Markmonitor
{{short description|American software company}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Markmonitor
| logo = Markmonitor-logo.svg
| type = Subsidiary
| foundation = {{start date and age|1999}}
| founder = {{ubl|Faisal Shah|Ed Priddy|James Hepworth}}
| location = Boise, Idaho, USA
| area_served = Worldwide
| products = {{ubl|Domain management}}
| num_employees = 520 (2017)
| parent = {{ubl|Independent|{{smaller|(1999–2012)}}|Thomson Reuters|{{smaller|(2012–16)}}|Clarivate Analytics|{{smaller|(2016–22)}}|Newfold Digital|{{smaller|(2022–present)}}}}
| homepage = {{official URL}}
}}
Markmonitor Inc. is an American software company founded in 1999. It develops software intended to protect corporate brands from Internet counterfeiting, fraud, piracy, and cybersquatting. MarkMonitor also develops and publishes reports on the prevalence of brand abuse on the Internet.
In November 2022, the company was acquired by Newfold Digital.{{Cite news|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/clarivate-successfully-completes-divestiture-of-markmonitor-to-newfold-digital-301664150.html/|title=Clarivate Successfully Completes Divestiture of MarkMonitor to Newfold Digital|work=PR Newswire|access-date=2023-01-07|language=en-US|archive-date=2023-01-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230107034643/https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/clarivate-successfully-completes-divestiture-of-markmonitor-to-newfold-digital-301664150.html|url-status=live}}
History
Markmonitor was founded in 1999{{cite news |title=New York-based Thomson Reuters to buy MarkMonitor, founded by Boise residents |newspaper=Idaho Statesman |url=http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/07/26/2203287/new-york-based-thomson-reuters.html|date=July 16, 2012|access-date=April 30, 2013}} in Boise, Idaho{{cite news |title=New York-based Thomson Reuters to buy MarkMonitor, founded by Boise residents |newspaper=Idaho Statesman |date=July 26, 2012 |access-date=December 7, 2012|first=Sandra|last=Forester|url=http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/07/26/2203287/new-york-based-thomson-reuters.html}} and its initial business as a service provider for the protection of corporate trademarks on the Internet. In 2000, it gained ICANN accreditation status for domain registration{{cite news|title=Keeping Watch|url=http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/redcoat/ae_201005/index.php?startid=52&startpage=54|date=May 2010|access-date=December 8, 2012|publisher=American Executive}} and acquired a domain management business called AllDomains the following year.{{cite news|title=Boise firm helps big ones keep their Web sites safe|date=January 15, 2004|newspaper=The Idaho Statesman|access-date=December 8, 2012|url=http://www.matr.net/print-5366.html|archive-date=February 28, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228144519/http://www.matr.net/print-5366.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Rao |first=Leena |title=Internet Watchdog Guards Brands Online |newspaper=San Francisco Business Times |date=January 11, 2009 |url=http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Midmarket/Facebook-Targeted-in-Spam-Scam-603252/ |access-date=January 28, 2012}}
In October 2010, Markmonitor acquired an anti-piracy company (DtecNet){{cite news |last=Wauters |first=Robin |title=MarkMonitor Acquires DtecNet To Combat Online Piracy |newspaper=TechCrunch |date=October 18, 2010 |url=https://techcrunch.com/2010/10/18/markmonitor-dtecnet/ |access-date=January 28, 2012 |archive-date=January 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111014757/http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/18/markmonitor-dtecnet/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Prince |first=Brian |title=MarkMonitor Acquires DtecNet to Fight Piracy |newspaper=eWeek |date=October 18, 2010 |url=https://techcrunch.com/2010/10/18/markmonitor-dtecnet/ |access-date=January 28, 2012 |archive-date=January 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111014757/http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/18/markmonitor-dtecnet/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news|last=Howard|first=Julie|url=http://www.idahostatesman.com/Business/story.asp?ID=29946|access-date=7 January 2003|newspaper=Idaho Statesman|date=7 January 2003|title=Boise firm helps big ones keep their Web sites safe}} and was itself purchased by Thomson Reuters' Intellectual Property & Science business in July 2012. In 2016, the IP division of Reuters, including Markmonitor, was sold to two venture capital companies, under the new parent company Clarivate Analytics.
In 2022, Clarivate announced that Newfold Digital purchased its subsidiary. Backed by the Clearlake and Siris groups, Newfold is a web and commerce technology provider.
Research
According to the Markmonitor web site, it has been publishing a report called the Brandjacking Index since 2007, to assess how Internet threats affect corresponding brands.{{citation|publisher=MarkMonitor|url=https://www.markmonitor.com/resources/brandjacking-index.php|title=Brandjacking Index|access-date=December 8, 2012|archive-date=January 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116043633/https://www.markmonitor.com/resources/brandjacking-index.php|url-status=live}} The company's annual report says that cybersquatting increased 18 percent in 2008{{cite news|newspaper=PC World|date=June 25, 2009|url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/167347/Domain_name_Wars:_Rise_of_the_Cybersquatters.html|title=Domain-name Wars: Rise of the Cybersquatters|first=Robert|last=Mitchell|access-date=December 8, 2012}} and "phishing attacks" rose 36 percent in the first quarter of 2009.{{cite news
| first = George
| last = Hulme
| title = Social Network users Increasingly Under Siege
| newspaper = InformationWeek
| date = June 29, 2009
| url = http://www.informationweek.com/security/social-network-users-increasingly-under/229206176
| access-date = January 28, 2012}}{{cite news
| first = Kelly
| last = Higgins
| title = Report: Social Networking Phishing Attacks Up More Than 240%
| newspaper = Dark Reading
| date = June 29, 2009
| url = http://www.darkreading.com/security/news/218101868/report-social-networking-phishing-attacks-up-more-than-240.html
| access-date = January 28, 2012
| archive-date = June 15, 2013
| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130615201755/http://www.darkreading.com/security/news/218101868/report-social-networking-phishing-attacks-up-more-than-240.html
| url-status = live
}}
In 2010, the company estimated that $200 billion in revenues is lost annually as a result of worldwide counterfeiting and piracy on the Internet. The 2011 report said the company had identified 23,000 listings "for clones, suspected counterfeits, or gray market" versions of tablet computers{{cite news
| last = Lowensohn
| first = Josh
| title = Tablet knockoffs running rampant, brand firm says
| newspaper = CNET
| date = November 1, 2011
| url = http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20128602-248/tablet-knockoffs-running-rampant-brand-firm-says/
| access-date = January 28, 2012
| archive-date = March 1, 2012
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120301104526/http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20128602-248/tablet-knockoffs-running-rampant-brand-firm-says/
| url-status = live
}} by 8,000 sellers.{{cite news
| last = Camm-Jones
| first = Ben
| title = Fake iPads 'flood the market'
| newspaper = IDG
| date = January 11, 2011
| url = http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=C3691967-B7B6-A12F-B97F058DD3DCB129
| access-date = January 28, 2012
| archive-date = August 26, 2014
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140826123217/http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=C3691967-B7B6-A12F-B97F058DD3DCB129
| url-status = live
}}{{cite news|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=August 17, 2012|title=No 'Phishing': Banks Try to Sink Scammers|first=Andrew|last=Seidman|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444508504577593243972975650|access-date=October 24, 2018|archive-date=October 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025070925/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444508504577593243972975650|url-status=live}} A 2011 opinion piece in Techdirt criticized the research methodology of Markmonitor's report.{{cite news
| last = Masnick
| first = Mike
| title = Highly Flawed 'Piracy' Report Used To Support Positions That Are Unrelated
| newspaper = TechDirt
| date = January 13, 2011
| url = https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110111/15544912607/highly-flawed-piracy-report-used-to-support-positions-that-are-unrelated.shtml
| access-date = January 25, 2012
| archive-date = November 21, 2011
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111121142243/http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110111/15544912607/highly-flawed-piracy-report-used-to-support-positions-that-are-unrelated.shtml
| url-status = live
}}
Products and services
According to Markmonitor, it develops and markets brand protection software and services{{cite news
| title = Nielsen's Whiting Joins MarkMonitor Board
| newspaper = Brand Week
| date = October 27, 2009
| url = http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/esearch/e3i7a4f853fe57e4c0becfe37b2a5c3fd33
| access-date = July 14, 2010
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101102231841/http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/esearch/e3i7a4f853fe57e4c0becfe37b2a5c3fd33
| archive-date = November 2, 2010
| url-status = dead
}} to combat counterfeiting, piracy, cybersquatting and paid search scams in four categories; domain management, antifraud software, brand protection and antipiracy.{{cite web| title = MarkMonitor Corporate Overview| publisher = MarkMonitor| url = https://www.markmonitor.com/company/overview.php| access-date = March 7, 2012| archive-date = March 23, 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120323075914/https://www.markmonitor.com/company/overview.php| url-status = live}} The Idaho Statesman reported that "Markmonitor safeguards more than half of the Fortune 100 brands".
Markmonitor registers the domains and provides Whois and Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) lookup information for a variety of brands and companies. These companies include:
- Akamai
- Alibaba
- Amazon
- AVG
- Baidu
- Carrd
- Coca-Cola
- CloudFront
- eBay
- Intuit
- Mattel
- Meta
- Microsoft
- Nintendo{{cite web |last1=Maxwell |first1=Andy |title=Nintendo vs. Garry's Mod: Dissecting the 'Fake' Domain Behind All the Chaos |url=https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-vs-garrys-mod-dissecting-the-fake-domain-behind-all-the-chaos-240426/ |website=TorrentFreak |access-date=April 26, 2024 |date=April 26, 2024 |archive-date=April 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426100047/https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-vs-garrys-mod-dissecting-the-fake-domain-behind-all-the-chaos-240426/ |url-status=live }}
- Salesforce
- Square Enix
- Take-Two Interactive
- Tencent
- Tesco
- Verizon
- Wikimedia Foundation
- YouTube
- Zenly{{cite news|title=Thomson Reuters snaps up online brand protection giant MarkMonitor|url=https://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/07/26/thomson-reuters-snaps-up-online-brand-protection-giant-markmonitor/|first=Robin|last=Wauters|date=July 26, 2012|access-date=December 8, 2012|publisher=The Next Web|archive-date=August 28, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828160323/http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/07/26/thomson-reuters-snaps-up-online-brand-protection-giant-markmonitor/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Domain Names registered with abuse complaint email address "abusecomplaints@markmonitor.com"|url=https://otx.alienvault.com/indicator/email/abusecomplaints@markmonitor.com|first=OTX|last=AlienVault|date=January 29, 2024|access-date=January 29, 2024|publisher=OTX AlienVault|archive-date=January 30, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130015948/https://otx.alienvault.com/indicator/email/abusecomplaints@markmonitor.com|url-status=live}}
- Zoom Communications