Recently the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), who are the guys who decide all sorts of things about how website addresses work, approved the creation of a new .xxx domain. It’s intended for the adult entertainment industry, but brands have only until October 28th to act before fleshpot slingers start using addresses like mcdonalds.xxx and johndeere.xxx to steal traffic.

There’s an opt-out that you can apply for that lets you block your registered trademark from being in the pool of available .xxx domains and prevent third-parties from exploiting your carefully crafted brand identity. The fee is $199-$350 depending on your registrar. The block lasts for 10 years.

ICANN has kindly set up a web page to tell you all about it and how you can pay them money to prevent the thing they created from harming your brand.

SUNRISE B [ICMregistry] (Thanks to c-side!)

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