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You are a company in process of being set up or established and are considering promoting your activity or extending your distribution channels by setting up one or more websites dedicated to your company and your products or services.

Reserving your domain names is a crucial step in your Internet deployment strategy. A judicious choice of domain names can differentiate you from the competition, increase your visibility and credibility with your customers. It can also prevent potentially expensive subsequent litigation.

As much as the procedures for checking the availability and reservation of domain names are simple, as much ensuring that your reservations do not infringe on anterior rights of third parties (trademarks, domain names, corporate names ...) is not thing easy.

Nevertheless, it is essential to treat your domain names with the same vigilance as your trademarks and other distinctive signs and, if necessary, to defend them against the increasingly numerous fraudulent practices (cybersquatting, typosquatting, dotsquatting ...)

The IPSIDE and IPSIDE AVOCAT teams accompany you in elaborating your domain names reservation strategy and assist you in their defense:

  • Optimize your reservation strategy: There are many domain name extensions (generic, geographical or describing the domain of activity) and, consequently, it is not possible to reserve all the extensions on the market. Moreover, there is a multitude of possibilities in what concerns the choice of the radical (often consisting of the chosen trademark) of the domain name: accented characters or not, Cyrillic characters, Chinese characters… To determine the extensions of your interest, you must study the targeted markets and their geographical scope and then inquire about the interest of reserving extensions for which there is no dispute settlement procedure in the event of a fraudulent reservation. Once the reservation strategy has been set, one must check the availability of the desired domain names. It is common to find that domain names are not available for reservation because they are already owned by of third parties. Liberalization procedures are then possible. They may differ depending on the circumstances: it may involve setting up a back-order (surveillance with a recovery option in the event of non-renewal by the holder), an attempt to repurchase anonymously, but this one is of interest only if the other wanted domain names have not already been the subject of reservations disclosing the identity of the holder of the rights ...
  • Before any reservation and especially before uploading a website, it is strongly recommended to carry out anteriority research in order to ensure there is no infringement on anteriority rights of third parties. Indeed, not taking these preliminary steps can cost you dearly and in the event of conflict, you have to change your brand, your domain names and possibly all promotional materials already made. Extensions of domain names open very regularly, so it is important to be informed so that one can position oneself and possibly consolidate his rights portfolio. Mechanisms such as the Trademark Clearing House (TMCH) may allow you to benefit from a priority reservation right. The IPSIDE legal experts advise you on the choices to be made and assist you in the steps to be taken.
  • Manage your portfolio of domain names in a proactive manner: IPSIDE's Domain Names and Digital department accompanies you throughout the life of the domain name: renewals, redirection set-up, SSL certificates, creation of mailboxes, hosting, creation of sub-domains, updating of whois data in the event of transfer of ownership or change of corporate name ... As for a portfolio of trademarks (see Trademarks), IPSIDE legal experts offer audits of your domain name portfolios in order to consolidate, rationalize or enhance them by acquiring new extensions. They may also carry out negotiations in the context of buying or selling domain names or setting up surveillances with a recovery option in case of non-renewal by the holder (back-orders).
  • Defend your rights against counterfeiters: In order to ensure the defense your domain names and trademarks, the IPSIDE legal experts and lawyers offer you a full range of surveillance services (including domain names, social networks, trading platforms, the websites of your competitors ...). These allow you to be notified in case of fraudulent acts and to be able to act quickly so that the violation of your rights ceases as quickly as possible and that the harm done will not have too many consequences. The means of action that can be implemented are multiple. These may include Internet findings, letters of formal notice, procedures for disabling domain names in case of incorrect whois data, procedures carried out in the Registries, complaints filed with the arbitration centers for disputes relating to domain names and legal actions for infringement and/ or unfair competition.

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France