In this burgeoning Internet age, how do you prevent people from spreading nasty ideas about your hot-selling, but controversial product? By snapping up domain names, as many as possible, with a beat-them-to-the-punch vengeance.

That’s what Johnson & Johnson is doing to protect Splenda, the sweetener that is promoted as “made from sugar so it tastes like sugar,” but is derided by critics as an unsafe artifical sweetener amid numerous lawsuits claiming false advertising.

The healthcare giant has, so far, bought more than 200 names, including splendakills; victimsofsplenda; bittertruthaboutsplenda; splendaisnotsafe and splendatoxicity. A spokeswoman for J&J’s McNeil Nutritionals unit wrote Pharmalot that buying names is a “common marketing practice that discourages the posting of false or misleading statements that might injure the reputation and goodwill of a brand or company.”

That’s true. And exercising trademark rights to fend off rivals is another good idea. But as the folks at SustainableIsGood.com, which researched this activity, point out, the extent to which J&J is trying to anticipate unwanted antics appears to take the practice to a new level. Or at least….drum roll…refining it.

To learn more….
The SustainableIsGood site with the complete list;
SplendaExposed, one site J&J didn’t get;
A 2005 piece in The National Law Journal about the lawsuits;
An update on the litigation from The Legal Intelligencer;
Statement from the Center for Science in the Public Interest;
Check out domain names here.

[tags]Domain Names, Johnson & Johnson, McNeil Nutritionals, Splenda[/tags]