UDRP Filed for Porn.com, Fueling Theories the Domain Was Stolen

CYBERSPACE—MXN Limited, the Pimproll-affiliated, Barbados-based Internet media and investment firm that purchased Porn.com in 2007 for an amount alleged to be somewhere just north of $9 million, has filed a UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy) claim with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over the status of the domain. The case, which is listed at WIPO here, is currently active. Scant information is provided by WIPO about the reasons for the filing, however, and when contacted earlier today in an attempt to get more information, an individual speaking on behalf of MXN told AVN, "We have no comment at this time." That leaves people to speculate about what happened. Over at The Domains, Michael Berkins weighed in this morning on the change in Porn.com's WHOIS listing from a few weeks ago to now, and why he thinks foul play was involved. "The domain name Porn.com was registered at Moniker.com for a many years until just a week ago or so when it was transferred to the Regional Network Information Center, JSC dba RU-CENTER (.RU) under privacy," he wrote. "We have not been able to confirm the nature of the UDRP and that its to recover a stolen domain but [it's] the only thing that makes sense." He added, "If this is a case of a stolen domain, [it's] Certainly the most valuable domain since Sex.com to have [been] stolen, which led to years [of] lawsuits, but was taken under a completely different 'paper' transfer system which existed years ago. According to Alexa.org, Porn.com is the 854th most visited site on the Internet." Gary Kremen, who spent years getting Sex.com back from Stephen Cohen, eventually sold it for the disputed (and never corroborated) amount of $14 million.