Net Enforcers
Net Enforcers is an online brand protection and enforcement services company. It was founded in 2003 by Joseph Loomis. Since its inception, the company has been actively preventing illegal trademark and copyright abuse, counterfeit product and service sales, grey market sales, channel policy violations, and other business risks for leading manufacturers of consumer electronics, software, pharmaceuticals, automotive and sporting goods as well as financial services companies by using a combination of proprietary technology and specialized business processes. Net Enforcers is based in Coral Springs, Florida.[1]
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| Type: | Privately held |
| Industry: | Internet Security |
| Founded: | 2003 |
| Founder(s): | Joseph Loomis |
| Headquarters: | 10211 West Sample Road Suite 115, Coral Springs, FL 33065 |
| Country: | United States |
| Employees: | 60 |
| Website: | Netenforcers.com |
| LinkedIn: | Net Enforcers Inc. |
| Key People | |
| Joseph Loomis, President | |
In 2007, Intersections, Inc., a company providing consumer and corporate identity risk management services, acquired Net Enforcers for approximately $14 million to accelerate the growth of both companies. Loomis remained CEO of Net Enforcers.[2]
Solutions
Net Enforcers provides brand protection services and on-demand services.[3] Brand Protection Services include:
- Auction Monitoring - the top online auction sites are monitored in order to remove sellers that infringe brand rights.
- Online Channel Monitoring- monitors online retail and third party sites to detect selling abuses related to brands and products.
- Domain Name Monitoring - newly created domain names are monitored to help prevent abuses such as cybersquatting, kiting and traffic diversion.
- Pay Per Click Advertisement Monitoring - PPC ads on major search engines are monitored to discover trademark misuse.
- Forums, Blogs and News Sites Monitoring - monitors online commentary, blog and news sites to capture what is being said about a clients' products and brands.
The Optional On-Demand Services include:
- Internet Scrub - discover potential intellectual property violations and unauthorized sales of products with a report created by searching auction and third-party sites.
- Dealer Communications Services - utilizes select dealer communication templates including verifications of dealer status, notices of claimed infringement and cease and desist letters, approved by a company's legal counsel, with information collected from monitoring services.
Controversies
In 2006, Net Enforcers went after Amazon.com's Associate Program affiliates and their hosting companies by sending DMCA legal threats to remove certain product pictures and descriptions. Net Enforcer's letters alleged that certain product images or other web site content violates their clients intellectual property rights. Many hosting companies overreacted and immediately pulled out the affiliate sites without notice, which resulted to lost of income for the affiliates.[4]
In response, Amazon.com informed its affiliates that Net Enforcers allegations were wrong and that the company was committed to work with Net Enforcers to resolve the issue.[5]