FSC Urges Adult Trademark Holders to Protect Brands from .XXX with Letter of Notice for ICM Registry
 

http://freespeechcoalition.com/


FSC Urges Adult Trademark Holders to Protect Brands from .XXX with Letter of Notice for ICM Registry

A letter template has been created by Free Speech Coalition (FSC) for adult online business owners to send to ICM Registry, to demand that their trademarks be protected from sale on .XXX domains to third parties.


The ?letter of notice? informs ICM Registry ? operators of the .XXX domain ? 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.?


The letter template is available for download at the FSC website and FSC Blog. Addressed directly to ICM CEO Stuart Lawley, the letter can be sent to ICM Registry?s address in Florida.


?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.

Currently, ICM is offering ?sunrise? period pricing for adult and mainstream businesses willing to pay to block sale of the trademarks in the .XXX domain. The letter template refers to sunrise period blocking practices as ?inadequate,? and that ICM is not relieved of liability in the event of trademark infringement or other possible intellectual property violations.


Recent reports indicate that only 20 percent of businesses registered for .XXX domains are adult-related.


FSC urges all adult online businesses to stay .COM and say NO to .XXX ? bad for the Internet and bad for your business.

http://www.freespeechcoalition.com/i...erTemplate.doc

This is good idea .

agreed:2 cents:

mmmmmm......

Great idea indeed! (I suggested this a couple of months ago :) )

Second verse, same as the first.

it is a good idea.

Superb, I like.

My general thought is most of the big companies in adult served ICM with this kind of correspondence. I would be willing to bet that more did put them on notice about selling their TMs, than did not.

Can you send a letter of notice even if you have a trademark but not a registered trademark?

Late night bump....

Thanks! Downloaded and will be sent on behalf of our trademarks. Much appreciated FSC!

yes, you can.

bump..................

.xxx domains = epic failure.

bump for others to read.

bump...................

Public Awareness Bump. http://www.about.xxx/Dotxxx-domains-...e-of-money.gif

Great way to make sure that they know about your domains and that you are interested in keeping them out of the hands of others. Easy way to target and raise the prices even more on you.

I dont trust the FSC.

They only trademark you have is PIKEYBIGRTRAKSTEALINGSCAMMINGMODELSTALKINGCUNT (tm)

I don't think they will care about that.

protect your brand.

does that even exist?

Hey Fletch XXX, http://www.getbannersmade.com/ not loading...

on edit- Alright, loading now!

Fletch.XXX :winkwink:

Yes it exists. A trademark is a name, word, sign, symbol etc you use to identify your product or service (as opposed to products or services offered by others). A trademark is established through use in the market.

The ability to enforce your rights and the extent to which you'll be able to do so and the requirements differ based on the jurisdiction. In some jurisdictions you have to register your trademark (registration procedures also differ based on the jurisdiction), in other you don't. In some you need to be able to show a 'significant market share'. etc

Good idea, and kudos to the FSC :thumbsup

Leave it to the folks at the FSC to protect us and support us. Keep up the good work!