The Free Speech Coalition is continuing its campaign against the new .XXX top level domain with it urging adult online business owners to send ICM Registry a letter demanding that their trademarks be protected. Non-adult brand owners are also upset, with lawyers for some of the biggest brands in the US, saying they feel they are being blackmailed into defensive registrations. Companies ranging from MTV Networks and Budget Travel to the Red Cross are preregistering to avoid future legal battles with cybersquatters, reports Reuters. “Many feel they’re being blackmailed to protect their brands,” Kristina Rosette, a trademark lawyer at the law firm Covington & Burling, told Reuters. She added that requiring preregistration fees to protect trademarks is not uncommon among domain registries, which then include the expected revenue in their business plans and projections. However Stuart Lawley, founder of ICM Registry dismisses charges that he is shaking down registrants. “We’re doing it on a cost-recovery basis. We don’t make a dime out of it,” Lawley told Reuters, adding that the fees would serve to cover the cost of verifying the applicant’s identity and trademark ownership. For the adult industry, the “letter of notice” drafted by the Free Speech Coalition informs ICM Registry that the sender will consider any infringement on their trademark as potentially actionable. The letter also clearly states concerns about potential anti-trust issues and unfair businesses practices on the part of ICM, as well as the certainty of cyber-squatting and other exploitation of established trademarks in the .XXX domain. “This template provides adult businesses which do not want the risk of participating in the precarious .XXX experiment with a path to protect their intellectual property and valuable brands,” FSC Board Chair attorney Jeffrey Douglas said. “This template should be discussed with their lawyers and adapted to their needs, but it can be a valuable tool to prevent the damage to their long developed good will and valuable web names.” “FSC is inviting adult businesses to put ICM Registry on notice that they do not have permission to sell the .XXX version of their trademarked names and brands,” said FSC Executive Director Diane Duke. “It is critical that ICM Registry understand that the adult community will not tolerate ICM’s business model, which is built on frightening existing adult companies into paying ICM in order to protect their brand and trademark.” Adult companies that have already issued demands to ICM Registry to protect their trademarks from infringement include Hustler/LFP, Manwin, Pink Visual and AEBN. FSC encourages all adult online businesses to be pro-active and to put ICM on notice concerning any infringement of trademarks. Meanwhile the International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR), the non-profit organisation tasked with policy making for .XXX announced the Sponsored Community founding members of its Policy Council. These highly respected members represent global leaders in the adult entertainment industry. European members are: (1) Jerry Barnett, Managing Director of Strictly Broadband Ltd., the UK’s leading adult VoD provider, and also the chairman of the UK’s Adult Industry Trade Association. He is an entrepreneur from a computing technology background. (2) Florian Sitta is Head of the legal department of Beate Uhse AG, Germany. He is responsible for intellectual property, licensing, internet and communications, corporate governance and compliance as well as being in charge as Commissioner for the Protection of Youth. Representing Australia and Asia is Trieu Hoang, in-house legal counsel and business development for AbbyWinters.com. He brings the experience of working with the political climate toward the industry in Australia. Trieu is originally from Vietnam, so he also brings the much needed Asian perspective. United States members are (1) Chad Belville, a lawyer who is well known to the internet adult industry. He has been on panels at many of the industry conferences and is a member of the First Amendment Lawyers Association (FALA) and (2) Andy Kayton, also a FALA member and general counsel for WebPower, Inc. WebPower, whose holdings include the iFriends adult webcam network and the ClickCash affiliate program, is one of the oldest and largest U.S. adult internet service providers. These industry leaders will join those previously announced who represent Privacy and Security (Professor Fred Cate), Child Protection (Sharon Girling OBE), Free Expression (Professor Nadine Strossen), and the ICM Registry representative (Bob Corn-Revere). To register your .XXX domain, check out America Registry here .
