Nick CaristinosAs registered trademark holders, protecting and maintaining one’s trademarks can seem like a daunting task, especially when it comes to the domain name market. Just when you thought you had all your domains covered along comes another new domain name extension for you to worry about.
Although it is often not possible to register every trademark you own in every domain name extension, it is always a good idea to ensure you protect your trademarks in the most popular domain extensions as well as any new extensions that may benefit you, and your trademarks in new and innovative ways. The soon to be launched .TEL domain is not an exception to this rule.
There are a number of things that make .TEL different from other domain names currently available. One of these differences and probably the most compelling to trademark holders is that. TEL domains are not website based. This means it will be difficult for a person visiting a .TEL domain name to be sure that the information they are looking at is the actual company, organization or individual they are looking for based on the name they enter.
For example, let’s say my company holds the trademark for a product called “YumYums” and I didn’t register the corresponding .TEL domain (eg. yumyums.tel). Along comes my competitor or worse, someone who wishes to divert my customers, and they register yumyums.tel. Now when a new or returning customer tries to contact or find my company by entering yumyums.tel in their browser or mobile device, he could be exposed to information that will divert him elsewhere. Uh oh! Not only have I confused, or worse, lost my customer, my “YumYums” brand has also been compromised.
As you can see from this example the potential for business loss, or worse, sensitive information being captured due to intentional “phishing” is significant. This is not to say .TEL domains are somehow less secure, but in today’s world businesses and organizations can never be too cautious and should follow best practices to protect their brands and trademarks.
In addition to protecting your official trademarks as .TEL domains, businesses and organizations should consider registering other terms and words as .TEL domains that relate to your business, products and marks to funnel potential customers to your .TEL page and contact information.
Think of .TEL as your personal white/yellow pages listing on the Internet. A .TEL domain can be accessed by anyone, anytime globally. Because your contact information is conveniently stored in your .TEL domain’s DNS, you can update and control your contact information whenever you need to. You won’t need to worry any longer about changes you have made to your contact details being out of date in hard copy directories – your customers will always have the latest information you supply directly to your .TEL page.
The .TEL domains truly stand to revolutionize the way we share our contact details with the world. Sure, the pricing for a .TEL Sunrise (Trademark) submission may seem high in comparison to other domain launches, but your trademarks are invaluable. Being pro-active in the protection of your trademark can save you time and money in the long run.
Instead of chasing down .TEL domains in violation of your trademark after the fact, use your time, energy and money to ensure your .TEL domains are protected from the get-go. By protecting your trademarks, you are also protecting your most valuable resources – your clients, your brands and products and your reputation. So don’t let me .TEL you why you should register your trademarks as .TEL domains, visit www.webnames.ca to learn more about how this new domain will revolutionize the way we keep in touch.
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Click here for more information on .TEL
Great article, would you be so kind as to provide more information and supporting evidence on how The .TEL domains are going to revolutionize the way we share our contact details with the world.
Thanks
O
Of course …think about what it would be like if all your contacts – business and personal – used their .TEL domain for communication. First off, all of their contact details would be stored and accessible from their .TEL domain. You wouldn’t need to rely on your contact to notify you if their information changes, it would always be up-to-date on their .TEL. When you need to get in contact, you would simply go to their .TEL domain into your mobile (or any web enabled device), select a contact method (for example, email or Skype ID), then click it to connect to them immediately. .TEL also includes privacy settings that allow the registrant to specify what information they want to be public, and what information they want available to approved contacts only. To see some examples of what a personal or business .TEL page will look like, check out http://emma.tel/ and http://smallco.tel/.