Protecting Trademarks on Social Media

04/10/23Copyright 2010 TM.Biz

Protecting Trademarks on Social Media

Topics Covered

04/10/23Copyright 2010 TM.Biz

Current Situation in Social Media

Complications for Trademark Owners

Approaches to Protection

Social Media is Exploding

04/10/23Copyright 2010 TM.Biz

You’ve heard of : 130 million120 million

120 million

120 million

120 million

But have you heard of….

100 million

…and the Thousands of “smaller” niche players with millions of members each

500 million

160 million

200 million

Social Media is Mainstream

04/10/23Copyright 2010 TM.Biz

• 60% of Internet users are members of Social Media Networks – PC Advisor

• Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web – NY Times

• More than 21% of cell phone users visit social media from their phones - Comscore

• Americans spend 25% of their time online on social networks - Nielsen

• 25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content - Nielsen

Usernames are the Internet’s New Brand Identifiers

04/10/23Copyright 2010 TM.Biz

Evolution Online for Trademark Professionals

200 million domain names (90M are .com)

2 billion usernames on top 20 social networks 25% of search results… are links to user

generated content and this is growing

Complication – No Barriers to Obtain

Usernames are:

• Free to obtain

• First come - first served

• Typically have profile pages

• Indexed by search engines

• Receive traffic and can be monetized

• Typically NOT Reused

Complication - No Protection Mechanisms

Domain Names - ControlledToday

• UDRP (Uniform Domain Resolution Policy)

• WHOIS• Anti-Cybersquatting• In-Rem • Sunrise periods

Coming Soon• Uniform Rapid Suspension• Trademark Clearinghouse• IP Claims

Usernames – UNCONTROLLED

Usernames are the Wild Westwhen compared to Domain Names

Today• No Dispute Policy• No Gatekeepers• No Group

Coming Soon• Nothing• Nothing• Nothing

Complication - Everything Old is New

• Direct infringement

• Derogatory and defamatory speech

• Blatantly false information

• Impersonation of executives

Question

What should I do to protect my Trademark’s Usernames in

Social Media?

Apply the lessons from Domain Names

04/10/23Copyright 2010 TM.Biz

Best Practice – Be Proactive & Not Reactive

• Reserve your trademarks and key executives as Usernames

• Identify infringement early

The Costs - Business Case

04/10/23Copyright 2010 TM.Biz

Proactive – Reserve Now

• Package cost ~ $ 349 one time fee

• Trademark secured on 100 social networks

• Watch the rest

Reactive - Do Nothing

• Assume 50 are taken• Assume 10 are of concern• Conduct Investigation

Cost: $500 x 10 = $5000• Send takedown letters

Cost: $500 x 10 = $5000• Sub-total cost: $10,000• 50% success rate (5 of 10)• Repeat as infractions

occur Cost: $1,000/incident

Example: Secure house brand in top 100 social networks

Avoid “I think we have people handling this”

04/10/23Copyright 2010 TM.Biz

Best Practices Dictates this should be owned by Legal

•This is a trademark protection and enforcement issue How is it being managed? Who are keeping the records? Is it anonymous or public? Who is ensuring the accounts remain active?

•Domain Name Registrars are not in this business

•Marketing Departments - may address some issues (quick Free Search on TM.Biz and you’ll know)

Evaluate Benefits and Risks

04/10/23Copyright 2010 TM.Biz

Proactive Avoid confusion Avoid loss of revenue Avoid embarrassment Avoid damage control Far less expensive

than recovery/clean-up efforts

Reactive Consumer confusion Loss of revenue Loss of reputation Legal fees Recovery may not be

successful

04/10/23Copyright 2010 TM.Biz

•Reserve trademarks and key executives as usernames

•Include social media availability searches for all new name creation efforts

•Monitor for emerging social networks to avoid surprises

•Investigate “taken” usernames for trademark infringement

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