Sir Richard Branson has won rights to 'richardbranson.xxx'

GlobalPost
The World

Leave it to Sir Richard Branson to fight for an X-rated domain. 

Branson has won control of the domain name richardbranson.xxx, BBC News reported, after a legal battle with Sean Truman, who registered the domain name last year.

The National Arbitration Forum (NAF), a US-based arbitration body, ruled that Truman, an Australian, had registered and used richardbranson.xxx "in bad faith," BBC reported.

“Registering and holding a .xxx domain name identical to [Sir Richard’s] mark without having any rights or interests therein is evidence of bad faith registration and use,” NAF said in its ruling, the Telegraph reported

Truman argued that he registered the domain as a "souvenir" because of his admiration of Branson, BBC reported. He pointed to Branson's history of using the "sex sells" principle in his business, including the use of "Virgin" as a generic brand name.

More from GlobalPost: Virgin Galactic unveils "spaceport" in New Mexico with a Richard Branson drop-in and Champagne (VIDEO)

The controversial .xxx domain was introduced as a home for pornography and other adult-orientated web sites in 2011, after several years of debate by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), according to the BBC. The Bush administration blocked the creation of an area of the web devoted to pornography after lobbying by Christian groups, but the ban was eventually appealed. 

Branson is only the second person to seek legal action over a .xxx address, the Telegraph reported. The first concerned heb.xxx, which was successfully reclaimed by a Texas supermarket chain.

More from GlobalPost: Triple-x domain names go on general sale

"We worry about the misuse of Sir Richard's name and he is pleased that we now have it under our ownership," Nick Fox, a spokesperson for Virgin, told the BBC.

Anyone who registers a .xxx address and actually uses it rather than just protecting their trademark must be involved in the pornography industry, according to the rules governing the domain, the Telegraph reported. 

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.