Preventing the Cybersquatters and Name Squatting Opportunists

June 16, 2009

It is obviously easier and cheaper to prevent cybersquatting and name squatting by pre-emptively protecting your brand and blocking your trade marks from being used by others.

For those who have missed the chance to register their business names with Facebook (see earlier post) the solution is to set up a Page and then register your company name once registration of further usernames opens.

Facebook does have a grievance procedure allowing you to report if someone’s username infringes on your intellectual property or publicity rights.

In the meantime, I noticed when I accidentally misspelt Facebook that the opportunists are fast at work buying up misspellings of Facebook user names. See here.

I predict a spate of cybersquatter and typosquatter disputes as Facebook and some of the brands whose names are registered in this way decide to challenge the registrations.