Overview

This year, the first domain names ending .xxx will be made available for ‘adult’ websites. A ‘sunrise’ period, planned to start in early September and to last around 30 days, will allow applicants in the adult industry to secure domain names based on their existing domain names or trademarks. Brand owners outside the adult industry will not qualify for .xxx domain names, but they will have the opportunity in the sunrise period to apply to block registration of .xxx domain names consisting of their registered trademarks.

There are plans, after the sunrise period, to allow domain name disputes on the basis of unregistered trademarks and personal names. There are also proposals to introduce a rapid takedown procedure for alleged abusive registrations involving well-known or inherently distinctive marks and a domain name for which no conceivable good faith basis exists. So far, only general indications of these procedures have been provided. The ICM Registry has appointed a UK company, IPRota, to assist with the sunrise period.