The brand domain name was registered by competitors just after the exhibition? CurePuck.com domain name dispute case

Recently, a domain name dispute case has attracted industry attention. After the Canadian company Keirton Inc. launched its new brand "CURE PUCK", its corresponding domain name CurePuck.com was registered by competitors in just one day. This incident once again reminds companies that domain name protection must come first before brand promotion.

The incident happened at the end of 2022. Keirton first released the "CURE PUCK" product at an industry exhibition, and the day after the exhibition ended, CurePuck.com was registered by another company. The company operates a brand called CURETUBE and sets CurePuck.com as a jump link that directly leads to its official website. This behavior is obviously misleading and suspected of malicious diversion.

Keirton then filed a domain name arbitration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), believing that the other party's registration behavior was malicious and intended to obtain improper benefits with its own brand. WIPO finally ruled that Keirton won the case and transferred the domain name back to the original brand.

Although the case ended with Keirton's victory, the process was not easy. From discovering that it was preempted, collecting evidence, submitting to arbitration, to waiting for the ruling, it took several months, which is not an easy task for any company. More importantly, during this period, the brand's official website entrance was occupied by competitors, which may have caused customer loss or market confusion.

The biggest lesson of this case is that domain names are not "accessories" after the brand is launched, but should be an indispensable part of brand planning. Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, the cost of registering domain names in advance is extremely low, but once it falls into the hands of others, it is not only expensive but also time-consuming to get it back.

If the company has a certain budget, it is recommended to register core domain names before the brand is released, especially mainstream suffixes such as .com, .cn, and .net; at the same time, it should also consider protecting common spelling variants, such as hyphenated forms, plural versions, or easily confused spellings, to prevent others from maliciously registering and confusing the audience.

Domain names are the starting point of corporate digital assets and the first line of defense for brands online. For companies that want to operate their brands in the long term, completing domain name layout in advance is far more secure and less costly than defending rights afterwards. The case of CurePuck.com has sounded a wake-up call for all brands.