DIGITAL ORIGINAL
Protect Yourself Against
Cyber Squatters
Don't let unused domain names leave your
company vulnerable. By John Giles
T
Cyber squatting, or domain squatting,
is the act of registering, trafficking in, or
using a domain name with the intent to
profit from the good name of an organization's trademark, brand, or identity. If
you plan to change your company's website address name, be sure to continue
ownership of unused domain names to
protect your brand and to keep someone
from hijacking the site for their own
gain. You may even want to buy common variations that might be used to
confuse visitors.
The Villain Strikes
One of my printing clients was a recent
victim of cyber squatting. He started
to get questions from a couple of his
top customers about his company's new
ownership. When they tried to visit his
site using his old Web address, they were
sent to a WordPress site that looked very
similar to the company's old website and
even contained some of the old text. The
copy strongly implied that my client's
printing company had been sold and
was doing business under a new name.
Customers were asked to contact the new
company to have work done. A link was
provided that took the visitor to a website for a printing company in upstate
Michigan.
When the print owner searched for his
own company name on Google, the old
website address now appeared higher in
the search than his new name. Anyone
searching for his company by name,
city, and state would be pointed to the
w w w. M y P R I N T R e s o u r c e . c o m
old name with the new contact
information.
The print owner acted quickly. He
found his old Web address was now
owned by one of the management people
in the printing company where visitors
were sent. He called the printing company that owned the imposter site and
asked that the site be shut down or legal
actions would be taken. The owner of the
company that had taken over the site said
that one of his staff had been searching
the Web for printing companies that had
abandoned their URLs. They would buy
the old URL and then direct visitors to
the new site. His excuse was that since the
website name had been abandoned, he
could only assume the local printer was
out of business.
While that fake site was taken down
immediately, you have to wonder how
many more abandoned print-related
URLs across the country are being used
to misdirect visitors. Printers who may
have abandoned old URLs should check
to make sure they have not been compromised. If you do find someone has taken
your site and is using it to misrepresent
your company, you should seek legal
advice immediately.
Know Your Rights
There are laws against cyber squatting. The Anticybersquatting Consumer
Protection Act (also known as Truth in
Domain Names Act) is a federal law
relating to copyright licensing and carriage of broadcast signals by satellite. It
© iStock/Thinkstock
he Internet can be a dangerous place and print companies should always be on guard against identity thief.
The simple act of letting the ownership to a Web address URL lapse because you don't use it any more or
you made a change in your company's name can make
it easy for cyber squatters to misdirect your customers to the
site of a competitor or even worse.
makes people liable to civil action if they
register domain names that are either
trademarks or individual's names with
the sole intent of selling the rights of the
domain name to the trademark holder
or individual for a profit. Several states
also have laws against impersonating a
person or business online. Domain name
disputes involving alleged bad faith registration are typically resolved using a
process developed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN.org).
Website domain names are inexpensive, so it is recommended that if you
plan to discontinue the use of a site name
you should maintain ownership. You can
then direct the old site name to the new
site so if anyone does use an old address,
it will take them to the proper site.
Don't be a victim. Regularly search for
your own name in Google, Bing, and the
other search engines to assure no one
is poaching your customers as a cyber
squatter. ◗◗
John Giles is a consultant and technology
director for CPrint International. He is the
author of "12 Secrets for Digital Success"
and "The DTP PriceList". He can be reached
at 954-224-1942 or john@cprint.org. You
can also find John on Twitter at @JohnG247
and LinkedIn. Read his blog at MyPRINTResource.com/blogs/john-giles. Order John's
books from Crouser & Associates (MyPRINTResource.com/10004688).
December 2013 / QUICK PRINTING
37