What’s in a name?

Earlier this year, 32Red won an infringement case against William Hill. Operations director Pat Harrison talks to Jenni Shuttleworth about the importance of protecting your brand when operating in the online space

What message did 32Red's High Court victory against William Hill Online send out to the industry?

I don’t think it’s a message just for the industry, I think it’s a message for anyone who operates online and in the internet space that protecting your brand and protecting your domain name are significant and very important things that you need to be doing. It’s not like any other entity where you have a physical presence and you can have trust, integrity and confidence with your consumer. So I think the message is one for any internet operator that your brand, your domain names are your lifeblood and your livelihood and you need to be making sure you take every step possible to be protecting. It’s particularly more prevalent if you don’t have any physical presence, if you are solely an online operator then it’s of paramount importance if you’ve got a strategy that tackles that.

How important was it for 32Red to be successful in this case?

Life without our brands wouldn’t have been one that we would have looked to be part of. Quite simply, the business, which is all dependent on the brand and the reputation of that brand, is our livelihood. Without that being protected and the judgement that we did obtain, then quite simply, I wouldn’t have been able to envisage life without it.

What would have happened if you weren’t successful?

That was one that we never considered. The argument as far as we could see going into court was such a strong one that there would only be one winner. But ultimately, your concern whenever you do embark upon a legal process is that a judgement will be made on the facts that are presented. There is without a shadow of a doubt a risk to it. As part of our ongoing strategy to protect  our IP, anybody that is using our marks, then we will take the necessary steps to shut those domains down or get them transferred across to us.

What steps is 32Red currently taking to assert and protect its intellectual property rights?

It is exactly as we have done from day one. If we see anybody in our space in a competing business that is trying to ride on the good name of our company and the reputation that we have built up, then we will do all we can. Whether it’s simply a cease and desist letter from our lawyers, right up to taking full legal action against one of the industry’s giants in the form of William Hill.

What makes a successful brand?

I think that’s best answered by what we’ve strived to achieve over the 10 years that we’ve been in business. The online gaming sector, certainly back when the business was formed, was probably conceived by a lot of consumers as being untrustworthy. And again, with the internet back in the early 2000s, there wasn’t the consumer confidence there is now out there at the time. People were sceptical about transacting on the internet, whether that was posting personal details, or whether it was utilising credit and debit cards, there was a lot of distrust because it was new so people were naturally cautious. Therefore it was all about us being able to build a brand and a reputation that saw us being transparent and providing excellent current customer satisfaction and everything that we have done has been bound by an ideology that is based on that. Player satisfaction is integral to us and building trust and reputation is everything that this business is about.

{C}How was the 32Red brand created?

It’s quite an interesting one because online casinos back in 2002 or earlier, certainly in the UK, were more the preserve of the big bookmakers, so there wasn’t particularly a pure play casino brand. The likes of Ladbrokes had excellent sports betting operations and they would have a casino sort of kicking away in the corner for want of a better description. So there was an opportunity in the market to put a pure play casino brand out there and also a pure play casino that was able to differentiate itself from everything else that was in the market place. The casinos out there at the time were themed, very much Las Vegas style or themed around the Aztec riches of the world, or they were based on numerics such as 777 and 888. So in formulating 32Red, it wasn’t quite a eureka moment but it wasn’t far off it. It was about finding a brand name that eluded to what we did without necessarily describing what we did. And also in formulating that, 32Red happens to be quite a distinctive url so it’s short, it’s memorable and if you have a quick look at your keyboard 3, 2, r, e and d are sited together on the keyboard. Online is all about getting that short memorable domain name because it’s what defines you and makes it easy for your customer to find you.

How important is a company's domain name?

In the online sector it is in my eyes the be all and end all. How you then build up the elements of trust, integrity and reputation in and around that again, if you draw the comparison between 32Red and Ladbrokes, we’re both UK-focused entities. Ladbrokes has the advantage of some 2,000 betting shops on the high street so people are familiar with it, there’s a degree of comfort attached to it because everywhere they go they will probably see a Ladbrokes on the corner. Again, you don’t have that on the internet and by providing a short and memorable domain, people can find you very quickly and it’s provided then that you build the reputation of that through transparency as an example. We were probably one of the first businesses in the sector to actually post details of the management team so that people could see who were are, where we come from, what our backgrounds are.

Why is it particularly important for an online company to protect its domain?

If you do not protect your brand identity online and allow people to mimic you, how does a person know that they’ve arrived at the right destination? They don’t know do they. They may never have visited 32Red, they’re presented with a site that they believe to be 32Red’s and then they suffer an experience that isn’t anything to do with the reputation of the brand that has been built up over the time.

How can an online company go about protecting its rights?

Many ways. Obviously in the domain registration and keeping tabs on anybody who is looking to use any element on your brand. I suppose it’s auditing the internet all the time to see what’s out there and keeping abreast of that, but ultimately it’s not being frightened away from legal action where you believe it to be. Yes, it’s not an easy decision to take. It is an expensive course of action to take but if it’s protecting your livelihood are there any other courses open to you really

What can we expect from 32Red in the near future?

Historically, we’ve been a UK-focused entity. I think something like 75/76 per cent of our revenues arrive from the UK. We believe our brand name and reputation will travel quite easily and be transferred into other markets and we would be looking to extend our reach and are closely watching the developments of the regulated markets across Europe and are currently researching Italy and Spain.