ICM Registry shortens window for claiming matching domain names due to ICANN requirements.
ICM Registry, the company behind .xxx and the soon-to-be-released .porn and .adult domain names, announced today a modified domain name matching program for .xxx domain name owners.
Previously, the company planned to reserve any domain names registered in .xxx in its new top level domain names so they could be registered by the .xxx owner. However, ICANN would not allow ICM Registry to “hold” these domain names due to rights protection mechanisms.
As a result, ICM’s new plan creates a thirty day Limited Registration Period after sunrise ends. This is essentially the domain matching period, and .xxx owners will have to register their .adult and .porn domain names during this 30 day window in order to take advantage of the matching program.
It’s a bit ironic: rights protections requirements in new TLDs are weakening what is essentially a rights protection program.
ICM Registry isn’t the only one running into problems with ICANN contracting over its plans to reserve domain names under a grandfathering program. This is apparently the hold up on Verisign’s contracts for transliterations of .com; they want to be able to hold domains matching existing .com domains for the .com owner to claim.
The matching period for .xxx domain names will be April 15 to May 15, 2015.
ICM Registry made additional protection concessions in its contract with ICANN to run the new top level domain names.
John Berryhill says
“It’s a bit ironic: rights protections requirements in new TLDs are weakening what is essentially a rights protection program.”
This has been a recurring theme in the odd interpretation that some ICANN staff are applying to the sunrise launch rules. For some reason, they seem to believe that saying, on a contingent basis, “we will allocate certain names AFTER the sunrise has cleared” would somehow frustrate eligible sunrise registrants.
It makes no sense. So long as eligible sunrise registrants get first dibs, there is no problem.
[email protected] says
Is .xxx still around? Seriously, who uses that?
As for .adult and .porn, these are yet more examples of soon to fail gtlds. The concept of intentionally segregating your own website so that it will be easily filtered is a naive one.
It counts on porographers to be responsible. Yeah, good luck with that.
I see no future for the three of these nor for gtlds as a whole.