Brand protection in online world a major concern for enterprises

Diverse reputation protection services are now a reality but corporate mindset is slow to adapt.

For immediate release, 22 July 2008. The web - one of the most powerful tools for both promoting and undermining a company's valuable corporate assets: brand and reputation - has also changed the entire nature of protecting them.

Global advisory and consulting firm Ovum says the task will become even more challenging as we move into the less structured world of Web 2.0. The Ovum report 'Brand protection services' highlights the aim to protect organisations from infringements and malicious propaganda, balanced with people's right to exchange information in beneficial ways such as product comparisons.

"One fundamental problem of the Internet is that there is no quality control of content." says Graham Titterington, Principal Analyst and information security specialist at Ovum and author of the report. "The corporate mindset has been slow to adapt to the changing world. New techniques are needed to detect attacks and defend reputation in the online world, even when the remedy requires conventional legal action."

The Internet is now a major channel for the sale of fake branded goods, which in some cases can result in danger to the customer. Copyright and trademark infringement are commonplace. Businesses have suffered real damage as a result of false allegations spread on the Internet. The annual revenue of online counterfeiting fraudsters has been estimated at $110 billion (source MarkMonitor).

Another aspect of online counterfeiting is the misuse of web domain names. A fraudster may set up a website with a similar name to that of a legitimate organisation with the deliberate intention of deceiving visitors. This also extends to virtual services. The issue will become more prominent as the Web becomes more interactive.

Specialist vendors monitor the Internet for these offences and initiate enforcement action both at the ISP level and in the physical world. For example, MarkMonitor is a niche vendor offering services in domain management, online trademark protection, online channel monitoring, and anti-phishing. Larger IT vendors also offer protection services, such as IBM's COBRA alerting service.

According to Ovum, the best practice in reputation protection comprises three broad activities: prevention, detection and reaction. Protection involves the registration of trademarks, domain names and intellectual property. Detection includes identifying significant threats, and response is acting to limit the damage caused and prevent further attacks.

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For further information

For more information or to speak with Graham Titterington about this research, please contact Maria Di Martino, Public Relations, maria.dimartino@ovum.com, +44 (0) 20 7551 9238 or a member of our global PR team listed below.

About Ovum

Ovum is a global advisory and consulting firm. Its primary activity is providing value-added advisory services and consulting to retained and project clients. The company acts as a well-respected and trusted source of industry data, knowledge and expertise on the commercial impact of technology, regulatory and market changes. Ovum engages in continuous research and industry analysis to determine market dynamics in its specialist sectors.

Ovum has developed long-standing relationships with many of its corporate clients, which include major international blue-chip companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, BT, Cable & Wireless, Cisco Systems, Deutsche Telekom, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Telstra and Vodafone.

Ovum is part of the Datamonitor Group.

Ovum's PR contacts:

EMEA:

Maria Di Martino
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7551 9238
Email: maria.dimartino@ovum.com

North America:

Sara Kaufman
Tel: +1 617-722-4602
Email: sara.kaufman@ovum.com

Asia-Pacific:

Tanisha Kuckreja
Tel: +61 3 9601 6723
Email: tanisha.kuckreja@ovum.com