Published: 5 Sept 2012
The state of the world economyis not exactly in the best shape and everyone is looking to cutcosts. Trade mark owners are no different.We have seen trade marks owners being charged exorbitant amounts tomanage their domain name portfolios by niche domain name managementcompanies. They even go so far as to charge for updatingnameservers of TLDs (Top Level Domain) that have an automatedregistration system. A nameserver charge is normally only levied onTLDs that have a more complicated registry interface and require“physical” work from the domain name management company. If yourcompany is continuously changing its nameservers you could bepaying more for the technical changes than the domain nameitself.
Most niche domain name management companies provide similarservices (technical and support perspective) so the realdistinguishing factor should be price. We would advise trade markowners to shop around in the industry and compare prices.
The saving could result in having extra funds available to securedomain names in new gTLDs (generic Top Level Domain) or extendprotection in the various ccTLDs (country code Top LevelDomain).
So how can a trade mark owner save in the management of its domainname portfolio?
Well, a domain name portfolio continuously increases as a result ofthe following:
• New TLDs being released;
• Domains acquired through the UDRP (Uniform Dispute ResolutionPolicy) or threatened litigation;
• Business acquisitions and mergers;
• Marketing campaigns.
This continuous increase obviously makes the task of cost reductionmore difficult. We propose that the solution is to ensure that yourdomain name management company is offering competitive prices forregistrations, renewals and updates.
What should you look for in domain name pricing?
• Registration and renewalcosts – some domain name management companies quote theiradministrative fee separately from the registry fee resulting inthe total fee being much higher than quoted. You should be able tonegotiate on the management fees.
• Costs for changing administrativeand technical contact information should be free for most(although not all) TLDs.
• Cost for a registranttransfer should not be more than the registration fee.
• Change of nameserver, inmost cases, should be free.
It can be a daunting task moving a domain name portfolio from onedomain name management company to another but it may save yourbusiness thousands of pounds a year.
Lexsynergy.com