This post has been updated to amend an error in phrasing from an earlier version. Previously, we wrote that 80,000 companies submitted applications to reserve their .XXX domains during the Sunrise Periods. Actually, an undisclosed number of companies and other organizations filed nearly 80,000 applications for domains.
 
Today marks the opening of the .XXX generic top-level domain (gTLD) to the general public. ICM Registry, the company under contract with ICANN to administer the .XXX domain, has preceded the opening with a 4.5 million dollar (cringe-inducing) advertising campaign aimed at drumming up sales and awareness of the new extension.

The beginning of General Availability marks the final step in .XXX's four-phase launch process. During Sunrise Periods A and B, registered trademark holders from inside and outside the adult entertainment industry had the opportunity to proactively register their marks as domains. The recently closed Landrush Period gave qualified members of the adult entertainment industry an opportunity to register domains. Starting today, anyone will be able to purchase a .XXX domain. Importantly, when registrants register their domains, they will have the option of having that domain not resolve to content. For businesses and individuals, this solves the delicate question of where to point a defensively registered .XXX domain.

For brands, today is an important day. Although nearly 80,000 applications for .XXX domains were filed from outside the porn industry during Sunrise Period B, applicants were only able to register an exact match of their trademark. Shortenings, iterations, nicknames and common misspellings and typos were not accepted. Today, brands, along with the general public, will finally be able to register these variations.

At this point it's hard to predict if .XXX will gain popularity among the general Internet community. Currently, ICM Registry faces an anti-trust suit from online pornography companies Manwin Licensing International and Digital Playground over its pricing and handling of the .XXX domain. Among other demands, the suit seeks to renegotiate the contract between ICM Registry and ICANN. Despite .XXX's uncertain future, brands who have not yet registered their mark or who are anxious to protect other variations of their trademark, would do well to take early advantage of General Availability.

I’m going to preface this post by saying that I was a vegetarian for seven years, I don’t own anything made of fur, and I love animals. In theory, I support what the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) represents, particularly its stance against animal cruelty. How it goes about spreading its message, however, is an entirely different story.

It was with a hefty rolling of the eyes that I learned that late last week, everyone’s favorite red-paint-throwing animal rights activist organization had announced its intentions to register a domain name in .XXX. PETA reportedly plans to use the domain to host a pornographic website designed to raise awareness of veganism and draw attention to the suffering of animals.

Yes, folks, you read right – a PETA-run porn site. To raise awareness. About veganism.

Call me naïve, but I’m pretty sure porn isn’t really an ideal vehicle to raise awareness about anything…except, well, you know.

When asked how porn-tastic PETA will get with its site, spokesperson Lindsay Rajt told the Huffington Post that it will have enough adult content to qualify for the .XXX domain site but also some other graphic images of animals that viewers may not expect to see. Sounds…interesting.

This announcement really comes as no surprise given PETA’s recent commitment to the “sex sells” ethos: the organization has featured celebrities posing nude in advertisements denouncing fur, displayed bikini-clad women stuffed into cages to raise awareness about the suffering of chickens, and has even filmed women in their underwear defiling vegetables in seriously disturbing ways.

Presumably, we can expect to see similar content on PETA’s new .XXX site – interspersed with images of slaughterhouses and other horrors designed to scare viewers off meat forever. Frankly, PETA’s repeated, tawdry publicity gags make me less concerned about the plight of animals, and more concerned about what definition of “exploitation” it’s following.

On September 7, 2011, the Sunrise period for the new .XXX TLD will open with two concurrent rounds. Sunrise A will allow members of the adult industry with verifiable trademarks and domain names in other gTLDs to reserve their names in .XXX, while Sunrise B will give trademark and intellectual property rights holders from outside the adult industry the chance to block their marks from being registered as .XXX domains. So, for example, a brand like Disney will be able to ensure that no one can ever register Disney.XXX (and thereby ensure that my childhood memories remain undefiled).
 
This week, Easyspace, one of the largest web hosting companies in the UK, reported that hundreds of businesses have rushed to pre-register their trademarks with the company before the Sunrise period opens. According to Easyspace, only about 20 percent of those have been adult companies.
 
The .XXX policy of allowing trademark owners to completely block a domain name is somewhat revolutionary. These domains will resolve to a generic informational page, meaning trademark owners will not have to face the challenge of what kind of content to point their .XXX domains to. After all, is there really any “right” way to use, say, Hormel.XXX?
 
It is encouraging to see trademark owners taking advantage of this resource and taking the proper steps to safeguard their brands and marks in this new space.