Brand Protection, hypenated .com's, .info's, and more?

[zenmushin]

I am trying to figure how much brand protection I should perform with my domain registrations. I have a small business that I would like to protect from competitors and cybersquatters. As an example, let's say that my business is "Brand Names" (which it is not). I have already registered these equivalents:

• BrandNames.com
• BrandNames.net
• BrandNames.org
• BrandName.com
• BrandName.net
• BrandName.org

I am trying to figure out how far I should go.

• Should I register the hyphenated version?
  Brand-Names.com
  Brand-Name.com

• Should I register the .info? Note that .BIZ and .US is already taken.
  BrandNames.info
  BrandName.info

• Should I consider other domain extensions? I do not want to consider .CO because the yearly registration cost is too high.

Thanks for any help. Any well-written articles would be of great help.

 

[alien51]

The term "brand protection" would require some kind of legal considerations-- like having it TM.

But if you're merely asking how much fence you need to build around your domain name, perhaps the minimum would be up to .NET and .ORG.

In my case, i even took the "the" version. So for example i have Safehouse-dot-COM, i also have TheSafehouse-dot-COM. And of course, i also have the plural version for 'merchandisable' domains, for example HandBag-dot-COM and also HandBags-dot-COM. And they all resolve to just 1 domain i use-- which is of course, .COM.

If you don't have TM, there's no way you can stop others from taking Handbags-dot-EU, which is of course you can't if your domain is generic.

 

[RazorNF]

If it's a real unique brand, then should also consider the major cctlds (if you qualify, some have presence requirements)

 

[druon]

Better idea is to register trademark. If somebody registered some domein like your, you will can do dispute for them and you will get them.