BrandShield Launches Solution in United States to Identify, Combat and Control Brand Theft Online

SOURCE: BrandShield

New York – February 12, 2014 – BrandShield, a pioneer in the online brand protection space, today announced the availability of the BrandShield Brand Protection System in North America. BrandShield helps companies combat online brand abuse from brand parasites that steal traffic, scam users, sell counterfeit goods, register domain names in violation of trademark or otherwise impersonate or infringe brands online.

According to the 2013 IP Commission Report, theft of intellectual property in the United States tops $300B USD, more than half of which can be attributed to the sale of counterfeit goods. Combatting brand infringement is even more complicated as new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) grow from 22 to approximately 1,400 over the next several years, which will vastly increase the opportunity for IP fraud and make a defensive registration strategy unsustainable.

Most businesses do not have the tools or resources to find brand damage that occurs, let alone pursue enforcement for sites or individuals who pretend to be official. It is not uncommon for any given organization to have thousands of infringing sites.

BrandShield provides organizations of all sizes with the ability to easily identify brand infringement across the web and automatically prioritize the worst offenders for enforcement action. BrandShield’s patented technology helps organizations proactively fight brand infringement. BrandShield is a software-as-a-service solution that includes:

– Deep content analysis: BrandShield leverages deep content analysis that combines statistical data with keyword and semantic analysis, rather than just domain names, to identify infringers and risks to the brand.

– Intelligent prioritization: BrandShield’s patented technology collects data and automatically ranks suspicious websites based on the risks the infringement imposes to the organization, allowing the organization to focus on the offenders that are most damaging. BrandShield also help the organization monitor partners and affiliates’ online activity, to ensure they are in compliance with branding guidelines.

– Adaptive, self-learning analysis: BrandShield is built upon intelligent, self-educating technology that integrates user feedback to alter prioritization and scoring to best meet their brand protection needs.

– Enforcement Integration: BrandShield organizes data in simple, prioritized lists that include full history and explains the largest risks and how to quickly act on and effectively enforce compliance through cease-and-desist letters, infringement reporting and registration. The advanced feature sends infringement notifications based on customizable templates.

BrandShield has closed an initial round of funding of $1.4 million that will be used to expand globally.

Pricing and Availability 

The BrandShield Brand Protection System is available today via subscription. Annual pricing is based on the brand’s online prominence (measured by the number of search results) and begins at $80 USD per month, making online brand protection affordable and available to everyone. Users can register for BrandShield at: http://www.brandshield.com/signup/index.

Quotes:

·         “As digital marketers face a scaled expansion of the domain space with thousands of new top level domains, the need to understand how your brand is used in the digital world will be more important than ever,” said Jennifer Wolfe, president of Wolfe Domain, a digital brand strategy advisory firm. “In addition to the paramount task of protecting your brand, BrandShield provides critical analytics to help you identify new competitors and spot trends that impact your digital strategy.”

·         “Combatting brand parasites online is getting harder every day as malware becomes less lucrative and bad actors online pursue other avenues to steal from brands,” said Yoav Keren, CEO of BrandShield. “It’s no longer enough to defensively register domain names and respond ad hoc when you discover an issue. Companies need to register a select domain name portfolio then proactively monitor the rest for brand infringement, prioritize the bad actors online and act on the ones that actually matter.”

·         “BrandShield’s investigation software is simple yet compelling,” said Edward J. Haddad, vice president of intellectual property at New Balance. “The information is valuable not only for brand protection, but can be valuable to identify other online sites selling your brand and maybe competing with your e-commerce business.”

Resources:

·         The IP Commission: The Report of the Commission of the Theft of American Intellectual Property, 2013 (PDF)

·         Fordham Law Review: Protecting Online Auction Sites from the Contributory Trademark Liability Storm: A Legislative Solution to the Tiffany Inc. v. eBay Inc. Problem (PDF)

·         Washington University Journal of Law & Policy: Latest Cybersquatting Trend: Typosquatters, Their Changing Tactics, and How to Prevent Public Deception and Trademark Infringement (PDF)

About BrandShield

BrandShield helps companies identify, manage and protect their digital brand online. BrandShield helps organizations find all brand parasites with sophisticated algorithms that provide analytic depth, leading to meaningful prioritization and action against brand risks. Backed by Israel’s Chief Scientist, the company is committed to continuous development of a solution that meets the needs of all sizes of entities – from small companies to large enterprises. BrandShield works with the brand protection, legal team and branding professionals of organizations to improve the way they manage and protect their digital brand. www.brandshield.com