In an effort to protect their brand in as many ways as possible, Google have got their hands on a xxx domain. Of sorts! They have been awarded googlexxx.com after a WIPO ruling that has just been announced.

Although the decision on the official WIPO website sates that the domain is to be transferred to the complainant, the WHOis information is still in the name of Nijat Hassanov , the respondent in the case. His site is also still live on the domain. He clearly has no intention of removing anything until the appeal period is over following the decision, and he absolutely has to relinquish control!

This is just in time, as the new .xxx TLD launches next month when companies will be able to get their brandname.xxx as a domain name. It has been widely speculated on Domain forums and blogs that with the New gTLD being launched, it will increase the likelihood of brandnamexxx.com typos, since we are so used to appending .com to the end of any addresses that we type into our browser.

This is an interesting angle for online businesses to consider, as this may prove to be another avenue they need to take in order to protect their online brand further as the launch of the New .xxx TLD draws nearer.

I would have thought that as soon as Google have control of the domain it will simply direct to their main site to ensure they don’t lose any typo traffic, but I would doubt that they have specific plans for the domain beyond that!

Google have always been keen to ensure that they have a comprehensive portfolio to protect their brand and existing domains. Historically they have always been quick to grab any derivatives of their trademarks that they find are available. This time last year they went on another typo buying spree and registered dozens of domains in the format google-ccTLD.com and google-gTLD.com. They picked up google-in.com (India), google-lu.com (Luxembourg), and google-ws.com (Western Somoa) and on the gTLD side of things, bagged themselves google-net.com, google-Mobi.com, google-coop.com, and google-museum.com.

Google are certainly a force to be reckoned with, and it’s a sure bet that if you decide to register a Google related domain, they’ll most likely come after you and take it by force – if they haven’t beat you to it and registered it first!

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