Porn site owners, and anyone wishing to start up a porn site business, can now register their .com sites under the .xxx domain. But anyone who wants to cash in by using OSU trademarks in their .xxx URL better take note: OSU’s got protection.

ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, gave corporations like OSU the ability to block their trademarks from being used in .xxx URLs before open registration began Dec. 6, notes the Internet Content Management Registry website. And OSU isn’t the only university taking advantage of the opportunity; according to USAToday.com, University of Kansas, Purdue University and Penn State University also took preventive action to protect their trademarks from the .xxx market.

Via ICANN, OSU blocked .xxx URL buyers from using 19 OSU trademarks, including Ohio State Buckeyes, The Ohio State University and Brutus Buckeye, taking a financial hit of $200 per registered trademark, said Rick Van Brimmer, director of OSU Trademark and Licensing Services.

However, this financial sacrifice could save the university from spending more in the future, Van Brimmer said.

“Any administrative action has to involve an evaluation of risk/reward, but any trademark worth protecting is worth taking action to protect,” he said. “From a cost standpoint, this was minimal compared to what it would cost to recover a URL that was purchased and used by someone else.”

But, Van Brimmer said, they haven’t blocked purchases of all OSU-related URLs ... and they don’t plan to.

“To attempt to purchase URLS that may refer to a university property would be exhaustive and expensive, and in my opinion, futile,” he said. “By altering a name by a single letter –such as Brutus changed to Bruttus – you can obtain a registration.”

However, opportunists beware: ICANN offers dispute resolution. This process, Van Brimmer says, “allows trademark owners the opportunity to challenge any URL and recover it if there is an attempt to trade unfairly off a trademark owner’s name or business.”

Such action stems from past issues with suggestive online content being tied to the OSU brand. These issues, Van Brimmer said, were solved by obtaining a restraining order to shut down the site and recover the URL. However, the new blocking option will provide added protection against similar problems, Van Brimmer said, and this OSU couldn’t pass up.

“Since we have experienced some problems in the past with what most people would consider to be pornographic sites that used our trademarks, we decided this was a prudent action to make sure that our trademarks were protected,” Van Brimmer said.

Some students, like Jessica Park, are pleased with OSU’s preventive measures.

“I believe OSU has good intentions,” said Park, a junior in animal sciences. “The fact that they’re making efforts to protect the university name is a good thing, and I think it’s something the students should appreciate.”

However, Park wonders if the university’s actions will trump the cleverness of a .xxx site creator hell-bent on making their site OSU-based.

“There are so many different words they can come up with, so many different options,” Park said. “It’s a good effort, but I think it’d be difficult for OSU to prevent the sites from using anything OSU-related.”

For these instances, Van Brimmer said OSU does have a plan in place and is not afraid to use it.

“We would evaluate the situation, as we do with all instances of infringement of our trademarks, and attempt to resolve in the most expedited and efficient manner,” he said. “ICANN offers a process to do that, and we wouldn’t hesitate to use all available remedies.”