Large domain portfolios often result in a lack of control. Teaching your customers how important it is to implement precise guidelines when registering new domains, where to do it, and which considerations to take into mind before launching new products among other things. Brand protection strategy is vital for any global company.

Companies worldwide fall victim of third parties registering domain names containing part of their brand name to dive traffic to other websites. A domain strategy which meets your customers current needs and also take the future into consideration is key. A domain name is the online identity of your customers and the backbone of your communication channel. Losing out on an important name due to lack of strategy can end up being a very expensive adventure for your customer. If your customer looses a domain name to a cybersquatter, they will loose both traffic and, potentially, goodwill from their customers.

This happened recently to Apple. They launched the iPhone before they had acquired the iphone.com domain. It would have saved them a lot of money if they had actually owned the name before they announced the new brand. If only Apple had been planning a bit better in advance they could have bought the domain for a few thousands "before" announcing the name of their new product.

It has been reported that Apple bought back the name for over one million dollars. Lesson hopefully learned by Apple and other trademark holders : Remember to get your domain before someone else does.

Source: http://www.isquattedyour.eu/2007/07/02/apple-pays-over-the-odds-for-iphonecom/ and
http://blog.domaintools.com/2007/07/iphone-now-owned-by-apple/