Oxford business are failing to safeguard their brands on the Internet, according to a survey.
Conducted by Marks & Clerk Intellectual Property, which has offices at Oxford Business Park South, Cowley, the survey said that although 90 per cent of Oxford companies thought it was important to protect brands on the Internet, only 32 per cent monitor online threats to their businesses.
A partner at Marks & Clerk, Helen Fisher, said: "It is vital that companies in Oxford monitor levels of appropriation of their brands and trade marks online.
"The monitoring process allows a clear view of the levels of appropriation of a name, while allowing companies to engage only with active sites that pose a real commercial threat.
"It is important to remember that only active sites within an organisation's industry pose a challenge, a dormant site with a variant of a company name or trademark as a domain name does not threaten an organisation."
The survey also found that just 21 per cent of Oxford businesses surveyed conducted online searches to monitor levels of appropriation of their brands, compared with 41 per cent of London businesses.
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