Domain Blocking

Domain registrations are an important component of a brand protection strategy. In order to prevent abusive registrations, phishing, malware and other threats, some companies follow a strategy of registering their brands under all available TLDs. Others go so far as registering specific domains including homoglyph and typo variants. However, this approach is costly, and most brand owners opt for a more practical approach.

The aim of a well thought-out intellectual property protection strategy is to minimise the brand reputational risks and to protect intellectual property online. In terms of domain management, this should encompass defensive measures such as domain blocking of potentially malicious domains which is offered by a large number of registries.

With Domain Blocking, a string, label or keyword that contains a brand name or trademarked term in any form can be blocked by the domain registry and thus cannot be registered for any purpose.

Typical domain blocking services block multiple domain extensions and subdomains with a single block. A number of providers also offer extended services which provide blocks over multiple string variants including common typos and mixed script or homoglyph registrations.

During the Sunrise Launch Phase of any new Top Level Domain, trademark owners can register their marks as domain names before the TLD is open for registration by the general public. This makes it easy for the Trademark Holder to register its marks as domain names.  

Blocking services, offered by a number of registries, provide a more cost-effective and comprehensive alternative. Instead of registering domain names during the Sunrise period, trademark holders can block any registrations by third parties in their trademarked terms. 

While the domain names are not registered to the trademark holder, no one else can register them either. Typically, domain blocking is a fraction of the cost of registering domain names in sunrise and covers multiple TLDs and string variants on a block list. 

GlobalBlock is a critical new domain blocking tool to help manage reputation and reduce the financial and operational burden of managing your brand’s domain name portfolios which was made available on February 29th, 2024.

It effectively blocks all available names that match your brand so no one else can purchase them, and is designed to offer unprecedented protection to safeguard your brand’s digital identity and provide peace of mind.

GlobalBlock’s services will help you:

• Immobilize scammers and bad actors
• Save time on endless defensive domain registrations
• Avoid the costs of litigation, domain acquisition and brand monitoring
• Gain protection against human error and lost domains
• Protect your brand from the reputational, commercial and technical costs of online fraud

Click here to find out more.