The coming fallout at Fresh.net

With .travel and .xxx domains on the horizon, trouble abounds thanks to Fresh.net. You may have heard of Net.net, which by now sells domains with extensions like .travel, .xxx, and .law. These aren’t “real” domain names, as they go through an alternative root server. In order to actually visit one of the domains, your ISP must participate in the Fresh.net program or you must modify your browser.

So what happens when .travel and .xxx become “real” domains approved by ICANN? Almost all web browsers will resolve to the official domain. The issue I see is over trademarks. Theoretically someone could have registered something.travel through Fresh.net and starting using it. They then could have filed a trademark for something.travel. What happens if someone wants to register something.travel when the real domain becomes available? I see trademark lawsuits flying left and right.

Is there a solution to the problem? Not really. Look for this issue to be tied up in courts for years to come.