Brand protection on social networks

The development of social networks has given rise to new types of trademark infringements, including online reputation, forgery, parasitism and traffic hijacking, which pose a huge threat given the unparalleled success of these networks. SafeBrands provides a comprehensive range of solutions, including username availability reports, profile creation, content monitoring and infringement suspension procedures.

CYBERSQUATTING

Cybersquatting of usernames is an issue. There is also a secondary market. For example, in 2010 the Israeli government paid several thousands of dollars to repurchase the twitter.com/israel Twitter account.
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STAKING YOUR CLAIM

Registering your usernames on social networking sites should be a priority, as well as detecting any content that could infringe your trademarks.
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RECOVERY PROCEDURES

Username recovery procedures are often complex and depend on each site’s policies and willingness to help.
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Social networks: a necessary monitoring

 

Since the arrival of the first social network in 1997 with Sixdegrees, the multiplication of platforms has continued to grow with a boom in 2006: Facebook and Twitter, followed by TumblR, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.

The number of social networks is expanding daily, with hundreds of networks are being created alongside the best known sites including community networks and thematic networks. These sites have huge potential for infringers, enabling them to reach their targets even more accurately than through spam, given that spam filters become increasingly sophisticated.

To better manage your brand image on the Internet, it is essential to have a good strategy and to set up social media monitoring.

 

 

Social networks: a necessary presence

The brands presence brands on social networks has become necessary or even mandatory to build a long-term relationship and loyalty. Thanks to the creation of a product – social media auditing and monitoring – proposed by our legal team, here are 4 essential points to follow.

    • USERNAME AVAILABILITY REPORTS

      Cybersquatting also impacts on social networking usernames. Some cybersquatters are specialists in this area, particularly as it is usually free to create a social networking account. As is the case for domain names, there is a secondary market for such usernames. Thanks to our automated systems and manual analysis, we are able to analyze nearly 500 social networks worldwide, and to list any usernames (in addition to your own) which are free or taken by third parties.

       
    • PROFILE CREATION

      Once this audit has been carried out, our teams can take care of all of the formalities involved in registering your profiles. Each site has its own rules: some give priority to trademark owners whereas others do not. We will do everything possible to ensure that you obtain the most profiles using your trademark name, by contacting the site administrators where necessary.

       
    • PROFILE CREATION AND CONTENT MONITORING

      The number of social networks is expanding daily, with hundreds of networks are being created alongside the best known sites including community networks and thematic networks. These sites have huge potential for infringers, enabling them to reach their targets even more accurately than through spam, given that spam filters become increasingly sophisticated.

       
    • INFRINGEMENT SUSPENSION

      Our teams can liaise with social networks in order to recover usernames using your trademarks. There is no streamlined procedure as is the case for domain names (URDP), and each site has its own complaints system which is often difficult to access. We also act to prevent infringements which may appear in the content of pages or user profiles on these websites.

Social networking usernames

Cybersquatting does not only affect domain names. This form of online trademark infringement also impacts on social networking usernames.

Cybersquatting and social networks: protecting your brand

Cybersquatting does not only affect domain names. This form of online trademark infringement also impacts on social networking usernames, used to create URLs such as www.facebook.com/chanel or www.twitter.com/microsoft.

Some cybersquatters are specialists in this area, particularly as it is usually free to create a social networking account. For example, although Microsoft owns its Twitter username, this is not the case for Apple. www.twitter.com/apple is a moribund account with no tweets, yet has several thousand followers!

As is the case for domain names, there is a secondary market for such usernames. For example, in 2010 the Israeli government paid several thousands of dollars to repurchase the twitter.com/israel account.

In parallel with its services for professionals with trademarked domain names, SafeBrands currently offers an audit, monitoring and registration solution that enables you to control your identity on social networks through profile management.

Our social network monitoring offering

Thanks to our automated systems and manual analysis, we are able to analyze nearly 500 social networks worldwide, and to list any usernames (in addition to your own) which are free or taken by third parties. The service is based on four main areas:

  • AUDITING

    Get an overview at any given time: Which usernames are taken by third parties and are they infringing your trademarks?, which are free?, etc. A comprehensive report so that you know where you stand.

     
  • USERNAME REGISTRATION

    Based on the audit, we can launch processes to reserve your usernames and even create your profiles for you.

     
  • MONITORING

    Receive an alert as soon as a third party creates a new profile using your trademark names.

     
  • INFRINGEMENT SUSPENSION MEASURES

    Our lawyers specialize in online infringements. They will analyze potential infringements to your trademarks and propose the most appropriate solutions to stop them.

To receive our brochure with details of these services, contact your SafeBrands Account Manager, or if you are not yet a client, our social networking specialists.

– E-mail: rs@SafeBrands.fr

– Phone: +33 (0)4 88 66 22 18.

Brand protection on facebook

 

Facebook, the world-famous social network, has announced that its users will be able to create a login as of Saturday, 13 June 2009 at 06:01.

In concrete terms, Facebook users can identify themselves on the Internet as www.facebook.com/MyName and access their personal page by typing this address directly into the URL.
This announcement is intended to be innovative but beware! As the choice of identifier is free, this is a real threat for brand owners who have no desire to see their names used for unscrupulous purposes.

Fortunately, Facebook has thought of them and is urging them to protect their brands by preventing them from being registered as usernames.
To do so, don’t wait a minute and click on the following link to protect your brand: https://www.facebook.com/help/


The process is simple and clearly explained. However, do not hesitate to contact us for any further information.