Opt Out “.xxx” Domain Name..You Have Until October 28

As part of its list of new “Sponsored Top-Level Domain” names, or sTLD’s the suffix .xxx was created by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) back in March. This gave adult industry companies the option to get a domain name that ends in .xxx.

But what about companies that don’t want a .xxx web site created, using their trademark or name? ICANN is offering a “sunrise period” to companies, that allows them, for a limited time, to opt out of ever having a .xxx version of themselves online. The deadline to opt out is October 28, 2011. After that deadline, the name of any company that has not opted out will be fair game for a .xxx web site. Unfortunately for anyone wishing to opt out, there is a fee to do so. ICANN will charge between $300 and $350 to opt out of the .xxx domain names.

After the sunrise period ends, companies will have to rely on the more traditional methods of domain name dispute resolution, the main one being the UDRP, or Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. This option requires litigation and will no doubt cost companies a lot more in the long run than the sunrise fees.