Triple-x hell for companies who don’t pay to stop .xxx domain names

A U.S. company has demanded that Australian businesses pay more than $400 million to block porn sites from hijacking their brands on the new .xxx "red light district" domain.

Triple-X domain names officially went on sale last week for $199, and the ICM registry has given non-adult businesses up until Oct. 28 — 45 days — to apply to prevent their trademark from being registered.

Toys R Us has announced it will pay up rather than compete for search results with toysrs.xxx, News.com.au reports.

Australian Sex Party spokewoman Fiona Patten has slammed the move as corporate extortion, and she told News.com.au the adult industry is opposed to the move.

"Effectively the ICM Registry is selling off other people’s trademarks," she said, while adding that she also thought it was "a pretty brilliant money-making venture."

The ICM Registry told news.com.au that it had worked closely with the Internet Corporation to bring .xxx to the Googlesphere.

“Whilst we agree the non-adult industry brand holders probably wish the .xxx did not exist, they have been largely very impressed by the measures we have taken to deter and prevent any 'cyber squatting,'" said Stuart Lawley, chief executive of the ICM Registry. 

Lawley inisisted that the registry was not prostituting itself to the cause of online porn: "Unlike every other new Top Level Domain, [our system] does not include any annual fee after the initial processing fee."