January 10, 2012

.XXX Operator Earns Millions from Those Worried About .XXX Names

The BNA's Thomas O'Toole has an important post on the exploitation of companies and others worried about a ".XXX" version of their trademark.  He notes that this group has paid about millions  to register .XXX names to block others from exploiting them.

ICM Registry Inc., the registry operator for the .xxx top-level domain, announced Nov. 1 that it sold nearly 80,000 domain registrations in the just-concluded Sunrise A and Sunrise B registration periods.

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These dollars represent an enormous tax on the trademark owner community with very little in the way of countervailing social benefit. It's true that nobody forced trademark owners to participate in the .xxx sunrise registration round. On the other hand, how many companies would risk tarnishment of their brand in .xxx if the cost of protection is a mere $299?

These registrations cost nearly $300 per domain, representing a massive expenditure of cash mostly by folks who want to be kept out of .xxx's adult content neighborhood.

Further demonstration of the poor choices made by ICANN.

Posted by Anupam Chander on January 10, 2012 at 04:23 AM in Digitization, Web/Tech | Permalink