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Porn industry giants sue over .xxx domains

Porn industry giants sue over .xxx domains

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Manwin Licensing (of Playboy) and Digital Playground have filed an antitrust lawsuit against ICANN and the ICM Registry over the creation of the .xxx domain name.

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Two of the internet's biggest porn companies have filed an antitrust lawsuit against ICANN and the ICM Registry over the creation of the .xxx domains. Playboy affiliate Manwin Licensing and Digital Playground claim that ICANN and ICM conspired to eliminate competitive bidding and make ICM the sole registrar for .xxx domains, allowing it to inflate the price to $60 per year, compared to $10 for regular .com domains. In addition, the complaint claims everyone else is harmed by being forced to buy .xxx domains to avoid having their good names sullied.

Of course, the multibillion-dollar porn industry can certainly afford to spend $60 a year on domains — this fight is just a another way to protest .xxx in general, since the industry is against being sequestered and so easily filtered. Putting an antitrust face on the issue makes it easier to justify the action. We'll see what happens — .xxx has been a fight from the start, and it looks like another battle is just beginning.