Celebrity Names Are Banned From New .xxx Domains
Naughty celebs are rejoicing today following the announcement that their saucy sex taps won’t be the spawn of a new .xxx domain name in their honor. The new .xxx domains finally went on sale yesterday, but the ICM Registry, the company who manages the domains, has confirmed that registering celebrity names is banned.
More than 4,000 celebrity names aren’t eligible for the .xxx domain, including A-list stars like Angelina Jolie; British prime ministers such as David Cameron, Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher; and even famous businessmen like Donald Trump.
Stuart Lawley from ICM explains the reason behind the ban:
“We banned the celebrities’ names because it’s very difficult for them to be trademarked.
“We didn’t want to have the embarrassment of AngelinaJolie.xxx coming up at the launch.”
However, banning these names all seems a little pointless, with Lawley adding:
“There’s a prohibition on anyone registering a first or last name that doesn’t belong to them.”
That means that unless your parents really named you Clint Eastwood, you can’t register clinteastwood.xxx anyway.
For companies worried about association with the .xxx domain, they’ll need to register their address in order to prevent pesky cyber-squatters from grabbing them first.
Over 1,500 .xxx domains have already been sold to adult entertainment companies ahead of the launch on December 6, according to TechRadar. By February next year, the ICM hopes to have sold at least half a million of the new domains, and judging by their popularity so far, I think they’ll easily achieve that target.
[via TechRadar]
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