CD/DVD storage and care

Looking after CDs and other electronic media is a new area for me and something I have started considering in my new role. After a little research here are my ideas and thoughts

• Check the longevity of the media as stipulated by the manufacturer, I found that this can vary. Generally 1 year seems to be the norm.

• Based upon this - have a renewal programme to renew the copies annually or as per the lifetime guarantee of the media

• Duplicate and disperse, keep another copy but somewhere different, preferably not even on the site you work. Which is just a good principle in RM anyway!

• Don't skimp on buying CDs/DVDs - you pay for what you get. Cheap media is likely to fail quicker and I have noticed more instances of bad burns on cheap media than on better quality (and more expensive) media.

• Avoid gluing labels on top of CDs for several reasons - this can unbalance the CD/DVD in the tray and cause read issues. Also the glue can potentially damage the disc over time.

• Find an appropriate storage case/wallet that does not scratch the discs!

• Tell staff how to handle media properly - no mucky fingers or leaving it outside its protective case!

Protecting your rights on the world wide web - buying web addresses

In my previous role I was responsible for the maintenance and registration of web addresses.

Here are my thoughts from what I learned:

Protecting your Rights in the Web Environment

Prevention is better than cure

1. Purchase as many domains as feasible and within budget – prioritise key names and products first

2. Think generic as well – for instance if you sell a particular type of chocolate bar – why not look for chocolatebars, choccybars etc? For example you will find that

• Lloyds TSB own insurance.co.uk
• British Gas own house.co.uk

3. Register common misspellings – and get some more traffic for peoples typos and mispellings? This may be helpful where your name is likely to cause some confusion e.g bconstructive, b-constructive or beconstructive?

4. Take the opportunity to register as many domain extensions as possible e.g. .org .info to name but a few.

5. Register the name of your brand or product as a trademark – as a separate workstream.

6. Purchase new domains as they become available

7. Consolidate domains into one log or inventory within the business. It is good practice for one company to have the responsibility for ensuring all domains for a group are re-registered. Do not lose track of renewals – expired registrations will end up back in the public domain and could be fatal

8. Active monitoring

9. Searches prior to registration

10. All is not lost with a registration that has already been taken – ask yourselves:

• Do you have prior rights in a name? E.g. a trademark or lots of brand equity and capital? Can you demonstrate this – provide examples of collateral or materials?
• Is the registration abusive? i.e. is the name being used to the detriment of your business? Is the content purporting to represent your activities or product?
• If you can answer yes and provide some susbtanial examples of this you may be able insitigate a dispute process with Nominet the UK domain registry (for .uk names)
• Why not first approach the owners and ask whether they might let it go? You might be surprised by the answer!