The newest generic top-level domain, .XXX, is entirely geared towards the adult entertainment industry, and companies within that industry have already begun reserving domain names in anticipation of the domain debut in 2012. Any trademark owners who do NOT wish to be associated with pornographic sites and content have just a brief window this fall in which to file an application to “opt out” their specific trademark from the available domain names ending with .XXX. Of course, there is a fee for filing such an application. But that’s not all. Should a company in the adult entertainment industry (i.e. a porn site) apply for the domain name of an “opted out” trademark, and subsequently refuse to withdraw said application when made aware of the trademark owner’s paid attempt to “opt out,” the porn site will get priority over the trademark owner! The trademark owner must then initiate proceedings to block registration of the domain name to the porn site. All this, and only if the trademark owner is successful in submitting an application before October 28, 2011, to protect their mark from being associated with the .XXX domain.

Of course, if you are a celebrity, never fear. Your name has been banned from the .XXX domain preemptively, because “it is very difficult for [celebrities] to trademark their names.” So, let’s see, if it is difficult to trademark, it is protected from being associated with porn. But if it is easily trademarked, as evidenced by a registered trademark, you have to pay to protect your mark. Nice.

For more, see also: CNET article and CBS News article

To all of you SarahSponte readers (mom) missing my posts, I’m back! After giving birth to my daughter at the start of this year many a great idea has crossed my mind, all of which I discovered were previously conceived and put into public knowledge upon running simple google searches. So as I won’t be getting rich off the next great mom invention anytime soon, I’m back to learning about other people’s great ideas. Or at least noteworthy and interesting ideas. And yes, the ideas I can mock – especially those. Stay tuned!

Yep, still polar opposites.  The lawsuit brought by The North Face against The South Butt continues, with a scheduling conference held yesterday, January 27, 2010.   Both poles, er, sides agreed to a preliminary injunction hearing on April 12, 2010.  A mediation is also purported to be scheduled prior to that hearing.  More to come as details unfold!

Microsoft released a supplemental patch for Office 2007 that is required for the United States in order to comply with the injunction of August 12, 2009.  From the Microsoft OEM Partner Center:

After this patch is installed, Word will no longer read the Custom XML elements contained within DOCX, DOCM, or XML files. These files will continue to open, but any Custom XML elements will be removed. The ability to handle custom XML markup is typically used in association with automated server based processing of Word documents. Custom XML is not typically used by most end users of Word.

A company out of Nebraska, Prism Technologies LLC, has sought an import ban on the Blackberry Curve model claiming patent infringement.  The Curve model is one of the iPhone’s fiercest competitors.  Read more here.