Defensive Registration is the most overlooked solution to problems by any new online entity. Once again, common sense tactics are often the best! Defensive Registration involves the proactive self-registration of domain name variants to avoid domain-squatter problems in the future. Often, when a violation is found , ie. mybadmark.net, the alternate GTLDs should be immediately registered: .com, .org, .us, .info, .biz, and .co.uk (.ca if you have a Canadian presence).
If you protect yourself from having someone else register your trademarks, you need to ensure that they resolve to the proper website and/or place within that website for maximum effectiveness. Let’s say your company, Acme, has a television line called “Astro” – so after you defensively register “Astrotelevision.com” and “AstroTV.com” and “AstrobyAcme.com” and “AcmeTelevisions.com“, unless they go directly to the Television section of your website, you are only slowing down the effectiveness of the name itself.
