MGM Resort has recently filed lawsuits against two companies and four individuals over seven casino,poker domain names,that they believe are infringing their trademark .

According to whois records the seven domain names were registered many years ago.The domain names in question are :circuscircuspoker.com, bellagioonlinepoker.com, luxorpoker.com, excaliburpoker.com, ariapoker.com, mgmpoker.com and mandalaybayonlinepoker.com.

MGM Resort filed the lawsuits Thursday in a federal court in Las Vegas,asseting legal rights over them.MGM contended in the complaint that the registrants tried to profit from the fame,goodwill and consumer recognition of their mark .

“The defendants have done nothing more than tack on the descriptive terms ‘poker’ or ‘online poker’ to each of the MGM marks to form the domain names. Accordingly, there is no question that the domain names are confusingly similar to the MGM marks,”said MGM’s attorney,according to Pokernewsreport.com .

The names of the companies and the individuals who registered the domain names are :

• Shahram Kolahza

• Evan Krentzman of Woodland Hills

• Roberto Ciamillo

• Adam Majewski

• PokerSons

• RevNet

The General Availability phase of .XXX domain names is now open to the general public . .XXX domain names will be allocated to applicants on a first-come first serve basis .

During this period any applicants can register the available .xxx domains on a first come,first served basis . Once the General Availability period will start,non-members of the adult community who wish to apply for .xxx domain names will be able to do so.

The General Availability phase is the third of the three-part launch process of .XXX domain names,that started with the Sunrise period and continues with the Landrush period .The Landrush period was a17-days period set aside for members of the adult Sponsored Community who wanted to secure premium .XXX domain names .At the end of this period,.XXX domain names that had only one application were simply awarded ,while those with two or more applications will proceed to a closed mini-auction between the respective applicants

You can register you .XXX domain names here .

Afnic,the company behind .FR domains,announced a week ago that as of today, .FR domain names will be available to all Europeans.The extensions .wf , .tf , .re , .pm and .yt will be open for Europeans too and will be subject to the same registration rules as the .fr TLD from 6 December ,2011 .

Afnic has also released its new naming policy for French TLDs .

Here are some of the rules published by Afnic :

• Any decisions to create or delete domain categories are taken by AFNIC’s governing bodies in coordination with the consultative Committees.
• If domain names are still active within a given domain category, that category may only be deleted after giving the affected domain name holders six (6) months’ notice to change their domain names.

Domain names cannot be registered which:

• consist of a single character;

• consist of only two letters;

• consist of precomposed characters;

• begin or end with a hyphen “-“;

• are longer than 255 characters (63 between each “.”); ») ;

• and whose 3rd and 4th characters are hyphens “xx–“.

Except where provisions to the contrary are made for certain domain names, and subject to the provisions of Article L45-2 of the French Electronic Communications and Telecommunications Act, transaction requests sent to AFNIC by Registrars are handled on a
“first come, first served” basis, meaning that they are processed by chronological order of receipt.

In order to register a term subject to prior review, the applicant must ensure that the domain name:

• is not liable to disrupt public order or morality, or the rights guaranteed by the French Constitution or French law;

• is not liable to infringe intellectual property rights or personal rights or is not identical or related to that of the French Republic, of a local authority or group of local authorities, of an institution or a local or national public service, unless the applicant provides proof of a legitimate interest and is acting in good faith.

The WHOIS Policy Review Team, constituted under ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments with the U.S. Department of Commerce, publishes its Draft Report and Recommendations for public comment.

In addition to general comments and feedback, the Review Team seeks comment on the following issues:

• Acceptable timeframes for ICANN to implement the Review Team’s recommendations;

• Particular ICANN departments, staff or supporting organizations which ought to be tasked with particular recommendations, with some explanation;

• Input on all Recommendations, including Recommendation 17 in which two variations of scope are presented for the “common interface” recommendation;

• Input on effective and efficient mechanisms for monitoring ICANN’s progress in implementing the final Recommendations between completion of this Report and start of the next WHOIS Policy Review Team; and

• Additional input and notes.

Over its year of work, the WHOIS Policy Review Team engaged in extensive outreach to communities within and outside of ICANN. The Report draws from the fact-finding, comments and analysis conducted by a law enforcement questionnaire circulated by the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) of the UK, a survey of international Internet users conducted by Atlanta-based User Insight, and extensive outreach to all Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees via public comment periods, public forums and individual meetings.

The Review Team also will present its Draft Report and Recommendations in upcoming Webinars (dates to be announced) and will hold a public forum at the March 2012 ICANN meeting in Costa Rica. Given that the Report and Recommendations are extensive, and carry implications for many areas of ICANN and communities within and outside of ICANN, the Public Comment period will remain open through the end of the ICANN Costa Rica meeting, until 18 March 2012. The WHOIS Policy Review Team’s Final Report and Recommendations will be published by 30 April 2012.

This announcement was sourced from :

http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-05dec11-en.htm

[news release] The National Arbitration Forum (FORUM), an international provider of dispute resolution services, today announced that it has launched the Rapid Evaluation Service (“RES“) on behalf of ICM Registry, operator of the new .XXX sponsored top level domain (sTLD). Like the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“UDRP“), the RES is designed to protect trademarks from online infringement. The RES provided by the FORUM allows performers and entertainers an avenue of relief when real or stage names are misappropriated.

ICM Registry has strict eligibility requirements for owning a .XXX domain name and was established for businesses and persons participating in the adult entertainment industry. ICM Registry began accepting applications for domain names during sunrise periods in early September and will be available for general registration on December 6, 2011.

“When ICM Registry approached us and asked us to provide this service, we knew our technological capabilities and experience in domain name dispute resolution would be a good fit,” said Kristine Dorrain, National Arbitration Forum’s Director of Internet and IP Services. ”The result is a streamlined process for the RES, both structurally and technologically. Users are going to like the intuitive features.”

The FORUM has been a UDRP provider for twelve years and has handled more than 17,000 domain name disputes. The FORUM consistently develops technological enhancements that make online filing more efficient, including secure portals for panelists and evaluators to access cases and for parties to access case documents, upload documents, and pay fees.

The FORUM’s paperless case management system permits complainants and respondents to file submissions, upload evidence, request stays, withdrawals, and extensions, and receive decisions in real time. The RES allows respondents who may have missed its quick deadlines to file a late response, even if the final determination has been made.

The FORUM also is handling Charter Eligibility Dispute Resolution Policy (“CEDRP”) cases for ICM Registry for web users who want to challenge the eligibility of a .XXX domain name owner.

ICM’s RES and CEDRP disputes are heard and decided by Evaluators who are lawyers with significant trademark experience. Proceedings take place in English and are entirely document-based. The RES is designed to result in a take down of an infringing domain name in as little as two business days, in appropriate circumstances.

To file a claim see domains.adrforum.com.

The FORUM is available for consultation and can provide customized dispute resolution policies, like the RES or CEDRP, for startup gTLD registries. Please contact Director of Internet and IP Services, Kristine Dorrain, for more information.

About the National Arbitration Forum (FORUM)

Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, the National Arbitration Forum is an approved provider of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Since 1999, more than 17,000 domain name disputes worldwide have been filed through the National Arbitration Forum’s state-of-the-art case management system. For more information, visit domains.adrforum.com.

This ICM Registry news release was sourced from:
www.icmregistry.com/press/national-arbitration-forum-launches-dispute-program-for-xxx-domain-names/

To register your .XXX domain name, check out EuroDNS here.