ICM Registry will use the Start-up Trademark Opposition Policy (STOP) process for determining trademark and brand rights should its application with ICANN be finalized to administer the sponsored Top-Level Domain .xxx, the company has announced.
STOP, which also was used for .biz, requires individuals to file an intellectual property (IP) claim with ICM for a specific domain. ICM will then notify the individual if anyone else has submitted a claim on that domain. If two or more parties are in dispute over a domain, each party pays a yet-to-be-negotiated dispute fee and the case is turned over to a third-party arbitrator. Both the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) were used during the .biz launch and will be used if .xxx comes to fruition, ICM president Stuart Lawley says. Domain names will be locked down while disputes are in process.
STOP was chosen over the Sunrise Challenge Policy used in the .info launch, under which individuals had to provide proof of a trademark to hold a domain.
“Dot-biz ran a STOP, and apart from the fact that they ran some sort of lottery scheme that caused them difficulties, the actual STOP was quite successful. In .info, which was a Sunrise, you had people who had no legitimate claims going to places like Tunisia, where you can register a trademark overnight for $300, and registering domain names with fraudulent trademarks,” Lawley says.
Before .xxx registrations officially begin, there will be a 120-day window in which intellectual properties can be registered with ICM.
“Don’t confuse … trademark with registered trademark,” Lawley cautions. “[This applies to] trademarks and famous brands, whether they’re registered trademarks or not.”
Meanwhile, despite ICM’s insistence that .xxx domains cannot and will not be preregistered, there are at least two new companies that claim they’re set up to do just that.
Domain name investment and intellectual property firm W7 Media is “preregistering” .xxx domains for $17.95 each through dotxxxregistry.com. Similarly, domain name reseller Domain Name Systems is doing the same for a $5 fee, plus the estimated $75 it will cost to register a .xxx domain, through xxxregistry.org.
In reality, neither company can preregister anything. They are simply taking orders and then trying to fill them the moment .xxx domains become available.
Domain Name Systems’ site clearly states, “there is no guarantee that we will be able to fulfill the registration request.” W7 Media founder Steen Hof also says there are no guarantees but is marketing his service as a way to submit requests to multiple registrars the moment registrations begin.
“When it does launch, we’ll have multiple direct connections right into the registry, as opposed to anyone who is going to hand register or try to run scripts through a proxy server. This is where the advantage comes in,” Hof says.
W7 Media’s initial efforts to market its service to the adult industry were met with resistance. The company is now focusing its efforts on the mainstream, where investors and speculators could join the fray.
Domain Name Systems, on the other hand, seems to be on vacation. A call placed to its U.S. offices resulted in a message saying the company will be closed until August 1. Board surfers may remember xxxregistry.org from a banner on adult webmaster board GFY that started running in June but has since been discontinued.
“They wanted to take it down and then come back once the day for actual registrations gets a little closer. Many people took this as us supporting the issue. In my eyes we neither supported nor denounced it. Advertising on GFY, as long as something is legal – which from what we could see they weren’t breaking any laws – is by advertiser choice,” says GFY marketing director Eric Matis.
Lawley – well aware of both preregistration efforts – said neither company has approached ICM.
“They have nothing to do with us. Nobody can preregister. If you read very carefully what the xxxregistry.org site is saying, they’re just saying ‘Give us your money now and we’ll try very hard when the domains become available,’” he says.
“They won’t be able to pass on any benefits of any special arrangements because they will not have open and full access to all ICANN-accredited registrars. There will be no preferential treatment.”
Moniker CEO Monte Cahn, whose company will be one of the registrars for .xxx domains, outwardly blasted both companies.
“It’s absolutely a bunch of BS. No one is able to preregister .xxx domain names at all,” Cahn says. “What they’re doing is taking reservations and collecting money. It’s fraud almost, and it’s not legitimate.”
While Domain Name Systems is taking precautions and not preregistering any .xxx domains with intellectual property claims, W7 does not look at trademark or brand issues. However, the company’s targeting of mainstream investors may be rendered moot if ICM’s plan to implement an authentication system comes into play. The authentication system would only allow .xxx domains to be purchased by those who are already established in the industry or have a certifiable plan to get into it.
“If [ICM puts] a strict process as you register [domains] in place, that could affect the mainstream investments negatively. As far as affecting our service, it could if they implement something like that,” Hof says.
While neither company seems to be making much money from the adult industry, Lawley says ICM is moving in the right direction toward finalizing its agreement with ICANN.
“All is according to plan. There are no problems,” he says.
