Digital & Social Media Law

In the fast paced world of the internet, there is plenty of scope for third parties to abuse your intellectual property online, particularly in the field of trade marks and passing off. Protecting your brand online is now one of the most important issues businesses face.

We boast an impeccable track record for recovering domain names and resisting attempts to recover lawfully obtained domain names on behalf of our client’s. This is aided by our access to a range of investigative tools which can uncover patterns of abuse including reverse whois searches and access to archive records.

The Freeths team have a wealth of experience tackling online infringers and boast specialist knowledge of the kind of disputes that can arise on the internet.

Why choose out digital & social media team?

• Our team has been involved in hundreds of domain disputes in recent years, at both Nominet (the .co.uk registry) and WIPO (.com etc)
• Recent statistics published by Nominet showed that our domain team at Freeths was one of the most prolific users of the Nominet Dispute Resolution Service
• Our lawyers also have specialist knowledge in filing complaints via Facebook, Twitter and Google etc. and have been involved in a landmark case relating to Google Adwords

Call our experienced team of Intellectual Property lawyers to find out more.

• Domain Name Disputes – Freeths can provide legal assistance to help you to recover a domain (or defend the case), whether it be against a cyber squatter or a competitor who has registered a domain in which you have rights. We have represented clients in hundreds of domain disputes at both Nominet (the .uk registry) and at WIPO (who adjudicate top level domain disputes like .com).
• Domain Name Portfolio Management – We also manage our client’s domain portfolios, no matter how big or small. Having a portfolio of domains under one umbrella helps clients protect and enforce their key brands. It also enables us to provide strategic advice in relation to new domain registrations. Alongside this we regularly assist clients with domain acquisitions and transfers, drafting of domain transfer agreements and advice relating to domain transactions.
• Social Media – We regularly deal with and advise on a range of issues arising out of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This is often a minefield for potential disputes including data protection and privacy issues, defamation and malicious falsehood, advertising issues relating to the unauthorised use of names and images, fake profiles and the posting of scam voucher offers.
• Website Copyright Infringement – One issue that regularly arises online concerns infringement of copyright on websites. This type of infringement ranges from a 100% copy of a website, often for fraudulent purposes, or the copying of brochures, databases, text or images.
• Advertising Keywords – The use of a trade mark or sign as an Advertising Keyword is a common way to improve the way in which a website is displayed by a particular search engine. However third parties sometimes use trade marks or signs in which they have no rights, in order to benefit from people searching for those keywords and appearing as a top sponsored link. The most common example relates to misuse of a competitor’s name as keywords or in advertisements in Google Adwords, or Google AdSense.
• Online Advertising Disputes – Other advertising issues we encounter include complaints by competitors or others to the Advertising Standards Authority concerning the content of an online advertisement.