Takedowns

As the value of domain names increase, typosquatting (conscious misspellings) and cybersquatting (registering a brand as a domain name on another top-level domain like .co instead of .com) becomes increasingly common. This means that there are people that attempt to profit on someone else’s brand by registering domain names with the aim of channelling traffic (usually to questionable sites) and/or attempting to commit fraud.

In some cases, a registered domain name may constitute a trademark infringement and thus a direct and acute threat to the brand. As a trademark holder in that situation, you usually do not have time to wait for the result of a warning letter or dispute. Alternatively, it is only the content on the website, not the domain name itself, that constitutes the infringement.

A “takedown” is a very efficient tool to quickly get rid of the trademark infringement on the specific site.

A takedown means that we, on behalf of our clients, report the trademark and/or copyright infringement to the technical providers that the domain name is using and plead our case why the website should be taken down immediately. Usually, the providers then take the website down within a few days. The advantage of a takedown is its efficiency as well as its cost-effectiveness.

Takedowns are often carried out in combination with other legal measures like cease-and-desist letters and disputes (if possible).