Domain Name - Internet Brand Scam

Dated: 29 March 2010

There is what appears to be an internet scam that is doing the rounds although it is not new, and not from Nigeria this time, but from China.  Various companies from this region are contacting small and medium sized businesses and claiming that another person is trying to register their domain name and the domain name usually ends in .cn, .asia, .com.cn, (all related to Asia and China but with the same domain name as the small business). In addtion, the .cn company also reveals a threat to your 'Internet Brand' which is indentical to yours except in Asia.  For example, you may own Johnsmith.co.uk and these companies will email you to offer their services to purchase the relevant domains and Internet branding, for example for johnsmith.com.cn, to prevent this other person from registering them.

These companies are trying to put the pressure on by giving you very short deadlines to comply and panic you into buying in order to apparently prevent the abuse of your domain name and branding. Although this is legitimate, what threat is a domain name ending .cn to you?

If you are not web literate, the email can look like a genuine threat to your brand and you might think that this company is trying to help you.  However, the word  ‘Internet Branding’ implies that there is some sort of intellectual property, either a trademark or copyright.  As yet there is no specific trademark or copyright protection for the internet in the UK, it is the same law as governs offline intellectual property. 

You may want to protect your branding in China, but think how much it would cost to protect you branding all over the world. Sometimes you have to decide that it doesn't have a commercial impact worth paying for.

I have attached the  emails below and there are some more examples of this on:
Firetrust:             http://www.firetrust.com/en/blog/chris/domain-name-scams

Dear ***,
Thanks for your prompt reply.As far as we know, Mr. John Sun want to apply for the following names:
 
[domain name].cn
[domain name].com.cn
[domain name].asia
[domain name].net.cn
[domain name].k
And Internet Brand "[domain name] ".

You would  know domain name takes open registration, this is international domain name registration principle. So Mr. John Sun  has right to register it.
 If you think his registration will confuse your clients and harm your profits, we can send an  application document to you and help you register these domains within our approving period. This is a better way to prevent domain name dispute. If you think his application will not affect your company, you can give up, we will finish his registration. Hope get your decision as soon as possible so that we can handle the next step
 
Best regards
 
Your Sincerely
Margaret
Oversea Marketing Manager
-------------------------------------------
Room 1008,
International Building,
No.38 YueLong road,NanTong City
Tel:+86(513)85330968
Fax:+86(513)80260081
Email:Margaret@volcafe.asia
Website: www.volcafe.asia


----- 原邮件信息 -----
发件人：[domain name].
发送时间：10-03-24 21:13:33
收件人：Margaret <margaret@volcafe.asia>
主题：Re: ([domain name])Notice of Intellectual Property Protection 2010-3-24

Hi Margaret,

Thanks for writing but as I understand it one can only register the domains you want and at the moment, unfortunately, we don't have any real demand in your area. Perhaps Mr John Sun could check out our website and see if anything resonates with him?

Best regards
***

On 24 Mar 2010, at 12:26, Margaret wrote:

Dear Sir/Madam

I'm sorry to disturb you so abrupt. We are a domain name registration service company in Asia,

On 22th March. we received a formal application submitted by Mr. John Sun who wanted to use the keyword "[domain name]" to register the Internet Brand and with suffix such as .cn /.com.cn /.net.cn/.hk/.asia/ domain names.
After our initial examination, we found that these domain names to be applied for registration  are same as your  domain name and trademark. We aren't sure whether you have any relation with him. Because these domain names would produce possible dispute, now we have hold down his registration, but if we do not get your company's an reply in the next 5 working days, we will approve his application
As authorized anti-cybersquatting organization we hereby suspect Mr. John Sun is a domain investor. so we need you to attach importance to this issue.
In order to handle this issue better, Please contact us by Fax ,Telephone or Email as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely 　　　　　　　　2010-3-24
Margaret
Oversea Marketing Manager
-------------------------------------------
Room 1008,
International Building,
No.38 YueLong road,NanTong City
Tel:+86(513)85330968
Fax:+86(513)80260081
Email:Margaret@volcafe.asia
Website: www.volcafe.asia