As more countries start their own domain name registries, trade-name speculation is going global. That means it's more complicated than ever to recover a trademarked company name stolen or accidentally taken by someone in Armenia, Bhutan, Gambia, Russia or 70 other foreign countries where little intellectual property law or precedent exists. Attorney Kallberg makes a full-time job of tracking down and recovering stolen or misappropriated domain names around the world. After successfully reclaiming more than 150 names for Fortune 500 clients, he's one of the few experts in the field. And he's convinced that buying back domain names from cybersquatters is the wrong strategy.
People are too keen to give away money.
The key is to avoid litigation wherever possible, since it is expensive and, when victorious, generates little in the way of damages. Instead, he does his homework on local laws and tries to use honey instead of vinegar in his approach. I listen to them and try to work things out. About 10 percent of the time, the domain name has been registered by an employee of a foreign division, and headquarters hasn't been notified. The company's traditional line of business is global trademark and copyright services.