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.
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder |
|
| Headquarters | Boise, Idaho, USA |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products |
|
Number of employees | 520 (2017) |
| Parent |
|
| Website | www |
In November 2022, the company was acquired by Newfold Digital.[2]
History
Markmonitor was founded in 1999[3] in Boise, Idaho[4] 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[5] and acquired a domain management business called AllDomains the following year.[6][7]
In October 2010, Markmonitor acquired an anti-piracy company (DtecNet)[8][9][1] 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.[10] The company's annual report says that cybersquatting increased 18 percent in 2008[11] and "phishing attacks" rose 36 percent in the first quarter of 2009.[12][13]
In 2010, the company estimated that $200 billion in revenues is lost annually as a result of worldwide counterfeiting and piracy on the Internet.[8] The 2011 report said the company had identified 23,000 listings "for clones, suspected counterfeits, or gray market" versions of tablet computers[14] by 8,000 sellers.[15][16] A 2011 opinion piece in Techdirt criticized the research methodology of Markmonitor's report.[17]
Corporate Structure
Markmonitor, a subsidiary of Newfold Digital, is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar established in 1999.[18]
- Headquarters
- Location: 1120 S. Rackham Way, Suite 300, Meridian, Idaho 83642, USA
- Leadership
- CEO: Sharon Rowlands
- CFO & Treasurer: Christina Clohecy
- Secretary: Mehdi Khodadad
- Assistant Secretary: Jeffrey Neace
- Directors
- Sharon Rowlands
- Christina Clohecy
- Management
- Head of Markmonitor: Stu Homan
- Manager – Strategic Initiatives: Chris Niemi
- Contact Information
- Phone (USA/EMEA/LATAM): +1 208 389 5740
- Phone (APAC): +81 3 4589 3900
Products and services
According to Markmonitor, it develops and markets brand protection software and services[19] to combat counterfeiting, piracy, cybersquatting and paid search scams in four categories; domain management, antifraud software, brand protection and antipiracy.[20] The Idaho Statesman reported that "Markmonitor safeguards more than half of the Fortune 100 brands".[4]
Markmonitor registers the domains and provides Whois lookup information for a variety of companies. These companies include: