ICM Registry Hopes to Offer .XXX Domains This Year

Registry wants to offer name.xxx later this year.

After winning an independent review against ICANN for denying ICM Registry’s application for a .xxx top level domain name, the registry says it hopes to begin offering .xxx domain names later this year. It has already opened up a process on its web site to pre-reserve names.

Whether or not this time line is feasible depends in part on how ICANN’s board acts upon the independent review. In a strange version of accountability, ICANN’s board gets to review the outside arbitrator’s decision on the matter and decide if it should accept it. But it’s ICANN’s board that voted down .xxx to begin with.

The history here is long. But essentially, ICM registry applied to operate a .xxx top level domain name. By all accounts and a board vote, it met all of ICANN’s requirements and should have been awarded the TLD. The board authorized entering into negotiations with ICM for the registry. But the board then reconsidered it and voted it down because of pressure from outside groups including the U.S. Government.

The best case scenario for .xxx is that the ICANN board approves entering into a registry agreement with ICM registry during its Nairobi meeting next month.