By Rob Bradfield
Staff Writer
The website BaylorGirls.xxx is not what many people might think it is.
Right now, the domain doesn’t go to any website, but Baylor has filed for arbitration with the domain’s owner through the National Arbitration Forum to gain control of the domain.
Baylor’s arbitration is part of an ongoing conflict between trademark owners and domain name holders.
“Ten years ago it was common practice for people to gobble up any domain name that was close to a popular one,” Dr. Greg Speegle, interim chair of the Baylor department of computer science, said.
While it has yet to be decided if the owner of BaylorGirls.xxx is cybersquatting, the practice has been fought by trademarked companies for years.
Cybersquatters buy domain names similar enough to mainstream websites to get a significant amount of traffic, and resell the domain to companies that want to control content associated with their names.
Speegle said few companies fought the practice until cybersqatters began asking for outrageous amounts of money in exchange for some domains.
In response, the government passed the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, which gives trademarked companies and organizations a means to control their name on the Internet.
After the act was passed, cybersquatting became much less profitable and for a while was on the decline, Speegle said.
That changed when the .xxx domain came online in 2011, and a whole new group of domain names were up for grabs.
Speegle said the .xxx domain was designed to eliminate cybersquatting and help end the confusion between adult entertainment sites and similarly named popular websites.
The new domain has been compared by several sources, including the BBC news, to an Internet “red-light district.”
Since its launch, many groups have moved to disassociate their names with the .xxx domain.
According to Domain News, an Internet domain industry news outlet, among the complainants seeking arbitration with .xxx domain holders are Baylor University, Valero and H-E-B.
Lori Fogleman, Baylor director of media communications, said the university was anticipating trouble with its trademarked name when the .xxx domain came online.
In the past few years, Baylor has moved toward greater online control over the university’s image.
The university currently holds the trademarks for Baylor, Baylor Bears, Sic ‘Em Bears and Baylor University.
What will happen to BaylorGirls.xxx has yet to be determined, but Fogleman said the university will continue to guard against the misuse of its trademarks.
“We want to protect our students, faculty and staff from those who would use [the Baylor name] for less than noble reasons,” Fogleman said.
