Case Study: Register Your Company’s Domain Name
Brand Marketing January 3rd, 2008A world famous chef is planning to open a new restaurant in a few months. This restaurant is going to quickly become one of the top restaurants (probably in the world). Out of curiosity, I checked, and the .com domain name of the exact restaurant name is unregistered.
Here’s the kicker… The restaurant group bought a different (shortened) domain name for the restaurant with a hyphen in the domain name. Guess what. The non-hyphenated name is unregistered.
Ordinarily, I would consider being a good samaritan and grab both names to give to them at no cost. The problem is that if I do this and can’t get in touch with the proper person, I could be accused of cybersquatting, as the restaurant name is not a generic term. Sometimes it’s just not worth taking a chance.
The moral of this is a reminder to register the .com domain name of your business before telling anyone the name!
January 4th, 2008 at 4:43 am
This boggles my mind. Even non-domainers should have the sense to register their business domains.
This is why some people cybersquat; it’s a low-risk enterprise and easy money.
It’s not right, but it’s the reality.
Best from Skopje, Macedonia
January 4th, 2008 at 11:01 am
I’d buy it anyway and make it clear you aren’t trying to profit from it and see where it goes with them. Although I did have a “no good deed goes unpunished” story like that once….will post it up shortly.
January 4th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Do they serve nice wine there?
January 4th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
If you make a public post like this about your intentions and register the name(s), I wouldn’t think you’d have much to worry about as far as a squatting claim. I’d grab them and make a new post asking for a couple free dinners for you and your buddy at DomainNameNews.
January 5th, 2008 at 3:23 am
Stealthy,
The wine is wonderful here.
Tga Za Jug is the best.
Also, Mastika (anise) is good as well.
Heck, it’s all good!
I’d probably email the company directly and let them know about the domain. I don’t know that I’d want to put myself and company at risk because of a misunderstanding on their part.
Once the company goes public, the domain will be snapped up by someone, but that’s just stupidity on the company’s part.
Ms Domainer
January 5th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
@ Ms Domainer
That T’ga za Jug looks very nice. I must try it…
It’s just a matter of time before companies are hip to registering their domains before going public…