The Brand Safety Alliance has launched GlobalBlock, a domain blocking service, providing brand owners the opportunity to block their marks from being illegitimately registered with 500+ gTLD and ccTLD domain extensions in a single transaction. For $4,700 per year, a GlobalBlock registration will cover a single exact match 'string' (i.e., your mark or company name) with all available extensions covered by the block. For $7,500 per year, GlobalBlock+ will cover variations of a mark where a single character is swapped (e.g., the Greek alpha (ɑ) for the letter A), but not other common types of typosquatting. The full list of covered TLDs and brand protection calculator can be found on the registry's website.
Some features of GlobalBlock include:
Continual addition of domain extensions over time which will result in price increases. The price increase is only reflected at renewal so purchasing the block for the maximum term length – 3 years – is the most cost-effective strategy.
Automatically picking up any domain that matches a brand string registered with a covered extension upon its lapse. This means it functions as both a drop-catch service for third-party registered domains and an extra layer of protection against the loss of a domain due to an inadvertent lapse.
Unblocking of domains at any time which allows for domains to be registered and used in association with a live website.
GlobalBlock is not limited to owners of registered trademarks, but also allows owners of an unregistered trademark, a company name, or a celebrity name to take advantage of the service.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
