Yes, it’s true they havent gone away and in fact we’ve found a few here in Wexford. Driving to meet a client for lunch the other day I noticed a sign near Gorey advertising a new business currently under construction. It’s a fairly big development with massive sign so you guess that they have looked at every aspect of the growth of this project.
Living in the area, I was aware that the planning permission for this had been in the local newspapers nearly 5 years ago and they are breaking ground now and starting the build. On returning to the office I Google’d the projects name only to find that someone has recently “Cyber Squatted” their domain name, well the international version is gone and the person who has registered the name has hidden their name, thus indicating that they hiding the fact that they are behind this. (We know who they are as they famous in the area for this)
The Irish domain name is still available to register but this take a little more paper work as you need to prove that you are related to the name of the domain by either having a letter from an accountant or solicitor or by having a registered Trading name or a partnership or a limited company with the Companies Office in Ireland.
The domain could end up being a website that diverts traffic away from the real owners business and making them either pay for the domain or else making them pay for advertising on it. We have seen this on the other side of Gorey town where a similar Cyber Squatting event took place.
If you are starting a business or registering a new company in Wexford, please be aware that there are unscrupulous people out there who are trying to earn money off your ideas and your investment.
Call Dave Jordan of Cada Media Ltd in Goreytoday to give you all the options in domain name protection and on-line brand protection.
Tel: 053 9430748
