The business case for protecting trademarks as user names on social networks.

1. 1/30/2015Copyright 2010 TM.Biz
Protecting Trademarks
on Social Media

2. Topics Covered
1/30/2015Copyright 2010 TM.Biz
 Current Situation in Social Media
 Complications for Trademark Owners
 Approaches to Protection

3. Social Media is Exploding
1/30/2015Copyright 2010 TM.Biz
You’ve
heard of :
130 million120 million
120 million
120 million
120 million
But have
you heard
of….
100 million
…and the Thousands of “smaller” niche players
with millions of members each
500 million
160 million
200 million

4. Social Media is Mainstream
1/30/2015Copyright 2010 TM.Biz
• 60% of Internet users are members of Social Media
Networks – PC Advisor
• Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on
the Web – NY Times
• More than 21% of cell phone users visit social media
from their phones - Comscore
• Americans spend 25% of their time online on social
networks - Nielsen
• 25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 largest
brands are links to user-generated content - Nielsen

5. Usernames are the Internet’s New
Brand Identifiers
1/30/2015Copyright 2010 TM.Biz
Evolution Online for Trademark Professionals
 200 million domain names (90M are .com)
 2 billion usernames on top 20 social networks
 25% of search results… are links to user
generated content and this is growing

6. Complication – No Barriers to Obtain
Usernames are:
• Free to obtain
• First come - first served
• Typically have profile pages
• Indexed by search engines
• Receive traffic and can be monetized
• Typically NOT Reused

7. Complication - No Protection Mechanisms
Domain Names - Controlled
Today
• UDRP (Uniform Domain
Resolution Policy)
• WHOIS
• Anti-Cybersquatting
• In-Rem
• Sunrise periods
Coming Soon
• Uniform Rapid Suspension
• Trademark Clearinghouse
• IP Claims
Usernames – UNCONTROLLED
Usernames are the Wild West
when compared to Domain Names
Today
• No Dispute Policy
• No Gatekeepers
• No Group
Coming Soon
• Nothing
• Nothing
• Nothing

8. Complication - Everything Old is New
• Direct infringement
• Derogatory and defamatory speech
• Blatantly false information
• Impersonation of executives

9. Question
What should I do to protect my
Trademark’s Usernames in
Social Media?

10. Apply the lessons from Domain Names
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Best Practice – Be Proactive & Not Reactive
• Reserve your trademarks and key executives as
Usernames
• Identify infringement early

11. The Costs - Business Case
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 Proactive – Reserve Now
• Package cost ~ $ 349 one
time fee
• Trademark secured on 100
social networks
• Watch the rest
 Reactive - Do Nothing
• Assume 50 are taken
• Assume 10 are of concern
• Conduct Investigation
 Cost: $500 x 10 = $5000
• Send takedown letters
 Cost: $500 x 10 = $5000
• Sub-total cost: $10,000
• 50% success rate (5 of 10)
• Repeat as infractions occur
 Cost: $1,000/incident
Example: Secure house brand in top 100 social networks

12. Avoid “I think we have people handling this”
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Best Practices Dictates this should be owned by Legal
• This is a trademark protection and enforcement issue
 How is it being managed?
 Who are keeping the records?
 Is it anonymous or public?
 Who is ensuring the accounts remain active?
• Domain Name Registrars are not in this business
• Marketing Departments - may address some issues
(quick Free Search on TM.Biz and you’ll know)

13. Evaluate Benefits and Risks
1/30/2015Copyright 2010 TM.Biz
Proactive
 Avoid confusion
 Avoid loss of revenue
 Avoid embarrassment
 Avoid damage control
 Far less expensive than
recovery/clean-up efforts
Reactive
 Consumer confusion
 Loss of revenue
 Loss of reputation
 Legal fees
 Recovery may not be
successful

14. 1/30/2015Copyright 2010 TM.Biz
• Reserve trademarks and key executives as
usernames
• Include social media availability searches for all
new name creation efforts
• Monitor for emerging social networks to avoid
surprises
• Investigate “taken” usernames for trademark
infringement
TM.Biz Allows you to

15. Sign-Up Now
1/30/2015Copyright 2010 TM.Biz
15
 Eligible trademark professionals and brand
managers can request a free account at:
http://www.tm.biz
 There are no set-up fees or subscription fees
 Unlimited searching – you pay only for
reports