CYBERSPACE—Apple has filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization over seven adult sites whose domain names contain the word “iPhone," according to Domain Name Wire. The article notes that the domains forward to mobile sites, but none of them currently resolves, so it appears they have already been taken down.
That is not surprising. Whoever owned the domains—WHOIS records are hidden behind Moniker privacy service—had to know that a battle with Apple to keep the domains up was lost before it even began.
The domains targeted by Apple were:
iphonecamforce.com
iphonecam4s.com
iphoneporn4s.com
iphonesex4s.com
iphonexxxforce.com
iphone4s.com
porn4iphones.com
AVN has learned that these may not be the only adult domains that contain words that would be of similar interest to Apple's lawyers. Without naming names or domains, we were told by a webmaster that s/he got an urgent call from counsel this week encouraging them to take down some domains whose names employ another popular Apple product. The request was apparently complied with immediately.
The webmaster added they were curious whether the passing of Apple CEO Steve Jobs might lead to a more tolerant attutde toward such things, but such is obviously not the case. Despite their disappointment, we think they had to know that it was only a matter of time before Apple moved to protect its trademarks, whether the perceived infringement was by a porn site or not. Nor do we believe this will be Apple's last WIPO complaint.
Reminder to self: Check the old domain portfolio for Apple-themed domains.
