Republican candidate is master of his domains, even ones that bash him

Whoever owns donaldtrumpsucks.com must really hate Donald Trump, right? Wrong! It’s the Donald himself.
The same goes for no2trump.com, trumpmustgo.com and two dozen other web addresses that sound like they’re bashing the billionaire, his business interests or his political aspirations.
What would Trump want with such insulting domains? Easy. To make sure his critics and rivals can’t have them.
He and his Trump Organization own more than 3,600 web addresses, according to the research firm DomainIQ. The vast majority bear the names of his properties, products and progeny. There are 274 domains alone featuring the name of Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
And then there are the ones that seem better suited for the anti-Trump crowd: Eight domains ending in “scheme,” eight ending in “fraud” and eight ending in “sucks.”
It is common for businesses and celebrities to scoop up and sit on web addresses that could be used to mock or attack them.
“Domains are cheap,” branding expert Rebecca Lieb said. “Mopping up when somebody acquires a domain and does something malicious with it is expensive.”
Trump’s collection of web addresses good and bad is far more extensive than that of any candidate before. He and the Trump Organization own a few hundred more than Target Corp. or General Motors.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign owns 70, according to DomainIQ, though none appear to be the kind of derogatory names Trump has registered. Her family’s foundation owns 214 domains, including four ending in .xxx.
“Mr. Trump has built a globally recognized, highly successful brand, and it’s only natural he would attempt to protect his name and his brand in all respects,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in an e-mail Monday.
Web addresses cost just a few bucks to register. After that, you can sell them to the highest bidder — unless someone steps in and successfully claims that the domain involves a trademark.
That’s how Trump has gotten his hands on Trump-related addresses that other people registered before he could. His lawyers have sent cease-and-desist letters and gone to arbitration at least 40 times to force outsiders to hand over domains, including MelaniaTrump.com.
Trump and his team didn’t take any chances in 2009 when he created the Trump Network brand to sell vitamins, urine tests and other health products. They quietly scooped up 18 negative domain names, including DonaldTrumpPonziScheme.com and TrumpNetworkFraud.com.

Source: Arab News