Cadie Thompson wrote a piece for CNBC earlier today that included comments from Kathy Nielsen from Sedo. The article focuses on the potential problems that a small business without a robust intellectual property team and a small budget may face.
This makes it easier for cybersquatters to buy a domain name that a legitimate business may want. It also opens the door for more cybercriminals to pose as an established website in order to steal user information. And while big corporations have the resources to deal with these kinds of problems, small businesses don’t, experts say.
One of the biggest issues that smaller businesses may face, though, is trademark infringement, said Kathy Nielsen, vice president of business development for new gTLDs at Sedo, a domain marketplace.
The article also quotes a study from last March that Sedo conducted, the study showed many small businesses had no idea about the new gtlds.
Big corporations have lawyers and consultants to protect their trademarks, but many small businesses aren’t even aware the new domains are becoming available or what they can do to protect their trademarks, Nielsen said.
In fact, 63 percent of small to midsize business owners were unaware that new gTLDs were becoming available and did not understand why they would be valuable, according to a report published by Sedo in March. And 94 percent of respondents said they weren’t planning on purchasing a new domain when they became available.
“For small and midsize businesses that have trademarks, this is probably the most important thing that is being missed,” Nielsen said.
“It will be a gold rush all over again.
We are almost a full year removed from that Sedo study, have more small businesses become aware ? Whether they will participate is the question every registry wants to know.…
