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Schools Buy .xxx Domains In Trademark Panic
bs0d3 writes "Schools nationwide, including The University of Missouri and Washington University, are snapping up .xxx domain names to avoid people making porn sites with their names in the url. The new .xxx domain will be launched later this year, and before that, everyone with a trademark will have the opportunity to reserve names during what's called a "sunrise period". Someone is promoting the possible horrors of what could happen as a way to sell these domains, which cost up to $200 dollars per domain per year. Even though these schools may already be protected from defamation and trademark infringement, they still feel compelled to buy these names."
there goes a business plan have a girls of X school / college web sites.
Keep it up ICANN! You are doing a fine job! You jerks should be killed.
protecting companies and institutions in the US from having to fork over more than a nominal amount (let's say $10/yr) to reserve a domain based on their own name, provided that they never back it with content.
What if ICANN doesn't play ball? Well, the legislation should then direct US-based ISP's to block all .xxx traffic.
We-el, unless the school also buy up girlsof.xxx ...
Slash dot.xxx is still available for all your nerdish needs.
...there's really only one TLD because everyone has to buy the same name from all of them to protect themselves. (Especially as you lose a trademark if you don't protect it.)
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
It isn't ICANN that is the driver behind this craze, it is the US schizophrenia that is driving this thing. What you see is the happy marriage of "Brand is EVERYTHING" with "Save the Children" and "Sex is dirty".
To see all the domain names Penn State is going to have to buy.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Great idea, but not in practice. People only recognize the AOL keyword kind of URLs. There is no http://slashdot.com or http://slashdot.net , only http://slashdot.org . I like the ideas of namespaces, but for average people using the internet, the TLDs don't matter. Its .com or it does not exist. This is common in other countries as well, where .com should not be in their default namespace.
and you have ICANN finding that every time they allow another .* TLD, people scramble to buy them all up.
so they release .xxx and all hell breaks loose, and a lot of registrars make a lot of easy money for no added benefit.
Best business idea ever. Anyone who doesn't want their name associated with porn is forced to buy a domain name.
I hope my school buys up some names. We would have a legitimate concern for cocks.xxx
Go Gamecocks!
but www.yalesluts.xxx will still be available. I really don't think money for education should be diverted to porn site registration unless they plan to run the porn site themselves! Are there concealed cameras in the dorm rooms? Gotta get content somewhere!
If you don't defend a trademark, you lose it - even if you're not aware of it being used by someone else. So, I don't agree that it's the school's problem, the problem is the entire trademark system.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Well, if they're going to use my name they had better have some top flight content. (I'll pay extra for girl-on-girl if they're wearing Debian thongs...)
What we really need is a free (or extremely cheap) option to block domains from being registered if there is a valid trademark. Of course, this would eliminate the profit motive of introducing new TLDs, so it would stop happening.
This is something that needs legislation to solve.
Would this take into account the possibility of two or more businesses having the same name, but operating in totally different fields? If not, then a movie studio calling itself Acme Entertainment could then just register acme-entertainment.com and then prevent an arcade machines distributer also called Acme Entertainment from ever having a hope of taking acme-entertainment.(whatever other tld would be acceptable). They are in effectively different fields of business, so neither are infringing on the other's trademark.
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Trademarks are used to identify products or services. If you don't own a product or a service that deals in porn, you don't need to defend it.
or, rather, you don't risk losing it by not defending it.
...than the lawyers later. Even if the schools' names are protected by trademark and/or defamation law it's likely to cost considerably more than $200 to find infringing domains and get them revoked.
Besides, when the school gets hard up for money they can rent their .xxx domain out for pron.
Or they could just give it to their cheerleaders...
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
I guess it's a "no brainer" if you're paying with someone else's money.
The solution to protecting a trademark is to register domains in every possible TLD. This message brought to you by GoD*ddy.
If you don't defend a trademark, you lose it - even if you're not aware of it being used by someone else.
I'm still interested to know how you defend your trademark when you're not aware of it being used?
When do we get the sexy version of Slashdot?
Why do you think Taco left?
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Only if you're doing it right ;)
Are you crazy? Do you really want anyone to be able to have their own TLD?
How about this simple example then: Harry Harvard runs his own plumbing company that employs two other plumbers and registers the .harvard. Apart from the obvious Harvard that misses out on its own TLD now, anyone else also loses it. What about Harvard Pizzas in the town of Harvard. What about the town Harvard.
I think the best thing about a .com is the fact that you generally have the biggest companies where they are easy to find (apart from a few amusing examples - I'm looking at you Mr Nissan and your cheeky computer store that you have run forever and ever!) which is under a .com.
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
I'm going to propose creating a new .xxy TLD for the real celebrity porn now that .xxx is exclusively used to pre-emptively block celebrity porn domain names. .xxy is one whole letter more naughty than .xxx, so domain names cost twice as much to register!
.xxy domains can be pre-reserved within a sunrise period over the next N years, where N is the time until I have enough money from registrations to retire. After that time it will totally launch, honestly. So if want to prevent spammers from offering pornography on a website that has your name in the address (rather than just all over the page), be sure to buy up all variations and misspellings of your name now!
Just a few more of these and we'll be in the black in no time.
Diggin' on the interracial stuff these days, are ya?
Why don't you consider one of the following:
[ ] mypsu.xxx
...
...
...
[ ] sexypsu.xxx
[ ] girlsofpsu.xxx
[ ] sexinpsu.xxx
[ ] gaypsu.xxx
[ ] psushowers.xxx
Come on, it is almost 2012, everyone should have understood a long time ago that people don't search for content based on the domain name.
echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
The only thing they have ever done well is bring in more money to registrars.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Or maybe these colleges just want to use that business plan themselves. It would be kind of like having a football team. If you're a horny teenager which school are you gonna pick the one with hot chicks fucking or the one with a bunch of dudes playing catch with each other. These Universities probably just want to do some quality control.
This is 100% correct.
The US suffers from a HUGE conflict of idealism and it is precisely the items you speak. I would have said "sex sells" rather than "brand is everything" but the core of marketing is correct. Business and sales rule the U.S. The problem is business and sales interests are often in direct conflict with moral idealism nearly all of us profess to maintain. Personally, I have identified those conflicts and reject all business that conflict with my own moral ideals. As a result, the companies I reject include Sony and Disney. I reject Sony for reasons that should be clear and obvious to all. I reject Disney because they are selling sex to very young children in a way I cannot agree with.
I suppose that last sentence seems a bit odd. But I will say this: I think it's normal and healthy for kids to be curious about sex and everything else in the world. They experience life in their bodies just as we did when we were children. It is definitely not productive to tell every child he is evil because he is curious about sex, sexuality and his sexual instincts. So I say explain them to children and teach them honestly and do not punish them for being human children. But what Disney does adds so much more confusion to the mix that it is even more difficult for children to be themselves and to be well adjusted as they grow and develop. Worse, they create the same sort of self-hating and self-destructive idealism in children that we have seen in women across the globe. (Of course you know I speak of the modelling and fashion industry creating unhealthy ideals for women to pursue and fail to achieve resulting in self-loathing and even self-destructive behavior.) So when a child doesn't look, dress and act like the Disney kids, they are ugly in their own eyes.
I'm seriously glad I don't have any girl children as they are the most targeted victims of Disney's behavior and it would be very challenging to mitigate the damage Disney does directly or indirectly to society.
And you know? People still somehow see whatever Disney does as being "pure and clean" and rated G. It's amazing to me because people were initially up in arms when young girls were being made up to look like little sluts but no one says anything when Disney does it. Just amazing.
I don't agree with "Save the Children." I think I would rather say "Leave the Children ALONE!" This would include leaving them out of marketing crap.
The former Australian Prime Minister did something like that. He was talking about doing a draconian "for the kiddies" internet censorship plan (which a later Government continued) while owning the ".cx" domain.
I may have to explain that in more detail to avoid kneejerk know-it-all reactions that will crap on about ".au". Christmas Island is a very small Australian territory and ultimately some of the ".cx" domain registration money made it back into Australian consolidated revenue.
And it would be a great way to keep tuitions in check.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
By actively building recognition of the mark, to avoid it becoming generic. Don't just advertise for Quiggle. Advertise for Quiggle-brand widgets, from the makers of Foobar.
Your trademark being used by someone else doesn't really matter, until you object to it. Once you have a dispute, your opponent will try to show that your trademark isn't really unique to you, and you've done little to try to keep it unique. They'll gather a lot of little things, like similar domain names you didn't register, old advertisements where you didn't emphasize the mark as a brand, and stock photos that show your mark without your authorization. It all builds up to show that your mark is now just a synonym with the type of product, rather than the brand.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
And I would take this course where now?
You mean .zzz?
When I was in high school, I remember boys and girls slept together all the time. We called it algebra class.
Have gnu, will travel.
Pity that that program had to be cut. I believe that it would have been great.
--
Signed, Jerry Sandusky
Penn State.
Are you saying that "Megashark VS Giant Octopus" isn't scifi?
More like "damn you lysdexia", I'd say....
They all act as if that was not the intended purpose of the .xxx domains (or the purpose of any of the TLDs). The purpose of the new .xxx domains is that all your suckers have to buy .xxx just to be save, and not to control the porn industry.
Since a porn site can still have a regular .com domain, you still have to use all the old filter software to block porn sites, plus you have to block all .xxx domains, and now of course you have to buy .xxx to be save.
What would have make more sense is a .kids domain. That way you could just block all other domains except .kids and be done with it. And you don't have to worry that someone will get a .kids and put porn on it. (of course if a .kids domain gets some rules attached to it, like the site with a .kids can only have content appropriate for kids).
Was a .kids TLD even discussed? What was the argument against a .kids domain vs. a .xxx domain?
http://www.mueller-public.de - My site http://www.anr-institute.com/ - Advanced Natural Research Institute
Not a patch on Sharktopus
Be gone from my sight or prepare to feel my flaming wraith!
Dude, when you think of the children when thinking about an .xxx page, you might be in for a visit from some unfriendly law enforcement units.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Maybe instead of trying to hide everything from the children (by stopping the advertising), things should be explained instead. I like that option better than pretending such things don't exist.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why the economy is in decline. Yet more money spent on worthless things. Basically this is what drives inflation. The more money wasted like this, the less there is to spent on actual increase of value.
.xxx domains were a useless idea anyway and now they've evolved into a bad idea.
People are always thinking of the children, but what about Little Richard?
Your "little dick" is of no concern to anyone but yourself
But therein lies the rub: type of product.
That's how for example aspirin became a generic name for acetylsalicylic acid. It had become a synonym for that kind of an analgesic, to the extent where everyone was just saying stuff like "take two aspirins" when they meant "take some acetylsalicylic acid".
You don't lose a trademark just because a term is generic for something ELSE than your product. Microsoft Windows is still a trademark, although "windows" has been a generic term for, you know, a certain kind of hole in a wall since the 12'th century. (The concept of a window itself is of course older, but the first attestation of the English word "window" -- or close enough -- is from the 12'th century.) Apple Inc doesn't lose its trademark just because the word "apple" has been used for a kind of fruit for over a thousand years. And Prince Albert Tobacco doesn't get to be generic just because Prince Albert also is commonly used for a type of piercing.
What I'm getting at is that even IF it were to came to pass that Washington University became synonymous with some sexual practice or position, and people went around saying stuff like "woohoo, I had a Washington University yesterday with two chicks"... so what? As long as that doesn't apply to a college, it doesn't come even close to threatening the actual Washington University's trademark.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
ICANN needs to approve my "hatesamerica" TLD for terrorist. Then everyone will have to buy up UniversityOfMissouri.hatesamerica and MittRomney.hatesmerica
In unrelated news, university's
university's
y's
You seriously need to break that apostrophe key off your keyboard and throw it away. It's not your friend.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.