Going to Bank of Defensive Non-Registration Fee — .XXX Is
Registry will get a windfall in initial fees to block registrations of trademarks.
.XXX could set a record when it comes to defensive domain name registrations.
A “defensive registration” is when a brand registers a domain name solely to keep it out of the hands of cybersquatters or competitors.
When you look back at previous fresh TLDs you’ll find a number of sizable brands defensively registered their domains. But you’ll still find lots of brands that don’t bother to register .info, .biz, and other newer extensions.
When .tel came out, some firms that were aware of it didn’t bother to register. They didn’t think it was the end of the world if someone else nabbed the domain name.
With .Co there was a bit more concern since of its similarity to .com.
But .xxx scares them.
Law firms are emailing their clients (I received one such notice last night). The trademark press is constantly writing regarding it.
And if there’s one thing most brands don’t want to be associated with, it’s porn.
Thankfully, .xxx registry ICM Registry is providing an innovative way for these firms to defensively register their domains. It’s more of a “non-registration” that will block the domain from being registered by another party.
So let’s say Verizon is worried regarding someone registering Verizon.xxx. It doesn’t have to register the domain annually for itself; it can pay a one time fee to block it for as long as ICM runs the .xxx registry.
This fee is expected to be regarding $200-$300 at the retail level.
But brands will have only 30 days to take advantage of this blocking offer, so they ought to educate themselves quickly.
Given the press’ inclination to write regarding .xxx, I think ICM Registry is going to get a lot of these defensive registrations.
That stated, smaller brands probably don’t need to worry unless they have enemies. At regarding $75 per year for registration, .xxx cybersquatters will have to limit their activities.
It will also be interesting to see how much certain brands are willing to pay to prevent registrations in other controversial top level domain names possibly on the horizon, counting .sex and .porn.
