Markmonitor
Markmonitor Inc. is an American software company founded in 1999 that develops software intended to protect corporate brands from Internet counterfeiting, fraud, piracy, and cybersquatting. Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, it also develops and publishes reports on the prevalence of brand abuse on the Internet. Acquired in November 2022 by Newfold Digital, it was later announced that the firm would be sold to Com Laude, a company owned by PX3 Partners. On January 12, 2026, it was reported that Com Laude completed its acquisition of MarkMonitor.
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder |
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| Headquarters | Boise, Idaho, USA |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products |
|
Number of employees | 520 (2017) |
| Parent |
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| Website | www.markmonitor.com  |
Markmonitor Inc. is an American software company founded in 1999 that develops software intended to protect corporate brands from Internet counterfeiting, fraud, piracy, and cybersquatting. Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, it also develops and publishes reports on the prevalence of brand abuse on the Internet.
Acquired in November 2022 by Newfold Digital,[2] it was later announced that the firm would be sold to Com Laude, a company owned by PX3 Partners.[3] On January 12, 2026, it was reported that Com Laude completed its acquisition of MarkMonitor.[4]
History
[edit]Founded in 1999[5] in Boise, Idaho,[6] MarkMonitor was initially a service provider for the protection of corporate trademarks on the Internet. Then, within two years, it gained ICANN accreditation status for domain registration[7] and acquired a domain management business called AllDomains.[8][9]
In October 2010, Markmonitor acquired an anti-piracy company (DtecNet)[10][11][1] and was itself purchased by Thomson Reuters' Intellectual Property & Science business in July 2012. In 2016, it was part of the sale of Reuters' IP division to two venture capital firms, under the new parent company Clarivate Analytics.
In 2022, Clarivate announced that its subsidiary had been sold to Newfold Digital, a web and commerce technology provider backed by the Clearlake and Siris groups. After announcing it would buy MarkMonitor for an undisclosed sum,[12] domain registrar Com Laude completed the transaction in January 2026.
Research
[edit]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.[13] The company's annual report says that cybersquatting increased 18 percent in 2008[14] and "phishing attacks" rose 36 percent in the first quarter of 2009.[15][16]
In 2010, the company estimated that $200 billion in revenues is lost annually as a result of worldwide counterfeiting and piracy on the Internet.[10] The 2011 report said the company had identified 23,000 listings "for clones, suspected counterfeits, or gray market" versions of tablet computers[17] by 8,000 sellers.[18][19] A 2011 opinion piece in Techdirt criticized the research methodology of Markmonitor's report.[20]
Products and services
[edit]According to Markmonitor, it develops and markets brand protection software and services[21] to combat counterfeiting, piracy, cybersquatting and paid search scams in four categories; domain management, antifraud software, brand protection and antipiracy.[22] The Idaho Statesman reported that "Markmonitor safeguards more than half of the Fortune 100 brands".[6]
Markmonitor registers the domains and provides Whois and Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) lookup information for a variety of brands and companies. These companies include:
- Akamai
- Alibaba
- Amazon
- AVG
- Baidu
- Sohu
- Carrd
- Coca-Cola
- CloudFront
- eBay
- Forbes
- Intuit
- Mattel
- Meta
- Microsoft
- Roblox
- Nintendo[23]
- Salesforce
- Square Enix
- Take-Two Interactive
- Tencent
- Tesco
- Valve Software[24]
- Verizon
- Wikimedia Foundation
- YouTube
- Zenly[25][26]
- Zoom Communications
References
[edit]- ^ a b Howard, Julie (7 January 2003). "Boise firm helps big ones keep their Web sites safe". Idaho Statesman. Retrieved 7 January 2003.
- ^ "Clarivate Successfully Completes Divestiture of MarkMonitor to Newfold Digital". PR Newswire. Archived from the original on 2023-01-07. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
- ^ Dorbian, Iris (January 2, 2026). "PE-backed Newfold Digital sells software firm Markmonitor to Com Laude". PE Hub. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Com Laude complete acquisition of MarkMonitor, creating a $450 million global full service corporate domain name registrar". PR Newswire. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
- ^ "New York-based Thomson Reuters to buy MarkMonitor, founded by Boise residents". Idaho Statesman. July 16, 2012. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
- ^ a b Forester, Sandra (July 26, 2012). "New York-based Thomson Reuters to buy MarkMonitor, founded by Boise residents". Idaho Statesman. Retrieved December 7, 2012.
- ^ "Keeping Watch". American Executive. May 2010. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
- ^ "Boise firm helps big ones keep their Web sites safe". The Idaho Statesman. January 15, 2004. Archived from the original on February 28, 2011. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
- ^ Rao, Leena (January 11, 2009). "Internet Watchdog Guards Brands Online". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ a b Wauters, Robin (October 18, 2010). "MarkMonitor Acquires DtecNet To Combat Online Piracy". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ Prince, Brian (October 18, 2010). "MarkMonitor Acquires DtecNet to Fight Piracy". eWeek. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ Murphy, Kevin (2025-09-26). "Com Laude buys larger rival Markmonitor". Domain Incite. Retrieved 2025-10-17.
- ^ Brandjacking Index, MarkMonitor, archived from the original on January 16, 2013, retrieved December 8, 2012
- ^ Mitchell, Robert (June 25, 2009). "Domain-name Wars: Rise of the Cybersquatters". PC World. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
- ^ Hulme, George (June 29, 2009). "Social Network users Increasingly Under Siege". InformationWeek. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ Higgins, Kelly (June 29, 2009). "Report: Social Networking Phishing Attacks Up More Than 240%". Dark Reading. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ Lowensohn, Josh (November 1, 2011). "Tablet knockoffs running rampant, brand firm says". CNET. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ Camm-Jones, Ben (January 11, 2011). "Fake iPads 'flood the market'". IDG. Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ Seidman, Andrew (August 17, 2012). "No 'Phishing': Banks Try to Sink Scammers". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
- ^ Masnick, Mike (January 13, 2011). "Highly Flawed 'Piracy' Report Used To Support Positions That Are Unrelated". TechDirt. Archived from the original on November 21, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
- ^ "Nielsen's Whiting Joins MarkMonitor Board". Brand Week. October 27, 2009. Archived from the original on November 2, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
- ^ "MarkMonitor Corporate Overview". MarkMonitor. Archived from the original on March 23, 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
- ^ Maxwell, Andy (April 26, 2024). "Nintendo vs. Garry's Mod: Dissecting the 'Fake' Domain Behind All the Chaos". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
- ^ https://www.whois.com/whois/half-life.com
- ^ Wauters, Robin (July 26, 2012). "Thomson Reuters snaps up online brand protection giant MarkMonitor". The Next Web. Archived from the original on August 28, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
- ^ AlienVault, OTX (January 29, 2024). "Domain Names registered with abuse complaint email address "abusecomplaints@markmonitor.com"". OTX AlienVault. Archived from the original on January 30, 2024. Retrieved January 29, 2024.