{"id":12824,"date":"2023-09-21T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cscdbs.com\/blog\/?p=12824"},"modified":"2026-01-15T06:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:20:21","slug":"does-your-suppliers-domain-oversight-impact-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cscdbs.com\/blog\/does-your-suppliers-domain-oversight-impact-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Your Supplier\u2019s Domain Oversight Impact You?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You are a distributor that sells your supplier\u2019s brands, so aside from worrying about your own company\u2019s domains, you\u2019ve got nothing else to worry about, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent news, a supermarket chain had to recall children\u2019s snacks branded with a popular cartoon character from all their stores in the UK after a domain name printed on the packaging was redirecting to explicit adult content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did the supermarket own the snack brand? No. Yet it had to conduct a nationwide recall, offer full refunds, and put out a public relations announcement to tell customers to refrain from viewing the website. This impacted its operations, revenue, and brand reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What happened?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The printed domain name used to belong to a sub-brand of the manufacturer of the cartoon\u2019s merchandise. The manufacturing company was dissolved last year, and it\u2019s believed that the domain name was lapsed, reregistered by a third party, and now hosts adult content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not known if at the time of the production of the snacks and their packaging that this could have been prevented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what\u2019s clear is that domain portfolios are in constant flux when new companies are formed, closed, or when mergers and acquisitions happen. New domains are registered, domains change ownership, some domains are forgotten or intentionally lapsed, and cyber squatters and criminals alike are quick to profit from this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a domain is lapsed, the new registrant has rights to the domain ownership and its content as long as it does not infringe on brands or host malicious or illegal content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lessons learned<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n