CYBERSPACE—TheDomains.com editor-in-chief Michael H. Berkns reported this morning that ICM Registry, which currently operates the .xxx top-level domain, has “won the right to operate the .Sex new gTLD.”
Berkens elaborated, “The other applicant for .Sex, Internet Marketing Solutions Limited has withdrawn their application, leaving ICM’s the lone applicant for .Sex. ICM also is the only applicant for the new gTLD’s .adult and .porn.
“The only caveat on the new gTLD’s .Sex, .Adult and .Porn,” he added, “is that just a few weeks ago, seemingly out of nowhere, the New gTLD Committee of ICANN commented that they might be sensitive strings requiring further discussion.”
Details regarding the resolution of differences between ICM Registry and Internet Marketing Solutions are unknown to Berkins, who also wrote earlier this month, "What if ICM and the other applicant [for] .Sex had gone into a private auction [to] settle contention on the basis that existed before July 1, before the new gTLD committee['s] [newfound] interest in these strings and one of the applicants spent say $5 Million to settle only now to wake up to find something that was not an issue is now an issue?
"Fairness would dictate that objections need to be raised in a timely manner," he added. "It is so in a court of law, and should be the same for ICANN and its committees."
In the current post, he also observed, “Interestingly .Sex was the among the last new gTLD set for ICANN’s Last Resort Auction which was not scheduled until next year," and concluded by noting that ICM has said "that owners of .XXX domain names would have some grandfather rights to acquire matching .Sex, .Porn and .Adult domains."
AVN is attempting to independently confirm the above information.
