Numerous businesses exist on the internet today. One of them is domaining, which is the business of buying and selling domain names. But there is another one called domain squatting, which is a bit different from domaining because the two intents are not the same, even though they’re all about buying and selling domain names.
How can you tell if someone is Domain squatting?
Domain squatting or cybersquatting has moved from being completely legal to Falling In a grey area, permissible in some cases and illegal in others. There is a legitimate practice of buying and selling domain names, and it’s important to know the difference between them and cybersquatting.
People engage in buying domain names online and trade them as businesses with a clear positive intent. Domain squatting does not ask you for clear intent, but rather, it is an act of purchasing a generic top-level domain (gTLD) to block someone else from registering that name on the internet to profit from reselling it to bigger buying or selling ads on it.
What is domaining, and why is it different from domain squatting?
Domaining is the act of buying domain names with potential value to any number of buyers based on habits, interests, and trends. The domain owner can then go and audition the domain name through a domain aftermarket or broker.
Why do people participate in domain squatting?
For instance, someone might just go on to register the domain name of your newly established business with the hope of reselling it to you in the future. The truth is that domain squatters can target the likes of high-profile celebrities and register their names as domain names with the intent of cybersquatting and reselling them to them for a bigger pay in the future than what they bought.
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Examples of high-profile domain squatting cases.
- The case of Madonna, the Celebrity whose name was used for a porn site, who later fought and won at the court.
- When Vice President Harris announced the Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, the domain name Harriswalz(dot)com has already been taken, snapped up four years ago by 36 year Old Jeremy Green Eche. Periodically, Eche goes on a buying spree on platforms like GoDaddy and name(dot)com, purchasing domain names of various hypothetical presidential tickets.Eche, anticipating that Harris’s might run again in the future, purchased 15 Harris-related domain names and paired them with every big people name he could think of.
How to prevent domain squatting.
It is always easier to prevent something than to allow it to be managed when it happens. The cost of managing something or cleaning it up is always high. However, below are five tips to help prevent losing a domain name in the future.
1.Ensure that you register the domain name that you want before you need it.
If you want to register a domain name when you need it, It might be very late at that time. Adding a domain name to your cart does not prevent a squatter from buying them. Most times, the domain squatters often buy recently searched domains with the hope of reselling them to the original searcher.
2.Register Similar names.
Instead of you buying only. Com of your domain name, buy another extension such as. .Co, .Biz, etc., in order to prevent Squatter from buying any of them. Research common misspellings of your name and consider buying them, too.
3.Consider domain ownership protection.
Ensure that you protect your domain name even when it has expired or when there is an attempt to transfer; it can still be attached to you as the owner. Some domain name companies often offer such services.
4.Register a trademark
Consider registering your domain name as a trademark with a trademark office of your country. In the US, you can consult the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
5.Be the owner of your record.
Ensure that you maintain the record of your domain name even when someone else registers it for you. Whether they are your employees or a third-party registration company, ensure they do the registration of the domain name in your name and, possibly, with your email address.
Conclusion.
Now that you have read much about domain squatting, will you pay attention and apply what you have read into action? So go ahead and protect your domain names so that it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands. Always ensure that it is protected.