Sunrise Period To ".XXX Empt"

Today marks the beginning of the "Sunrise" period to opt out of the new .xxx domain name. ICANN, the not-for-profit corporation that manages the domain name system, has accepted .xxx as a new sponsored generic Top-Level Domain name (gTLD) to be operated by ICM Registry. The new gTLD was approved last March, and a few .xxx addresses have already gone live on the Internet to garner interest for the Sunrise period when interested parties can register through a "Sunrise A" process.

For businesses that don't operate "adult" websites, there is a "Sunrise B" process, during which they can apply to prevent their trade-marks from being incorporated into .xxx domain names. The cost of doing so is not, however, inexpensive and trade-mark owners will have to carefully consider the extent to which they want to pay to have their trade-marks protected.