subject: Twitter name squatting [print this page] What do you do if someone is squatting on your Twitter brand, trademark or company name?
Twitter, the micro-blogging portal that allows for sharing quick messages and links of 140 characters, is being talked about everywhere. This buzz is causing clients to ask questions about what this digital space means for their brand. The majority of these questions seem to be concerned with trademark rights and Twitter profile names. Similar to the website domain name "squatting" from the early 90's, people are registering Twitter names for brands they don't own or represent.
First, remember that as social media continues to be the place where most of your customers are, your company should register brand names with EVERY social site. If you are proactive about this process, the issues surrounding trademark violation simply won't occur. Second, let's be honest, very few companies have the resources, time, or ingenuity to realize what they need to do. However, there are many things a company can do to reclaim their trademarked name from a current Twitter owner.
If you find your trademarked brand is taken on Twitter, look at when the last tweet was sent from that account. If the account has not been active for 30 days or more and you can prove trademark ownership, you can work with Twitter directly to retrieve the account. If the account is being actively used, you should reach out to the person who controls it. A personal letter is best as lawyers might not be necessary at this point. Simply ask them to turn the profile over to your business, referencing your trademark rights.
Be nice! It's important to note you will probably be better off by being reasonable and offering something complimentary to the person for their time and inconvenience. If the profile isn't surrendered after these efforts then you can take legal steps to retrieve the account. Also, consider that if the person who owns the account is not causing detriment to your brand, you may save yourself time (in legalese that could be more than a year, which equals big money!) simply by creating a different version of the brand name and Tweeting from that account.
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