Wednesday, 30 May 2012

Virgin Boss Sir Richard Branson wins .xxx


The Dot .xxx domain extension was introduced as a home for pornography and other adult-orientated web sites in 2011.


Sir Richard Branson, the tycoon behind the Virgin brands had been in dispute with Australian Sean Truman, who registered the domain name last year.


The National Arbitration Forum (NAF), a US-based adjudication body, ruled that Mr Truman had registered and used richardbranson.xxx “in bad faith”.


ICANN, the body which has overall responsibility for domain names, had ordered the transfer of the richardbranson.xxx domain name to Virgin.


Brands/trademark owners were given the opportunity to block the registration of an .xxx domain name last year before they were made available for general public registration. Quite a few brands and celebrities did not get around doing this. Either they were not aware of the launch of the new TLD, got around to doing it too late or just could not be bothered.


In Mr Truman’s argument to the NAF, he contended that he had registered the domain name as a “souvenir” because of his admiration of Sir Richard Branson.


The NAF ruled that Mr Truman should have recognized that his registration and control of richardbranson.xxx “would serve to vex or embarrass” Sir Richard Branson.


Should celebs and brands be forced to have to protect their names and brands every time a new domain TLD is launched?


Brand protection is just as important as brand promotion. Someone owning a domain name for your brand and using it for unscrupulous purposes could end up causing some serious damages to your reputation.
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