Antitrust suit against ICANN and ICM and trademark protection in the .XXX TLD

Manwin Licensing International company just sued the ICANN and ICM Registry for antitrust violations. ICM Registry is the sole operator of the .XXX registry. In its complaint filed on November 16, 2011, Manwin denounced their union which would have the effect of eliminating competitive bidding and reducing the market for .XXX registry services. Manwin also evokes the hostage-taking of trademarks owners who had to make defensive registrations to fight against cybersquatting. It would affect both competition and consumers. In addition, without any other authorized operators of the .XXX registry, the price for “defensive registration” is high set and the profit for those registrations is expected to be $200 millions in annual.

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