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Richard Branson… the porn star? Sir Richard has just won the rights to his porn site domain, Richard Branson.XXX, after a battle with an Aussie.
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Virgin entrepreneur Branson took Australian man, Sean Truman, to a US arbitration court in a bid to seize control of the Richard Branson.XXX porn website, after the cheeky Aussie registered the online domain name in December.
Truman “should have recognized that his registration and control of ‘richardbranson.xxx’ would serve to vex or embarrass” Sir Richard, the US National Arbitration Forum (NAF) ruled this week.
“Registering and holding a .xxx domain name identical to [Sir Richard’s] mark without having any rights or interests therein is evidence of bad faith registration and use,” the NAF said.
However, Truman argued Sir Richard had “ample opportunity” to register his name in .XXX domain and that his name was “neither unique nor unusual.”
Branson is the second person only to have sued over .XXX domain name, the other was a Texan supermarket chain, according to The Independent.
The sponsored top level domain .XXX for porn sites went live in December last, designed as a legitimate domain portal which would be instantly discernable as containing “adult” entertainment material.
Sean Truman registered the name in December last but does not have any links with the porn industry he told the court, but rather wanted it as a “souvenir.”
He also argued Sir Richard uses the “sex sells” principal himself with his Virgin brand.
However, anyone registering an .XXX name must be involved in the porn industry, according to the domain rules.
Angelina Jolie, Beyonce and former British PM Margaret Thatcher along with 4000 other celebs are all banned as .XXX domain names, as are brand names, although is seems the savvy Sir Richard missed the boat on this occasion.
Read: Its Coming: .XXX Porn Names Open, Thousands Celebs Banned
Although Sir Richard himself declined to comment, a spokesperson said:
Virgin Group treats the use of its and Sir Richard’s name on the web very seriously and we ensure that there are no unauthorised sites operating that will confuse customers.
“ICANN has ordered the transfer of the richardbranson.xxx domain name to Virgin. We are pleased with the outcome of this dispute.”
Once the site is handed over to Virgin Group, it will be deactivated.
