As a major media outlet, protecting your image is a top priority. Luckily, the ICANN is about to make this job a whole lot easier, says Kevin Goldberg of Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth’s CommLawBlog.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a regulatory body in charge of domain names (i.e. radiostation.com) and other properties. According to Goldberg’s latest writing, ICANN is on the verge of implementing their Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS), which aims to streamline the process by which trademark owners can protect themselves against cybersquatters.
Cybersquatters try to register domain names based off of recognizable names or trademarks, using their good fortune to attract traffic to their sites, or obtain a valuable domain based off of a company’s name, which they sell to the company at a highly inflated price.
With URS, many of the usual hurdles currently in place would be removed, and the price for each arbitration is established at a fixed price of $300 per case, much less than the current rate.
The key, says Goldberg, is trademarking. Register your major identifiers — corporate names, slogans, call signs, etc. — as federal trademarks. Once these are in the system, you can easily prove the validity of your trademark rights, and the cybersquatter will have no legitimate claim to your domain.
