A new top level domain has been approved for use by the adult entertainment industry: .xxx. If you wish to prevent traders in the adult entertainment industry from using a trade mark owned by you as a .xxx domain name, it will be possible from today, 7 September 2011, to apply to have the trade mark blocked from such use.
Owners of registered trade marks have until 28 October 2011 in which to apply to have their trade mark blocked permanently. In order for the .xxx domain name to be blocked, it must match the registered trade mark exactly. A one-off fee will apply for each .xxx domain name applied to be blocked permanently. The blocked domain names will be diverted to a standard plain webpage indicating the domain name is reserved from use through a rights protection program. No WHOIS data will be displayed for permanently blocked domain names.
Owners of unregistered trade marks have until 5 December 2011 to pre-register to reserve a domain name from use as a .xxx domain name, after which.xxx domain names will be available to all on a first-come, first-served basis. It will not be possible to permanently block unregistered trade marks. A renewal fee will apply to maintain the reservation. The domain will not resolve but will return an NX domain result. WHOIS data will be displayed for these reserved domain names. Owners of registered trade marks may also reserve their trade marks from use as a .xxx domain name in this way should it not be possible, for example, to apply by 28 October 2011 to block them permanently.
As with other top level domain names, such as .com, .xxx domain names will be subject to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. However, you may consider it more expedient to take the steps mentioned above should you have concerns regarding the use of any of your trade marks as a .xxx domain name. If you would like our assistance in applying to protect your trade marks against such use, or have any further enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us ahead of the upcoming deadlines.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
