And here is the parallel to this:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/...-patent-troll/
Think a moment on that after you read it.
Lodsys is starting at the bottom and going after app developers until Steve Jobs squishes them like a bug as it affects his sacred cow of iTunes.
ICM is starting with the Fortune 500 trademarks to get in some money back into their war chest before collecting off of the adult industry.
Those of us around long enough will remember Acacia. Their litigation burn rate, and how they eventually fell off the radar. This is a far more complex set of circumstances, but the results are written on the wall that ICM is damned, no matter what cow they try to milk first.
Once fortune 500 trademark companies get this on their radar, ICM is going to be hit like a tsunami in the face by companies like Warner Brothers, Apple, Facebook Google and Time Warner. Stuart Lawley has a bit of money, but NOTHING that can deal with that level of litigation.
Even if they survive that, not capitalizing the $10 million they have burned already to bamboozle and bully ICANN, when they get to the actual adult industry to sell the domains, it is just going to get even worse. Sure, they will sell a lot to domainers and Ukarainian mobsters, but over the course of two years, their burn rate is going to be significant enough to make them at least think about sliding back under the rock from which they came. What is more likely is that they will die a horrible and painful death after 10 years of very expensive litigation from both mainstream and adult companies that have had their trademarks violated. Oh. And let's not forget ICANN probably losing its charter next year for inappropriate behavior in the current new gTLD debacle that lead to Dot-XXX being approved through probable threats, back room deals and bullying of the board of directors.
Add to that, REALLY bad ICM staffing decisions and announcements, new employees that made asses of themselves on the B2B boards, and a bullying attitude that has really angered people over the years.
I'll just stay with my dot-com, thank you.