According to a story in xBiz.com today, the company that owns YouPorn.com, Manwin today it says has banned “all activity between its brands and Internet sites registered with a .XXX TLD, including advertising for .XXX websites on its tube sites.”
“In addition, Manwin said it won’t permit its content to be used or advertised on .XXX websites. ”
The xbiz.com story quotes Fabian Thylmann, managing partner of Manwin. to say:
“We oppose the .XXX domain and all it stands for, It is my opinion that .XXX domain is an anticompetitive business practice that works a disservice to all companies that do business on the Internet.”
“The lawsuit was just the beginning,”
ICM’s CEO Stuart Lawley is quoted in the Xbiz story as saying:
“We find it ironic that a company that’s accusing us of anti-competitive tactics is taking such an anti-competitive action that could cause potential financial harm to the same webmasters they claim they’re trying to help.”
Seems to me that Lawley has a good point.
How can one claim a company is being anti-competitive on one hand and they ban all dealing with any .XXX domain name.
What is more anti-competitive than that/
It’s enough to kill xxx
seems to me like Lawley manages to not address the issue of ICM’s own conduct
I expect more adult companies will follow Manwin in this boycott.
Lawley’s point makes no sense, Manwin can decide who they will cooperate with. It’s their choice.
.XXX is going to be nothing but trouble that is why I’m not buying into this scheme, another
.co in the making.
What we need is another .porn and .sex to have free competitions with .xxx
You F with the bull you get the horns.
Can’t blame them from protecting their turf, unless ofcourse you have a vested interest in seeing .xxx succeed
We’ll see how .xxx plays out, it could very well just be a type in play.
You can’t expect established businesses to support a new suffix that injures their brand. Saying it is “anticompetitive” might sound good but capitalism is capitalism, those that have the power can exert their influence at will. Let the market forces play out.
.xxx owners knew their were risks but I guess didn’t foresee this type of risk.
.co ended up being a scam of epic proportions, a damn shame there were many domainers complicit in trying to perpetuate that typo scam. If I remember correctly .co claimed that .com was actually a typo of .co
What happened to juan diego whatever his name was? Domain blogs were quoting him everyday when the .co scam began we don’t hear a peep now. Look in the mirror once in a while guys, stop trying to talk your own book. Seems like the domain industry is becoming just like the stock market. A scam.
Im just another troll that adds no value and is scared to reveal my identity. might as well delete this or simply not allow anon trolls to post.
This is great news.
Here’s the GFY thread about the boycott: http://gfy.com/showthread.php?t=1048244
*
Imagine that.
Two dogs going after each other.
Porn mongers having a hissy fit.
Too funny for words.
*
These domainers just don’t get it. They think, “Yeah, Manwin owns some big websites, but a boycott by a few sites isn’t enough to bring down .xxx” They don’t understand that Manwin is the largest producer of adult content in the entire world. Exactly how many of the industry’s most prolific producers are Manwin contractors? Exactly what content are these .xxx sites going to license? The billing companies? The implications are enormous. As I said in a different post, the value of every single .xxx domain fell by at least 20% today.
Great job Manwin. And to those not familiar with adult, Manwin to adult internet is what Coke+Pepsi is to soft drinks US biz. But Manwin and other adult companies should take it further and stop doing biz with any company that even registered .xxx. Just force them to drop their already registered .xxx before doing biz with them, as simple as that.
China, India, and UAE are blocking any .XXX content and businesses are complaining of a
.XXX “shakedown” so how successful can it become?
Manwin controls close to 80% of all adult ad space.
That’s US and International.
On their own sites and 3rd party sites.
Not really much of a surprise.
Lawley can brush this off, but this is very important news.
Despite all the marketing, the fact remains the vast majority of the adult industry does not support .XXX
Brad
For those not aware Manwin also owns Playboy and all its online and cable assets.
So the ban would extend to cable PPV channels as well
I would expect to see other adult companies to follow manwin.
It’ll just be good PR for them.
Jumping on the bandwagon is what adult industry does well..
This quote is attributed to Stuart Lawley –
“Apparently Manwin is confused about whether it wants to bring antitrust claims or commit antitrust violations.”
That is a bold statement Mr. Lawley.
Would you like to defend that?
Manwin is a private company, and is free to do business with who they choose and decide where their content appears.
I never really understood why a content creator would embrace .XXX.
It is too easy for any country or entity to block it at the root level without the need of any content filter.
As you can see several countries have already started blocking it.
Brad
I’ve posted before that the whole .xxx extension is redundant. When 90+% of the master debaters already go to youporn, porntube, pornhub, etc DOTCOM, there really is no purpose to .xxx. The only benefactors are ICM, ICANN and possibly the owner of xxx.com. The general public gains nothing from this.
“What is more anti-competitive than that”
I’d call this the definition of competition.
You should consider throwing a disclaimer on this post.
I agree with Stuart Lawley and Mike Berkens. Pardon my language, but these comments smell like troll shit.
@ Alan
You are incorrect about India, China, and UAE blocking .XXX. This has been repeated by others but is simply false. Take a minute and find out for yourself.
@ Ann
Domainers much older and more successful than myself were some of the most important folks that helped to develop the online adult industry. It is ironic for you to insult domainers while posting on one of the greatest domain legend’s blogs!! Despite that, domainers are still your friends and not your enemies. Try not to forget that while on the war path.
Manwin should get their own adult gTLD. such as .PORN or .SEX to kill off .xxx…
@Asher I’m sure that you do know so much more about the adult industry than those who currently make a living in that industry. And, I’m sure that, since the time that these domainers were involved in adult–30 years ago–nothing has changed. You are right and you should buy every single .xxx domain you can find. In fact, nothing would make me happier than if you invested every single penny you have into .xxx domains.
@Ann:
In fact, nothing would make me happier than if you invested every single penny you have into .xxx domains.
Ditto.
Go for it !
@Asher Since we have etablished that you and these wise old domainers know so much about the adult industry, maybe you could describe the impact for us. Given the FACT that Manwin sites get 60 MILLION visitors per day, given the FACT that Manwin is the world’s largest producer of adult content, and given the FACT that Manwin contrls 80% of adult ad space, what will be the effect of this boycott?
@ Asher
You are incorrect about India, China, and UAE blocking .XXX. This has been repeated by others but is simply false. Take a minute and find out for yourself.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelhumphrey/2011/03/24/indias-reaction-to-xxx-domain-exhibits-why-porn-industry-hates-it/
This is very bad news for .xxx
Those boys at pornhub network are big boys in the porn world…i know because i…nevermind…
.xxx registrations will still do great…but will eventually die out…after .xxx owners find out there is no way to get traffic without advertising with the big boys at pornhub network.
.xxx should have done a deal with all the big porn companies especially pornhub network.
pornhub network is going to kill .xxx
this is going to be a fun porn mud wrestling match between pornhub network and .xxx
let the dirty games begin
this thrills me
.xxx and .co are in the same canary shit mine
Now, on other domain-industry boards, people are complaining, “Where was Manwin before? Why didn’t they object before .xxx was approved?” This complaint, in particular, cracks me up. Go back and watch the video of the San Francisco ICANN meeting. Watch the section where Diane Duke, the Executive Director of the Free Speech Coalition, is voicing the industry’s objections. Who is that with her? Ohhhh. That’s Franco Giani, MANWIN’S IN-HOUSE COUNSEL!
Well if Manwin controls 80% or more of the market, maybe they need a looking over by the DOJ, I think that is called a monopoly.
@Michael H. Berkens
Last time I check, ICM Registry controlled 100% of the dotxxx space and ICM Registry decided which dotxxx domains they allowed you to register and which dotxxx domains they considered valuable and kept for themselves.
Isn’t that a monopoly?
Paul
ICM owns .XXX
No one else has applied for another adult related TLD that is not ICM fault.
No different that Verisign having 100% control of the .com space.
Its done under exclusive contracts with ICANN which was granted the power by the US government to govern the domain name space
See:
http://www.circleid.com/posts/why_lawsuit_against_xxx_maybe_the_best_sales_tool_for_new_gtld_applicants/
@Michael H Berkens I didn’t say that Manwin “owns” 80% of the adult ad space. I said that Manwin “controls” 80% of the adult ad space, just as they contract to control the on-line presence of Playboy, Wicked Pictures, etc., without owning Playboy, Wicked, etc.
@Michael H. Berkens
* Manwin also owns their sites.
* Wasn’t it part of the deal between ICANN and ICM registry that ICANN would not approve tlds that compete with .xxx?
@ Alan
The article you cite about India banning .XXX was incorrect when it was originally printed and is just as wrong today. An Indian Minister said something that he wasn’t authorized to say, it was a mistake. Check it out for yourself and I promise that you will discover .XXX is not blocked in any of the jurisdictions that you claim. Ask somebody in India to check for you if you have to just please stop spreading misinformation.
@ Ann
I would be happy to describe the impact domainers had on the adult industry: they provided (and still provide) traffic. Without the amount of traffic domainers provided to online sites, they would have never been able to develop to the size they did as quickly as they did. I am talking about folks like Mike Berkens, whose blog you seem to enjoy posting on. Also Ann, this did not happen 30 years ago because the commercial Internet is about half that age.
“In war, truth is the first casualty.” Sad but proving to be very true in this case.
Ann
Own/control same thing
Any company who has 80% market share is subject to a DOJ or even EU action.
Google has less market share
Microsoft has less market share
Actually those are the only two companies in the world I can think of that has anything approaching what share of the market your saying Manwin has.
Now they are dictating that anyone with a .XXX domain is banned out of there 80% of the market they control.
I don’t see how that helps their legal case any
Paul
“”* Wasn’t it part of the deal between ICANN and ICM registry that ICANN would not approve tlds that compete with .xxx?””
No
The “deal” between ICM and ICANN was that ICANN approved the extension after 7 years having approved it in 2006 and then pulling the approval back after the US Commerce Dept slept through the 2006 approval.
That of course was the basis for the Independent Judicial Review in which the panel held that ICANN action was against their own rules and policies which led to ICANN voting to approve the extension.
Of course the have a contract with ICANN to operate the extension but there is nothing in the contract that says there can’t be a competing application for a new gTLD for .sex or .porn or something along those lines.
OK, I don’t know what to say about the whole situation and I never knew manwin is such a big player. I don’t have any .xxx domains because I decided not to buy any after losing enough in mobi/net/org/us/info etc. I have reduced other extensions in last 2 years and now our portfolio is 99% dot-COM and just 1% total in org/net/info. So not touching any new TLD even with a 12 ft pole 🙂
But it appears there are posters on this thread that know a lot about adult industry.
So here is my question:
I do have some nice adult domains that are parked and wondering what is the best affiliate program for adult domains…….general adult domains and geo adult domains. Looking mainly for where you get white label sites for your domains.
Since .XXX is so against “anticompetitive business practices” I would expect them to not bring an objection when someone applies for .SEX, or .PORN.
Having the only adult related TLD is as “anticompetitive” as it can get.
That also seems like a “monopoly”.
You also have ICANN who is 100% in charge of the new TLDs.
Seems like another “monopoly”.
Brad
the goal of .xxx is like any other recently added tld: to sell domains.
a tld, a simple dns registry, is not going to displace any content producer.
domain names != content.
the goal of a registry like the ones who get on board with icann is for the registry to make money. if most of the names lie dormant with _no content_, the registry _still makes money_. there is a lot of money made on domains names with _no content_. and some registries make even more money on top of this from parking these names and functioning themselves as domainers.
regardless of the laughable subject matter involved here, this will be a good lesson on what “new gtld’s” are all about.
they are about selling names. they are not about content. all talk of content and the anticipated value of such content is pure speculation.
after a name is sold, the registry has made its money. for the registry, what happens after that really does not matter.
sell names, make money. in the registry game, content is irrelevant.
if .xxx claims this is not true, then let them prove it.
e.g., hypothetically, even if no one ever renews a .co domain name, the .co registry has still been a success. that registry has made lots of money selling names from comparitively very little investment. cha-ching.
/comparitive/s/ari/ari
/registries/s/&/registrars
Intresting move from Manwin.
Is it gonna change much ? nah .
Can Manwin cause alot of damage ? yes they can…
However this ban is not the end of end all.
No the danger lies in the IRP for ICM/ICANN. That is currently a black horse so to speak.
Dec 6 we will see tons of registrations. Simple as that.
The wheels are turning into a direction, a direction that is actually not my choice.
The adult community might not like ICM and hail Manwin as the liberator..
Dec 6th ICM Registry will pop some champagne corks. Reallity, like it or not.
500k registrations at the first day of GA.
1 million within 6 months.
For the record and on the record.
RIP.XXX?
“”Well if Manwin controls 80% or more of the market, maybe they need a looking over by the DOJ, I think that is called a monopoly.””
You are not forced to consumer your porn from a single source and this single source is not your authority to porn consumption no mater how much of a market place they control. Not to mention barrier to entry is cheap and low. Larry just entered this marketplace with xxx.com . You see my point, Mainwin is not hindering competition in the marketplace. There is half a dozen smaller ad providers out there that compete directly with manwin.
“”
500k registrations at the first day of GA.
1 million within 6 months.
“”
No one doubts that .XXX is going to be a successful biz for the registry and the registrars.
This thread is about end users and consumer awareness. You cant build consumer awareness through offline marketing of a TLD or anykinda of marketing of a TLD. You can only build that through enduser use and consumer reinforcement of strong .TLD brands. Once you have barriers to how you use your domain and where you’re permitted to advertise, enduse values of domains goes down the toiler pretty quickly.
@Asher
Ask somebody in India to check for you if you have to just please stop spreading misinformation.
Put Your Glasses On and Read Slowly:
“India along with many other countries from the Middle East and Indonesia opposed the grant of the domain in the first place, and we would proceed to block the whole domain, as it goes against the IT Act and Indian laws,” said a senior official at the ministry of IT.
@ Alan
Seriously dude, you need to put on YOUR glasses. Please re-read my previous post because the “senior-official” quoted in the article that you keep howling about was wrong and not authorized to make that statement. Sheesh, haven’t you ever heard of government official that said something that is wrong? It literally happens all the time and yes, the media will often repeat the story, whether it is true or not. Every single story on India banning .XXX quotes the Economic Times article which is wrong. Nobody bothered to cover the correction. This is the last time that I am going to repeat this: INDIA DID NOT AND HAS NO PLANS TO BLOCK .XXX. I think the only way that you are going to be convinced is if you fly to India yourself and go to a .XXX site.
It doesn’t matter how many times you repeat this misinformation, you are still wrong here.
FX
Your not forced to use Google for search or Microsoft’s Explorer to browse the Internet but it was the market share of those companies and the perceived potential to cut off competition that made DOJ and the EU move against them.
Here Manwin with a bigger market share is overtly using their position in the market to boycott a competitor.
I’m just saying.
Asher,
You remind me of a friend in high school, who often wanted me to choose between calculations derived from his memory and that produced by a calculator. Like I told him, I trust a calculator more than his own calculations. If a calculator differs from his own, I go with the calculator.
Making us take your word over the government’s or the media is not going to fly.
I know it’s a cliche to beat up on the government or the media, but they have the authority, not you. I’m sorry, guy.
the .xxx drops will be orgasmic
punn intended
masses won’t renew and drop
others will fail to ‘develop’, the ones who didn’t just buy for ‘brand protection’ , roll eyes
the .xxx drops in a year – 2 years time will even eclipse .co drops next year lol
“”Here Manwin with a bigger market share is overtly using their position in the market to boycott a competitor.””
ICM is not a competitor. If Manwin gets .porn or .sex and a tries to block all .xxx advertisers that could be considered anticompetative. Or if they get .sex and force all advertisers to exclusively only use their TLD that could be considered anticompetative. Even at that it’s a far stretch as harm to actual consumers would have to be justified. I dont see any harm to consumers with above examples or manwin’s actions. Anticompetative questions would only arise in regards to TLDs and not anything else.
“”Your not forced to use Google for search or Microsoft’s Explorer to browse the Internet but it was the market share of those companies and the perceived potential to cut off competition that made DOJ and the EU move against them.””
Microsoft’s dominant position in OS and Google’s dominant positions in search are NOT and have NEVER been ruled anticompetative by themselves. It’s only when MS tried to use its dominant desktop OS position to force everyone to use IE by bundling it into their OS thus putting web browser competitors at a disadvantage. That’s exactly what they were found guilty off.
Google’s dominant search position by itself is NOT anticompetative.
Google’s could be seen as anticompetative if for example they user their ownership of ITA software to block all travel sites that are not using their software from the index. Thus putting competitors in the travel software industry at a disadvantage.
I’m not an antitrust lawyer and don’t play one on TV, but i believe you’re stretching things pretty far there Mike.
Why people do not want to understand that the old days that allowed greedy companies like Manwin to monopolise a market are GONE, those day are GONE , GAME OVER.
FX
There banning action isn’t against ICM per se its against anyone who is trying to use a .XXX domain.
“”Microsoft’s dominant position in OS and Google’s dominant positions in search are NOT and have NEVER been ruled anticompetative by themselves.
“It’s only when MS tried to use its dominant desktop OS position to force everyone to use IE by bundling it into their OS thus putting web browser competitors at a disadvantage. That’s exactly what they were found guilty off. “””
Right and now Manwin is using their dominant position to force everyone NOT to a .XXX domain.
If you use a .XXX domain they will ban you.
Seems like force to me
Agree with FX. New tld’s like .xxx are about the registry and registrar profits, not profits from selling content. And one doesn’t need to be an antitrust lawyer to see that antitrust claims against registries or content providers will fail. ICM will make money. Whether it’s registrants will make money is another matter. And it seems like here we may have an example of an industry saying, “No, I’m not buying your domain names, thanks.”
As the internet marketers say, “Content is king.”
>> Right and now Manwin is using their dominant position to force everyone NOT to a .XXX domain.
Nothing wrong with that. As long as they’re not forcing you to use their owned and operated TLD instead of ICM, than it does not raise any anticompetative questions. And lets be honest antitrust / anticompetative issue related to porn advertising is a joke to begin with. Keep in mind banning .xxx does not remove other options for consumers, or forces higher fees on that consumer. In this case consumers are advertisers. Advertisers are free to use any # of 100 other TLD and ccTLDs. The choices are as wide as an ocean, therefore IMO it’s no where close to being an anticompetative action.
Any business is free to choose who they do biz with.
Stuart should just hire a powerful lobbyist (like good old “Casino Jack” but better) to have some bible belt senator float a bill that asks for all ISP’s and cable providers to require that any adult content sites use a .xxx domain so that parents can have controls on the content that is allowed into their homes.
If you think about it, they hate the industry anyway. Here’s some possible sound bytes from the board room.
“Porn’s one of the main reasons that there’s such a massive amount of data being pulled 24/7. It’s not YouTube that’s the problem, it’s porn!”
“Why wold they object to having to use .XXX domains unless they want their content to be accessed by minors!”
I mean if Manwin is going to make such an aggressive (and anti-competitive) move well .XXX can’t just put their head in the sand.
And for those of you scoffing at such a ridiculous suggestion.. I’m all for free speech, I’m just trying to prove a point.
Bullying tactics like this are a slippery slope.
Plus it’s not like the bill would get anywhere.. But the threat is probably enough to make Manwin slow their roll.
Boycotts can be a powerful way to send a message.
And, even thought they might not call it as such, that’s all this company is doing.
They are effectively saying, “It’s either our content business or some registry’s name business. Make a choice who you’d rather partner with. Because we do not need to purchase that registry’s names to continue to successfully run our content business.”
In theory, any business sector could do the same to any new tld registry. And they could could prevent their ad spend from going toward supporting domainers who might buy domains under such new tld’s.
If there’s no relevant ads pertaining to what users might be searching for, then the tld’s registrants (wannabe domainers?) might not be able to afford to pay their reg fees.
This is why “support from the community” might be a real issue with new tld’s. It’s one that .xx ignored. Let’s see what happens.
I have noticed something strange that needs to be explained by ICM Registry I am afraid!
Over amonth ago I pre-registered a .xxx domain name through my registrar, and just today I have noticed that ICM Registry has ” reserved” that particular name which has not been reserved for the past months! I wonder what ICM Reistry has to say about this , I have sent them an email asking for an explaination, lets wait and see!
Ben
Sounds interesting
Let me know how it goes
@ Ben
Whilst I can’t comment on your particular case here as I don’t have the details, it strikes me as though you may have submitted an early application for GA, perhaps even before Sunrise and Landrush were closed.
The Sunrise and Landrush names were uploaded into the registry on December 1st and my guess is that your registrar has only just “scrubbed” their GA queue against the list of available names.
So it is entirely possible that a name you looked up several weeks ago subsequently became unavailable through the sunrise and Landrush allocation processes.
I can state the following :
1. I pre-registered that particular .xxx domain name through my registrar on 26 October 2011.
2. When I looked up WHOIS for that particular name through ICM website ,the result always was “NOT FOUND” which meant, I assumed, that that particular name was not either “reserved” by ICM nor it was “registered” by anyone, and nor it was “reserved by ICM as part of premium domain names”
3. Through domainmonster.com search , I also noticed then that that particular name was not reserved by either Sunrise nor by Landrush !
Cheers
@Stuart
Ignore what the press is saying. DotXXX is a brilliant idea that should have been allowed YEARS ago. I am excited about the potential and can’t wait to see what names I get!
Stuart’s comments are logical. You might want to try a few searches against the ICM Registry Whois before purchasing your domain names. It will tell you (now that landrush has closed), which domains of interest are available. From what I understand, “Not Found” means available.
I spent some time talking to sales representatives on the phone who adamantly stated that ICM would enter into private auctions for multiple General Availability (GA) registrations. From what I understand GA is “first come, first serve”. I think they were mistaking GA for landrush.
Buyer beware – some registrars are not “scrubbing” their lists. Some of them are also allowing duplicate registrations to enter their queues. Couple that with non-refundable application fees, and you got yourself a mess. If your registrar is still allowing sex.xxx, download.xxx, casting.xxx – proceed with caution!
sex.xxx is reserved
download.xxx is reserved for premium sales
casting.xxx is LIVE!
1) Check your names first at ICM Registry Whois – make sure they are available…
2) Register a single domain, and search for it again…is it taken? If so, you’ve found a registrar that is “doing it right”
3) Make sure they are offering 100% refunds for domains they were not able to secure on your behalf (there are plenty doing this)
Good luck!
Couple of clarifications –
The second paragraph is directed to everyone, not @Stuart.
I was speaking to sales representatives from registrars, not ICM.
If you want download.xxx, you can contact ICM directly. In the end, you will probably have to go through a registrar, but any registrar that allows you to register a premium domain name for GA is just “borrowing” your money – or – taking it if there is a non-refundable application fee.
In step #1 – “Not Found” = available…
In step #2 – search via the registrars tool, not ICM whois. Whois will not report you as the owner unless your registrar secures the domain name on your behalf after pre-registration ends and GA begins (12/6/2011).
@dotxxxfan
You have it spot on and IMHO good advice.
Some registrars haven’t scrubbed their lists against our EPP check servers and the Whois is the correct source of information.
Not found equals available.
Many registrars are taking only one application per string so if Whois is showing available but your first choice registar is showing not available you can try other registrars.
We are allocating GA names on first come first served and only one registrar I know is applying the auctioning method you mention for any names they manage to obtain with multiple apps via themselves.
That has nothing to do with ICM.
We allocate first come first served as we process the pre order queues from registrars at 11 am EST in Tuesday.
Thank you for your insightful comments and good luck!
So when will you know if your landrush domain is going to auction. On pool’s site it says auctions for landrush begin the 12th, but you will be given at least ten (10) days notice. 8 days left, did anyone get a auction notice yet?
@chris
Registrars have already been notified of the names allocated in Landrush already and The auction process is I believe still due to start on or around the 12 th subject to the 10 day notice.
I would suggest you contact your registrar for clarification of whether the names have been awarded or are going to auction.
Thank you for your business..
Anticompetitive? One guy sells domains, one guy distributes content. Hmmm. Ok.
Stick to blogging and leave the lega; analysis to someone who actually practices law.
O- happy anniversary to you…..now come down off your horse and thank the readers that support you instead of asking them to be thankfull! It is you that should be thankful….remember that outpouring of support you got last week?
@lawless
I am by no means a legal expert, but can you please tell me the difference between .xxx, and .com, and all of the other TLDs. I know .xxx is adult oriented, but a good portion of Manwin’s complaint is about trademark holders. Where were the complaints about .com? .net? .tv? .co.uk?
Note that I am not affiliated with ICM…
the complaints about those registries are to be found in the past. for .com you need to go back the 90’s. for the others, the past decade. and that’s the point. we’ve been through this before and we still haven’t learned. trademark holders are getting tired of buying more useless domain names that they just redirect to .com
consumers do not need these domain names. but if we allow creation of more icann for-profit registries (with icann salaries benfitting), then trademark holders _do_ need these names. they seemingly have no choice. buy the names or have their marks usurped and possibly tarnished by registrants looking to profit from them.
the content (trademark) owners’ lawsuit may be incoherent, but the problem they are facing is legitimate. they don’t have to(they could just stick to generics) but these registries, who have absolutely no rights in these marks, deliberately exploit trademarks and trademark holders for their own profit.
you can’t blame the trademark holders for putting up a fight.
Seems to me like you are saying there is a market for exploitation of trademark holders. Trademark holders still have the freedom of choice – as do the individuals who choose to infringe the trademark holder’s rights.
Afterall, what’s stopping the average Joe from getting a phone line and advertising themselves as Microsoft?
Maybe we should boycott phones. And classified ads while we’re at it.
Remember Victor’s Secret? To me, the right place to fight trademark abuse is in court and through the media – and against the infringement of the marks, not the vehicles that can be misused.
I’ll restate: the consumer of any and every TLD has a choice when they declare interest in particular domain names. The violator of any trademark is taking a risk.
Also, remember .com prices used to be high.
And how does this differ from toll free vanity numbers? Surely a trademark holder that purchased 1-800-WIDGETS was pissed when they released 1-877. And what about plural vs singular? Or toll free numbers that are 1 digit off?
What about subdomains? Those bastards that invented DNS should be sued! Now someone can get software.xxx and create microsoft.software.xxx!
I am being sarcastic of course. You get the point.
Clearly the right way is to inform the consumer or brand around your TLD. Or just publicly declare disassociation.
“The only place for genuine Victoria’s Secret products is victoriassecret.com”
what’s stopping average joe is the threat of being sued.
by a corporation with a much bigger legal budget than joe.
widgets appears to be a generic name.
dns does make it very easy to exploit trademark holders. this does not mean it has to be used that way. direct match trademarks do not _have_ to be put in the zone. they do not _have_ to resolve. they do not _have_ to be sold. but, of course, they are.
the question is: who really _needs_ all new tld’s like .xxx?
who _wants_ them? why?
who neither needs them nor wants them? why?
and who is indifferent? why?
if there were no trademarks to exploit, how many registrants could profit? how many good generic are there, really?
again, can we really blame trademark holders for objecting to how the icann system is attempting to _further_ profit from them? .com and the others is apparently not enough. time to shake the money tree again.
If they wanted to be fair, the onus about patent & trademark name registrations should reside with registrars. If anyone has a legitimate claim to a name, they should have it blocked at the Registrar, say within a year or so, and any name that is available to a registrant at any given moment when the registrant clicks “buy”, is theirs! It is FRAUD to charge someone a registration fee for a name, and months and years later confiscate from that registrant. Let’s be honest about this. The deck is stacked against the little guy. It’s laughable to have someone lay claim to common words. Unless you patented the alphabets, shame on you, WIPO, the courts, such organizations, and ICANN for these tricks. They should remove any patented names before it’s available for General registration.
Think about it. If you buy dope from a pusher, both the seller and the buyer are culpable. They both get arrested and charged, not just the buyer, right? Right!
Widgets was an example. It could have been anything else.
Regarding average Joe – well, at least the smarter than average Joe – the threat of being sued is one way of saying “don’t step on my trademark”.
The main difference between .xxx and other TLDs is the opportunity it presents. Download.xxx suddenly has different meaning, whereas the interpretation of download.com or download.net are more open.
Names are everything, especially in the Internet world.
I do feel bad that the industry is not embracing this opportunity. On the other hand, it opens the doors wider to entrepreneurs wanting to open legit, non-trademark infringing adult businesses.
Thanks for your comments, I appreciate those with different viewpoints.
@Uzoma
I like your thoughts regarding “users and dealers” vs. “registrants and ICANN”. Amusing. In that context, I agree. Although I do see it as a administrative nightmare.
If we did adopt this type of system, all the focus would be on the USPTO :-).
This is nuts! Do we now all have to buy all of our existing domains with the XXX extension to keep them out of the hands of pornographers? What a racket…
@Dee,
That is entirely up to you, and personally I think not necessary. There are more domain extensions available than just .xxx. This concern is not just tied to .xxx.
I respectfully ask you to take a step back for a second and rationalize these points:
– Do you think anyone other than a consumer of adult content will “be willing” to visit your site (currently a .com, .net, .edu, etc…) under .xxx?
– Do you think Disney.xxx would be endorsed by Disney?
– Should we boycott cars because of bad drivers? Is auto insurance a racket?
Any system or technology can be abused. The greatest power you have as a website owner is to declare your affiliations openly.
Should we boycott cars because of bad drivers? Is auto insurance a