by Kevin Murphy
Trademark holders are to get new rights if and when the porn-only .xxx domain launches.
ICM Registry, which hopes to get its .xxx application approved by ICANN this week, plans to have not one but three sunrise periods when it opens up next year.
The first period would allow owners of porn-related trademarks to claim their .xxx domain names and use them as normal, ICM representatives said here at ICANN’s public meeting in Cartagena, Colombia.
But the second would enable non-porn companies that don’t want their brands associated with adult material to basically “turn off” their trademarks in .xxx domains, paying a one-time fee.
Disney, for example, would be able to make sure that disney.xxx is permanently blocked from registration. The domain would not resolve, not even to forward to disney.com, and the company wouldn’t have to pay recurring annual registration fees.
It does not appear that ICM’s plans would prevent cybersquatters registering domains such as disneyporn.xxx, but high .xxx registration fees will likely make this less of a problem for trademark holders.
The third proposed sunrise would allow owners of non-trademarked porn domains in other TLDs, such as .com, to get their equivalent .xxx using an automated Whois check.
The process is being handled by Valideus, a British IP consultancy.
so where’s the (f*ing) added value if everyone who owns a porn domain in any TLD gets the .xxx equivalent ??
I think that the reg fee will be very high and we won’t see many .xxx domains around.
Exactly… What teenager even knows what XXX is?? They want PORN VIDEOS, not triple X rated film. FFS, dumbest business move ever made.
I think it is very sad a brand should pay to turn off its trademark in .xxx domains.
I can’t see the point either. For me, this is irrelevant.
As someone who will finally be launching my own (and first) adult site next year (no, not the Joomla demo one you currently see at my link), if the registration fees for .xxx are much more expensive than my .com I won’t be bothering with it.
.xxx is nothing more than a blatant, cynical money making idea, so I hope it flops miserably in its task to make money.
I think it opens up interesting ideas for the thinkers beyond the square but i do agree xxx is possibly a brand of ‘yesteryear’