To thwart spoofs and look-alike competition, make it a priority to register common variations of your domain name, including typos (see table). For most banks, the cost of registering the entire list of domain names is less than $1,000 per year (.com/.net/.org are $35 each/yr). It’s a very low-cost insurance policy against spoofs and hacks for an example of what could happen).

If someone already registered one of these domain names, buy it from them. Send the owner a letter or email thanking them for registering the domain name. Then politely explain that even though you own the trademarked name embedded in the URL, you would be happy to send them a finder’s fee (a couple hundred dollars—more for big banks, less for smaller banks/CUs) to transfer ownership to you by a certain date, with no further negotiations. Explain, but don’t threat, that if the seller insists on negotiating a better price, your legal department would have to get involved and the finder’s fee offer would be withdrawn.

Domain Insurance for Acme Bank

Source: Online Banking Report, 2/00

*register your domain name in every country you operate in

**assumes publicly traded under AMBK; Net.B@nk, links its investor relations area to its symbol www.ntbk.com