FAYETTEVILLE — After 16 years in collegiate marketing and promotions, Brian Pracht had never encountered anything like this.

The University of Arkansas was being advised to purchase Internet domain names set aside for the adult entertainment industry in order to protect some of the state’s most familiar trademarks.

“This is my first experience dealing with something specifically like this,” said Pracht, associate athletic director for marketing at UA.

“This is outside most people’s comfort zone, but it is very important for the integrity of your brand,” he said. “You can’t shy away from these things.”

The Fayetteville campus is among thousands of colleges and universities across thecountry that have purchased .xxx addresses in order to protect the university from being exploited by the adult entertainment industry.

The University of Arkansas System has secured 11 .xxx addresses that are federally registered trademarks, such as razorback, razorbacks, and arkansasrazorbacks.

Institutions across the state surveyed for this article, from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro to Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, are spending thousands of dollars to register relevant names on the new domain, an adult entertainment industry variation on .com.

ICM Registry of Palm Beach, Fla., is the exclusive manager of the .xxx names and sells them through a dozen companies such as GoDaddy.com.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which the U.S. government established in 1998 to run the Internet’s address system, authorized creation of .xxx earlier this year. The .xxx name has been promoted as a way to enable pornography sites to distinguish themselves and a means of making it easier for Internet filters to screen out things parents don’t want their children to see, according to The Associated Press.

The UA System registered its trademarks for 10 years each at a total cost of $3,629, Pracht said.

Arkansas Tech University in Russellville secured nine .xxx addresses, including arkansastechuniversity, wonderboys, and goldensuns, for one year at a cost of $100 each, said chief spokesman Sam Strasner.

The University of Central Arkansas in Conway protected three .xxx names - uca, ucaalumniassociation, and universityofcentralarkansas - for three years at a cost of almost $200 per site, said spokesman Venita Jenkins.

ASU registered two names for three years for about $200 - asu and redwolves, said Mark Hoeting, associate vice chancellor and chief information officer.

Mark Scott, chief spokesman for Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville, said his institution registered nwacc.xxx for three years at a cost of about $200.

“We figured that particular domain name would be the most recognizable in our community, and the small price to pay was worth it to avoid any unnecessary risk,”Scott said.

“We routinely discuss trademark licensing issues that are out there, in order to protect the university’s image and federally registered trademarks,” said UA’s Pracht, whose responsibilities in athletics include overseeing marketing and licensing, in addition to serving as the liaison with International Sports Properties and Razorback Sports Properties.

“We are probably the most visible brand in the state,” he said.

Lawyer Harold J. Evansagrees. Evans, a partner in the Williams & Anderson firm in Little Rock, counsels the UA System and individual institutions across the state on trademark issues.

Evans said he advised lawyers at the UA System last summer of the new .xxx domain.

“You never know what people are going to do ... and when you are the flagship campus there is a more likelihood” to be exploited, Evans said.

“It’s a definite possibility for those names that are extremely well-known,” he said.“That makes them a more likely target. The University of Arkansas is very protective of its trademarks, as you would expect.”

UA will never use the sites it has protected, Pracht said.

If an Internet user types in a registered name in his Web browser, such as razorback.xxx, he is greeted with the text in white letters on a black background: “This domain has been reserved from registration.”

Evans, who practices in the areas of intellectual property, technology licensing and Internet law, said someone could still purchase a .xxx domain name that has a spelling variation of a college’s name or mascot, but it could be subject to a trademark infringement lawsuit.

Some schools have not registered .xxx addresses, including John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Henderson State University in Arkadelphia and Hendrix College in Conway.

“If somebody’s out to do something bad and associate you with it, they’re going to do it,” said Frank Cox, Hendrix’s chief spokesman.

Starting in late summer, ICM Registry began selling the names in three periods, first to those who hold registered trademarks and brand names, then to the adult entertainment industry, then to the general public.

The first period, called Sunrise, resulted in more than 80,000 applications from trademark and brand holders, according to an ICM Registry news release.

The second period, termed Landrush, closed Nov. 25. The final period, General Availability, began Dec. 6 and does not have a closing date.

To contact this reporter:

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Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 12/29/2011