If you own a trademark and find that someone is holding it hostage as a domain name until you pay a large sum for it, you may be the victim of cybersquatting.

When most business were not savy about the commercial opportunities on the Internet, it could be that the pratice that’s come to be known as cybersquatting originated at a time.

Cybersquatting consist of registering, using or even selling a domain name on the internet with the intent to profit off of someone else’s trademark. It happens when people buy domain names that use the names of existing businesses with the intent to sell the names for a profit to those businesses.

One of the popular strategies cybersquaters do is to register your name with Yourdomain.org or YourDomainName.Biz and then try to seel them to you at a very high price.

If that doesnt work, they could allow your competitor to get a domain that sounds like yours, and allow him to cause confusion or try to steal your hard-earned traffic, business and clients.

Lawsuits are an option if cybersquatters commit libel ot trademark infringement. But domain-related lawsuits can take years and cost dearly. While it is time-consuming and costly, arbitration is still a very successful mean of resolving these issues.

But, there’s nothing like prevention. It is easier and cheaper. To protect your company it is a good idea to register any and all common variants of your domain that way nobody else can get hold of them and do any damage , this is very easy to do and will not cost much.

Complete a document that locks in the authorized entities for your claim of different domain titles. You can buy these names and keep them under your roof. You will want to review your domain name register so that you know what will be needed, for example you will need to pay attention to contact information, who to be contacted if by chance someone attempts to register your domain.

You only have a narrow window of time to complete the authorized entry documentation. In order to ensure that you have a right to enter a claim you need to make sure that you enter it with in the allotted time frame so that the registering entities can check the relevant com, net or org name. They will not check the IP Claim Service database. Meaning, you could lose your .info or .net version of your domain name.

Opportunities for cybersquatters are rapidly diminishing, because most businesses now know that nailing down domain names is a high priority.

Dont let cyber squatters shake you down and ruin what you have built up on the net. Your domain names are an investment in more than just your Web site. Get the rights and the authorization to similar or like names to your main domain name! And don’t let them expire or be compromised, it can cost you much more.