HONG KONG — ICM Registry CEO Stuart Lawley appeared on a CNN international broadcast discussing the launch of the recently approved .XXX TLD.
Lawley commented on the TLD's 50-day "sunrise period" that begins Sept. 7 and the rush by businesses to secure the domains for their respective trademarks.
When asked what companies need to do the secure their domains, Lawley explained that ICM is simply the wholesaler and businesses need to contact network registrars directly like Network Solutions, IP Mirror (Singapore) and GoDaddy.
CNN asked how .XXX helps parents keep children away from adult websites and that some feel the new TLD will actually make this kind of content easier to find.
“In fact the opposite is true. Each .XXX TLD — unlike the counterparts in dot.com — includes the latest worldwide web consortium W3C labeling technology that makes it a snip to help filter out these sites at the desktop level using parental controls,” Lawley said.
The CNN reporter asked about the .XXX "gold rush" where 900,000 companies have reportedly expressed interest in the domain. Lawley said that that’s what the sunrise period is all about. He explained that the registration process is not on a first come, first serve basis, which begins later in December, but is an ordered process that first requires trademark approval and verifying credentials.
“In case of clashing credentials, names will go into auction against each other," he said.
Lawley also said celebrities can block their names from being associated with .XXX by applying for a one-time $200 block that’s an innovative feature of .XXX.
When asked about the steep $185,000 .XXX license fee and if non-profit ICANN gets the money, Lawley justified the heavy price tag and said it’s a very expensive process for ICANN that includes vetting through third-party evaluators and tackling the objection process. He said ICANN will not simply shell out domains.
“For an applicant the fee is the thin edge of the wedge. In our case it cost nearly $22 million to get the deal operational. It’s not going to be less than $1 million for an applicant," Lawley said.