Porn Company Filing Antitrust Suit Against ICM & ICANN

[DjDamyard]

Today, the ICM Registry released a statement outlining that online porn company Manwin, originally called Brazzers, who own many well known porn sites such as YouPorn.com, PornHub.com, Brazzers.com and Twistys.com will plan to file an antitrust lawsuit against ICM Registry and ICANN in conjunction with the .XXX domain Top Level Domain.

The ICM released the statement:

Our public relations company alerted us to the probable filing today of an anti-trust lawsuit by Manwin against both ICM Registry and ICANN in conjunction with the .XXX domain name.
“As we have proved time and again, ICM Registry has taken extensive measures to ensure it is being launched in the most lawful and responsible possible way:
“ICM Registry will vigorously defend their position against any merit-less claims such as this one.”

Source: http://www.thedomains.com/2011/11/16...cann-over-xxx/

[Thorn]

Re: Porn Company Filing Antitrust Suit Against ICM & ICANN

Today, the ICM Registry released a statement outlining that online porn company Manwin, originally called Brazzers, who own many well known porn sites such as YouPorn.com, PornHub.com, Brazzers.com and Twistys.com will plan to file an antitrust lawsuit against ICM Registry and ICANN in conjunction with the .XXX domain Top Level Domain.

The ICM released the statement:


Source: http://www.thedomains.com/2011/11/16...cann-over-xxx/

The link is dead. Here are the Wall Street Journal's and CNET's stories.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...ch_LEFTTopNews

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-57...ed-porn-giant/

[ButterSnatcher]

Re: Porn Company Filing Antitrust Suit Against ICM & ICANN

The Link isn't dead you just have to remove the ] from the end of it.
http://www.thedomains.com/2011/11/16...cann-over-xxx/

[Thorn]

Re: Porn Company Filing Antitrust Suit Against ICM & ICANN

The Link isn't dead you just have to remove the ] from the end of it.
http://www.thedomains.com/2011/11/16...cann-over-xxx/

Ah, very good. Original has been edited.

[HighWiz]

Re: Porn Company Filing Antitrust Suit Against ICM & ICANN

Ah, very good. Original has been edited.

n00b..

[DjDamyard]

Re: Porn Company Filing Antitrust Suit Against ICM & ICANN

Ahhh damn. Apologies, people.

Thanks for pointing it out and fixing it, ButterSnatcher and Thorn!

Any opinions on this?

What do we make of the whole ".XXX" domain?...

[eris]

Re: Porn Company Filing Antitrust Suit Against ICM & ICANN

Seems a bit difficult to claim monopoly if using the .xxx TLD is voluntary. Appears frivolous to me.

[Xenos]

Re: Porn Company Filing Antitrust Suit Against ICM & ICANN

Free no violation copyR ... ^^

[sintax_error]

Re: Porn Company Filing Antitrust Suit Against ICM & ICANN

I'm gonna play devil's advocate here for a minute. Certainly a company can opt out of registering a .xxx, but does a purveyor of skin flicks really have a choice from a business standpoint? Let's say that <nudiesite>.com has no interest in adding another domain to their network, then <nudiesite>.xxx pops up hosting malware or any number of illicit content types. What happens to <nudiesite>.com's perceived reputation among their loyal pervs and thusly their bottom line? When and if .xxx becomes a standard for pr0n sites, Harry Happyhands will see a potentially squatted site as being connected to and run by his favorite fleshpeddler, regardless of what the owner of the .com, .net, etc. publishes.

From a business point of view, you have 3 choices; you can bite the bullet and pay the fee to register and maintain a .xxx, you can pay a fee to block the registration by others of <yoursite>.xxx, or you can roll the dice and hope the fallout is less than catastrophic for your enterprise.

...And go.

[eris]

Re: Porn Company Filing Antitrust Suit Against ICM &amp; ICANN

I'm gonna play devil's advocate here for a minute. Certainly a company can opt out of registering a .xxx, but does a purveyor of skin flicks really have a choice from a business standpoint? Let's say that <nudiesite>.com has no interest in adding another domain to their network, then <nudiesite>.xxx pops up hosting malware or any number of illicit content types. What happens to <nudiesite>.com's perceived reputation among their loyal pervs and thusly their bottom line? When and if .xxx becomes a standard for pr0n sites, Harry Happyhands will see a potentially squatted site as being connected to and run by his favorite fleshpeddler, regardless of what the owner of the .com, .net, etc. publishes.

From a business point of view, you have 3 choices; you can bite the bullet and pay the fee to register and maintain a .xxx, you can pay a fee to block the registration by others of <yoursite>.xxx, or you can roll the dice and hope the fallout is less than catastrophic for your enterprise.

...And go.

This scenario has already been in play for years with .com's also buying .org, .info, etc. Suits in the past regarding the use of a "brand name" with a different TLD extension have been moderately successful if the brand is well known enough so there is an avenue for addressing the situation. I am sure we all remember the sales of reserved domain names that were such a big industry themselves not too long ago.

I don't particularly see it as a monopoly issue however. I don't agree with the creation of the .xxx TLD this late in the game either. That should have been done right from the start to avoid such a mess as is in the future now.