but also all similar colours around it up to a certain 'distance'... more