.xxx blocking service to end - new AdultBlock service to take its place

Article  \  16 Dec 2019

In 2011, the first adult-themed top level domain name .xxx was introduced. Over 80,000 brand owners were concerned about their brands being used in this market and used a pre-registration blocking process to stop this from happening.

It has been announced that the .xxx blocking service will end in 2021. It will then need to be replaced with a new service called AdultBlock, which will allow trade mark owners to block their trade mark being used across the .xxx, .porn, .sex and .adult top level domains (TLDs).

There is a currently a deal running until 27 December 2019, which offers significant discounts on the AdultBlock+ service if you register for a 10-year period.

What is AdultBlock?

AdultBlock is a new service that allows trade mark owners to prevent their trade mark being used for any of the .xxx, .porn, .sex and .adult TLDs. Going forward, this will be the most cost-effective way of preventing your trade mark being used across all four adult-themed TLDs.

There are two variations of this service.

  1. AdultBlock: blocks a registered trade mark in all four TLDs
  2. AdultBlock+: blocks a registered trade mark and all look-alike variations that appear confusingly similar to a trade mark in all four TLDs.

Neither service will cover the situation where the trade mark (or alike term) is already registered for one of these four TLDs. But if that registered domain name is released while the block is in force, the block will automatically come into force for that domain name.

The AdultBlock and AdultBlock+ services can be put in place for a period of 1, 3, 5 or 10 years.

 What should trade mark owners do?

Trade mark owners concerned about their trade mark being in the .xxx, .porn, .sex and .adult TLDs should get in touch with us before 27 December 2019 for advice on whether it makes sense to take advantage of the significant discounts being offered by the new AdultBlock or AdultBlock+ services.

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