Instigate IP®
“Instigate IP has been instrumental in protecting our brand across multiple jurisdictions. Their expertise and proactive approach have saved us from potential infringement issues before they became costly problems.”
Discreet buy-side and sell-side representation, led by Trade Mark strategy
The domain that fits your brand is almost never free to register. It already belongs to someone: an investor holding it as an asset, a business that quietly stopped trading, a competitor, or an opportunist who registered it the week your rebrand became public. Brokerage is the work of finding out who that is, what the name is genuinely worth, and acquiring it on sensible terms without revealing who is asking.
We broker domain names as part of a brand strategy rather than as a standalone transaction. Every target is assessed against the Trade Mark position first, because a domain you cannot safely use is not a bargain at any price, and a domain you may be entitled to recover is not one you should be paying for.
You name the domain you want. We identify the real owner behind privacy services and holding companies, open a considered approach, and negotiate to a price and a set of terms you have approved in advance.
A registrant who knows a funded brand is on the other side of the table prices the brand, not the name. We negotiate as an intermediary, so your identity, your timing and your budget stay out of the conversation until you choose otherwise.
Comparable sales, extension, length, search demand, existing traffic and the commercial alternatives available to you inform a defensible ceiling. You go into the negotiation knowing what the name is worth and what you are willing to walk away from.
Domains left over from a rebrand, a discontinued product line or an acquisition are dormant assets. We appraise them, position them for the right buyers, and run the sale so that no rights you still rely on are given away with the name.
Funds move through an established escrow service, under a written transfer agreement. We handle authorisation codes, registrar unlock, the push or transfer itself, and the confirmation that the name is registered to your entity, not to an agency or an individual.
Defensive registrations, close variants, and country extensions for the markets you actually trade in, brought together into one account with a renewal diary, so that nothing lapses because a former employee owned the login.
This is the question a pure broker cannot answer for you and a pure litigator has little incentive to ask. Some names have to be bought. Others can be recovered because the registration infringes rights you already hold. Deciding which situation you are in, before anyone makes contact, is the single decision that most affects what the domain ends up costing.
For most generic extensions the route is the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). For .uk registrations it is Nominet's Dispute Resolution Service (DRS), which opens with a free mediation stage before any expert decision. Court action for Trade Mark infringement or passing off remains available where the conduct goes beyond the domain itself. We advise on the merits of each and run the one that fits.
An unguarded approach that identifies the brand can hand a registrant both leverage and the argument that the name has real commercial value to you. Equally, a complaint brought without a proper basis can be found to be Reverse Domain Name Hijacking, which is a matter of public record. We settle the strategy first, then make contact.
We agree the primary target, the acceptable alternatives, the extensions that matter to your markets, your walk-away figure and your timescale.
Before a penny is committed we check whether the name is clear for you to use, whether a third party holds a conflicting Trade Mark, and whether you have grounds to recover the domain rather than buy it.
We establish who genuinely controls the registration, what they paid, how they use it, and what comparable names have sold for, then set a target and a ceiling with you.
First contact is made on your behalf, without naming you, and framed so that a refusal today does not close the door on a deal in three months.
Price, payment structure, any instalment or option arrangement, warranties of clean title, and an assignment of any goodwill and associated accounts that should come with the name.
Escrow, unlock, transfer, and verification that the domain now sits in your account in your company name. We then set the renewal diary, registrar lock and monitoring for close variants.
A domain is a contractual registration, not a property right. What turns it into a defensible brand asset is the Trade Mark position sitting behind it. Buying the name and protecting the name are the same project, so we treat them as one.
Sometimes the honest answer is that you already have the rights to recover the name, or that a different name is the stronger asset. You will hear that from us.
Negotiating through an intermediary keeps your identity, urgency and budget out of the seller's hands.
We check the name against the register and the market so you do not buy a domain that invites a Cease-and-Desist letter the day you launch on it.
Written agreement, escrow, clean title, and an assignment of the goodwill and accounts that should travel with the name, rather than a registrar push and a handshake.
The same practice that acquires the domain files the Trade Mark, watches for imitators and handles the disputes when they arise.
Domains are lost far more often to a missed renewal than to a rival bid. Yours go into a managed diary alongside your Trade Mark deadlines.
Fees are agreed in writing before we contact anyone, so you always know your total exposure. Depending on the mandate that is a fixed brokerage fee, a success fee calculated on the purchase price, or a combination of the two, and you set the maximum budget for the name itself. We act for one side of a transaction only.
An initial conversation about a specific domain, including whether acquisition or a dispute is the better route, is free and carries no obligation.
Domain brokerage is a commercial service. Where a matter turns on Trade Mark rights or on a domain dispute, that advice is provided by Matthew Hiscox, Chartered Trade Mark Attorney, regulated by the Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg).
Not unless you decide they should. We approach as an intermediary acting for an undisclosed client, which is ordinary practice in this market and keeps the valuation anchored to the name rather than to your brand.
A responsive registrant and a straightforward name can complete in a few weeks. Untraceable owners, estates, offshore holding companies and sellers who are simply not motivated take longer. We give you a realistic view at the research stage rather than an optimistic one at the pitch.
Some names are not for sale at any realistic price. In that case we look at the alternatives: a different extension, a modified name that is stronger as a Trade Mark, a standing offer left open, or a dispute route where the registration infringes your rights.
Yes. We appraise the portfolio, identify what is worth keeping defensively, and bring the rest to market, making sure that nothing sold carries away rights or redirects your business still depends on.
Send us the name and we will tell you who holds it, what it is likely to cost, and whether buying it is the right move