Tampa, Fla. - Douglas McDonald, an Intellectual Property attorney at Carlton Fields, recently discussed the risks that businesses may soon experience with the newly created domain, .xxx, for use by the adult entertainment industry, with AllBusiness.com. The news article provides tips for businesses to protect their web addresses. The reporter offers the example, “Starting Oct. 29, a business that fails to protect its Web address could find it with a .XXX at the end, tossing a company’s name into the salacious world of adult entertainment. To see an example of how this might turn out, consider the case of www.whitehouse.com. Rather than giving you information on the President’s digs (that's available on www.whitehouse.gov), the former provides information on personal injury lawyers.”

McDonald explains that there is a 50-day period in which businesses can take action to try and protect their trademarks – from September 7, 2011 to October 28, 2011. During this time there will be a one-time service charge that will range from $200 to $300. “After that time, battling a porn company over a Web address will cost a minimum of $2,000, with the price rising considerably if it turns into a legal war.”

For concerned small businesses, McDonald says that the money will be well-spent. “You’ll never have a cheaper opportunity.”

McDonald is Board-Certified in Intellectual Property Law by The Florida Bar. He concentrates his practice in the area of intellectual property law, including prosecuting patent, trademark and copyright applications both in the U.S. and internationally, and licensing and protection and litigation of those properties.