Ever get the feeling the lunatics were policing the asylm? As the naming authorities get set to inflict .XXX domain name conventions on us all, here’s a reminder of the fall-out of the release of the ‘dot-anything-you-want’ approach to website naming. It’s all vaguely remeniscent of the 1995 cybersquatters goldrush that made millions for trademark lawyers and opportunists. Our advice? Have the internal discussion about what’s worth protecting, but don’t get swept up in the hype of trying to buy ‘www.YourBrand.Anything’. And if you have views on this, then share them. Are we being harsh, or just anticipating what every brand manager will be feeling in a month or two as they get spammed by the cybersquatters?
From yesterday, the ICM registry started selling .xxx domains, which have been created to alert users that the site is part of the adult entertainment industry.
Intellectual Property lawyers are warning brands to block their trademarks from being registered for the new .XXX internet domains or risk the consequences.
A ‘sunrise’ period running until 28th October has been created to enable not only the adult entertainment business to register domains, but also for brand managers to protect their trademarks.
During this time, British companies can register relevant domains with a one-off exemption fee to permanently safeguard their intellectual property within the .xxx registry.
Should a company register after the 28th October, they will have to renew the protection annually at an extra cost. Landrush, when the general public can register a .xxx domain without the need of a trademark opens on November 8th.
As the .XXX domains are primarily intended for the adult industry, brand owners can block their trademarks from being registered for one of the addresses.
This is unique among domain names, and recognition of the damage brands may face if a malicious ‘cybersquatter’ registered their name on their behalf.
“Cybersquatters could register existing business names on the domain to mislead people searching for your brand,” said Shipley IP’s Ben Prangell.
Douglas Thomson, trademark attorney at Marks & Clerk, added: “Cybersquatting – whereby opportunists buy up branded domain names in the hope of re-selling them – is a problem across the net, but has the potential for uniquely embarrassing and damaging consequences in this case.
“The only sure way to protect their brands cheaply is by blocking them from the .XXX domain. A block can be put on domain names as soon as the sunrise period opens on 7 September.”
See more here: www.icmregistry.com
