Brand Safety Alliance Rolls Out GlobalBlock Domain Name Blocking Service – Trademark

The Brand Safety Alliance (BSA) has rolled out its new
GlobalBlock service. This GT Alert explains what GlobalBlock is and
how it works, including the benefits and limitations, so businesses
can decide if the service is appropriate for them.

What Is the BSA?

The BSA is an initiative of GoDaddy Registry, an affiliate of
GoDaddy.

What Is GlobalBlock?

GlobalBlock is a paid service that blocks registration of
currently available domain names that are
exact matches of covered trademarks
across (currently) 510 different top-level domains (TLDs) including
several popular ones like .BIZ, .CO, .INFO, and .IO.

The GlobalBlock+ service also blocks homoglyph (i.e., non-Latin
script) variations likely to be confused with covered trademarks,
such as “trádemαrk,” using diacritic or
Greek characters.

What Does GlobalBlock Cost?

Specific prices vary, but most corporate registrars charge
around $5,600 per year for GlobalBlock or $8,200 per year for
GlobalBlock+ per trademark.

The BSA also offers discounted rates for brand owners with an
existing subscription to the Domain Protected Marks List (DPML)
blocking service, which is now operated by Identity Digital (f/k/a
Donuts Inc.).

What Are the Benefits of GlobalBlock?

• Minimizes Need to Defensively Register or Recover
  Covered Domains – Because GlobalBlock blocks domain
  registrations exactly matching covered trademarks (and their
  homoglyphs with GlobalBlock+), business do not need to defensively
  register available domain names in covered TLDs or recover them
  through enforcement. Brand owners could also potentially let domain
  names they have defensively registered lapse because they would be
  covered by the block (although this is not recommended in case the
  TLD drops out of GlobalBlock or the company ceases use of
  GlobalBlock, in which case it would need to race to re-register all
  of the dropped domain names).




• Coverage Beyond Registered Trademarks –
  GlobalBlock eligibility extends beyond registered trademarks to
  include unregistered trademarks, corporate names, and celebrity
  names (collectively referred to as “trademarks” for the
  purposes of this GT Alert), which are all subject to a free proof
  of use verification process.




• Broad Coverage of TLDs – GlobalBlock
  currently covers 510 different “TLDs” including new
  generic TLDs several legacy TLDs such as .BIZ, .CO, .INFO, and .IO,
  and numerous country-code TLDs. This number may fluctuate depending
  on the popularity and success of GlobalBlock.




• Applies to Premium Names – GlobalBlock
  includes domains that registries might subjectively designate as
  “premium” and thereby reserve or charge exorbitant
  registration fees.
  
  .

What Are the Limitations of GlobalBlock?

• No Impact on Domain Names Already Registered
  – GlobalBlock does not block or otherwise impact domain names
  that are already registered, by the brand owner or a third party.
  Accordingly, the BSA Brand Protection Calculator only calculates
  “The amount of domains you could
  potentially block with GlobalBlock [and]
  GlobalBlock+” (emphasis added). For major brand owners who
  have engaged in reasonable online enforcement and defensive
  registration, many domain names for which GlobalBlock coverage is
  desirable are likely either already defensively registered or being
  squatted on.




• Only Covers Exact Matches of Trademarks and Homoglyphs,
  Not Other Variations – Furthermore, as discussed
  above, GlobalBlock only blocks registration of available domain
  names which are exact matches of
  trademarks (with nothing added) and in the case of GlobalBlock+,
  homoglyph variations as well. Neither product blocks registrations
  of domain names that incorporate a company’s exact trademark
  plus a generic term or additional characters, typos, or
  misspellings of a company’s trademarks. So, while GlobalBlock
  will protect against domain names consisting of your exact
  trademarks (or homoglyph variations), neither product will protect
  against the virtually unlimited possible misspellings of trademarks
  combined with other words or characters, including commonly abused
  terms like “www,” “support,”
  “security,” “login,” and
  “accounting.”




• No Coverage for .com – GlobalBlock does
  not block trademarks in .com, which is arguably the most valuable
  (and abused) TLD from a brand promotion and protection
  perspective.




• Included TLDs Subject to Change –
  Similar to previous blocking services, the TLDs covered by
  GlobalBlock are subject to change, for example through GlobalBlock
  contract expiry or registry change in ownership. This means there
  are no guarantees that current available blocks will persist.




• May Be Cost Prohibitive for Some –
  Similar to previous blocking services, costs may be prohibitive for
  either small business owners or brand owners with a large portfolio
  of trademarks. Even at a discounted cost (based on volume) of
  $5,000 per year per trademark, the GlobalBlock service may be
  impractical for portfolios above 10 trademarks, since there are few
  in-house trademark teams that are able to spend $50,000 or more
  annually purely on defensive
  registrations or blocking services.

Key Takeaways

While GlobalBlock is not a panacea to the many complex domain
name enforcement issues facing companies today, and it has
significant limitations, for those that can afford it, GlobalBlock
may be a useful and cost-effective tool to increase domain name
protection for a company’s most valuable trademarks.

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.