View Single Post
Old 07-04-2011, 12:14 AM  
InfoGuy
80/20 Rule
 
InfoGuy's Avatar
 
Industry Role:
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 3,052
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry-xlovecam View Post
Cite one example of a trademark in the United States denied to a legal adult content provider in the last 20 years based on it being an "immoral or scandalous" enterprise please ...

Unless proven obscene, adult speech is constitutionally protected speech the same constitutional protections would allow for trademark.


Reality is .xxx has been approved and most likely withstand any court challenge. It is unfortunate it was approved. Our domains are trademarked and we will commence a WIPO domain dispute resolution arbitration against any cybersquater as we have done successfully in the past See AC Webconnecting B.V. of Rotterdam, The Netherlands v, SC VIRTUAL MEDIA SRL of Roman, Neamt, Romania. Case No. DRO2010-0001. But I fully understand the issues this whole thing raises for smaller stake players, including our own affiliates.

In many cases it may be cheaper to pay the annual shake down money to register your name with ICM just so it can be excluded ? cost of trademark v. cost of shakedown registration fee / years expected to operate and of course the annual value of the domain name. Sad reality, but we have faced the same challenge with the other TLDs to date.

And I would like to see the first organization with a realistic court challenge to the .xxx sTLD. I would be happy to make a modest personal donation to that ...
US Patent & Trademark Office - Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)

Click on the link for Basic Word Mark Search (New User). I'd include a link, but it's dynamic and changes with each session. Try some obvious adult themed terms - fuck, shit, cunt, asshole, douchebag, etc.

Interesting, up until last year, the USPTO has denied all registrations for "fuck" and "shit". There are now 10 trademark registrations listed for "fuck" and 5 for "shit", albeit without registration numbers.

Despite potential problems getting a U.S. trademark, it may be possible to protect one's intellectual property in adult entertainment with a non-U.S. trademark. UDRP only requires trademark status. It doesn't require it from a certain geographical region. However, filing a UDRP against a defendant in the US may be weakened if claiming non-U.S. trademark rights. I'm not a lawyer, so if you need trademark advice, ask a qualified lawyer.

If or when ICM Registry tries to force businesses to use .XXX, I'm sure there will be legal battles.
InfoGuy is offline   Share thread on Digg Share thread on Twitter Share thread on Reddit Share thread on Facebook Reply With Quote