Domain Blocking Tools
Defend your rights with domain blocking and digital trademarks protection
Intercept scammers and cybersquatters, and secure your revenue online
Take decisive action to defend your domain presence
Cybersquatters hold crucial assets to ransom, but for legitimate businesses, powerful protection tools let you take control of your domains.
The most expensive domain sale ever clocked in at almost a billion dollars.
Domain name disputes spiked by 18% in the third quarter of 2023.
GlobalBlock can protect brands across hundreds of top-level domains.
What are domain blocking tools?
Securing your company’s premises requires robust infrastructure and equipment, like a fence, cameras, and locked doors. Protecting your domains also requires the equivalent digital measures, including strategic domain tools from Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), Domain Protected Marks List (DPML), and GlobalBlock.
TMCH and AdultBlock
The Trademark Clearinghouse creates a vital conduit between your traditional trademarks and online property. As ICANN’s most important rights protection mechanism for new gTLDs, the TMCH functions as a domain and IP database, where you can submit your trademarks to establish control over related domains.
TMCH’s business benefits
Submitting your trademarks to the TMCH establishes a crucial line of defence against infringing registrations.
Once accepted, the TMCH works actively to enforce your IP, informing anyone who registers a potential infringement, and escalating from there. Your TMCH acceptance also lays the foundations for other domain protection mechanisms.
While defending your domain and deterring cybersquatters, TMCH protection also notifies you any time someone begins a registration that infringes on your brand.
These real-time insights deliver threat intelligence and clarity about the landscape, informing your domain strategy going forward.
The TMCH focuses on new gTLDs, a field which regularly expands to welcome new domain extensions.
Registering your trademarks with the TMCH grants your brand access to “Sunrise Periods” whenever ICANN approves a new domain extension launch, giving your team first priority over any new registrations you need for your brand.
Whether you’re a family-friendly brand or an IP-focussed entrepreneur, explicit impersonations on adult domains inflict series damage to your online business.
Brands tackle this threat with a solution called AdultBlock. This advanced solution blocks scammers and impersonators from registering domains that infringe on your brand across four key extensions:
- .ADULT
- .PORN
- .SEX
- .XXX
For more information about AdultBlock, and how it could help your business, check out our purpose-built guide.
DPML
As new domain extensions pop up all the time, along with new scammers, brands need a proactive way to block cybersquatting. That’s where the DPML (Domain Protected Marks List) comes in. Establishing DPML protection for your brand blocks scammers from registering their infringements. This prolific and comprehensive new gTLD portfolio curbs scams and impersonations, while securing your presence online.
What DPML brings to your brand
DPML Plus
If you like the sound of DPML, you’ll love DPML Plus. This enhanced solution goes above and beyond, delivering ten-year protection, coverage across premium gTLDs, domain variation blocking, and more, as you’ll learn from our experts.
GlobalBlock
While brands must protect themselves across new, generic domain extensions, country-based domains also present a crucial battleground for your online presence. A new service called GlobalBlock addresses this concern, as a union of gTLD and ccTLD operators collaborate to deliver security and stability for modern brands. Also known as Global Block, this service offers concrete brand protection across 570+ top level domains with a single transaction, delivering an effective tool for your company’s digital arsenal.
GlobalBlock’s benefits for your online presence
With GlobalBlock, the numbers speak for themselves.
This solution’s widespread coverage across domain formats makes it an essential tool for any well-protected brand.
AutoCatch, one of Global Block’s smartest features, clocks any already-registered domains that infringe on your brand, and provides priority registration to your team as soon as they come back on the market.
This plug and play solution streamlines the process of returning digital IP to its rightful owner.
Dynamic strategies require flexible solutions, and GlobalBlock accommodates your team’s evolving portfolio.
If you want to register one of the domains you’ve blocked, simply unblock and claim the domain to expand your online presence.
EBRAND solutions
Your domains, the cornerstones of your online presence and key IP assets in their own right, require an effective digital solution to support your business and deter scammers. Exploring options like TMCH, DPML, AdultBlock, and GlobalBlock informs your team about the best strategies and technical solutions to get the job done.
With EBRAND domain blocking, you’ll reinforce your digital branding, identify infringements, and recoup your IP as soon as possible. Reach out to our team, and we’ll find an stress-free, concrete solution to meet your needs and protect your domains.
Comparing each domain blocking tool
| AdultBlock | DPML and DPML Plus | GlobalBlock and GlobalBlock Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of extensions covered | 4 (.adult, .porn, .sex and .xxx) | 260+ | 570+, including DPML TLDs |
| Premium name coverage | No | Only with DPML Plus | Yes |
| Priority autocatch | No | No | Yes |
| Minimum term | One to ten years | One, three, five, or ten years | One, two, or three years |
| Eligibility | Trademark holders accredited via the TMCH. For more details, reach out to our experts. | Trademark holders accredited via the TMCH. For more details, reach out to our experts. | Trademark holders accredited via the TMCH. For more details, reach out to our experts. |
Domain Blocking FAQs
Domain blocking means registering your brand’s keywords with the relevant digital authorities to thwart unauthorized usage going forward. Initially focused on addressing issues within the .xxx domain related to adult entertainment, this practice since expanded to cover more than hundreds domain extensions. While it doesn’t provide absolute protection, domain experts recommend domain blocking to help businesses safeguard their brand assets, trademarks, and individual identities online.
Working with the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), the Domains Protected Marks List (DPML) empowers brand owners to safeguard their trademarks across diverse domain extensions. This proactive approach not only covers exact trademark matches but also extends protection to terms and phrases associated with the brand, mitigating the risk of unauthorized registrations. DPML spans a wide array of domain extensions, ranging from common ones like .com to specialized TLDs. For a more holistic understanding of preventative domain strategies, explore Part 7 of a CTO’s domain cybersecurity checklist.
Developers created AdultBlock to protect brands across adult-themed domain extensions. Blocking registrations across .xxx, .sex, .porn, and .adult, AdultBlock aims to protect trademarks from misuse within the adult entertainment industry. By thwarting the registration of potentially detrimental domain names, this tool plays a crucial role in preserving brand reputation. AdultBlock proves essential for any brand that wants to safeguard its image from inappropriate infringements online.
GlobalBlock, a next-generation domain blocking solution, leverages the collaboration between multiple organizations and domain authorities to roll out an unprecedented level of protection across hundreds of extensions. As a bundled solution, it caters to trademark holders and brand owners seeking comprehensive coverage beyond individual mechanisms. To delve into the full scope of GlobalBlock’s capabilities, get in touch with our experts.
Each of the brand protection solutions—DPML, AdultBlock, and GlobalBlock—has its specific limitations. Firstly, term limits pose a constraint on their effectiveness, ranging from one to ten years. Users must carefully consider the duration of protection that aligns with their strategic goals. Additionally, these tools do not defend against existing registrations, meaning they cannot retroactively address domains already in use before the application of the protection services. Another limitation is that they do not cover every conceivable domain extension, leaving potential vulnerabilities in less common or emerging TLDs. Lastly, users may encounter challenges when attempting to transfer blocks from one domain to another, highlighting a potential complexity in adapting the protection mechanisms to evolving brand strategies or portfolio changes. Despite these limitations, these tools remain valuable assets in a comprehensive brand protection strategy, and users can optimize their efficacy through strategic planning and understanding of their specific features and constraints.
GlobalBlock was released in February 2024. Originally slated for 2023, the delay was intentional to incorporate additional features, ensuring an even more robust and effective domain blocking solution. Get in touch with our experts to get to grips with all of the details from the Global Block release, and explore the advanced capabilities it brings to safeguard your digital assets.
