MindGeek wants to trademark term "men.com"

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July 12, 2017 | The Biz

MindGeek wants to trademark term "men.com"

Things are getting a little nasty in the online porn world.

MindGeek, owner of Men.com, has requested that OLB Media stop using the word "men" in the name of its website StraightMen.com. In fact, MindGeek also wants to take ownership of the StraightMen.com domain name, thank you very much.

MindGeek said in a letter that the name infringes on its copyright of the term "men.com." It submitted a trademark request for the term back in May. (Its claim against OLB was sent a short time later.)

OLB Media doesn't intend to comply.

“This is a shocking claim with wide-ranging implications for the adult businesses,” said Adam Segel, CEO of OLB Media. “We cannot allow a single corporation to trademark a word used in thousands of adult websites.

“If MindGeek is successful, this could allow them to demand the handover of any adult site that uses the term, positioning them to take over a large swath of the gay adult industry.”

OLB Media said that initially it considered the request a misunderstanding and tried to work things out with MindGeek. To date, there has been no reply.

“We have to stand up to MindGeek. We don’t know how many other sites they have contacted with similar threats, or how many will follow if the mark is granted," added attorney Karen Tynan, who represents OLB Media.

If this were to get approved it would set a very dangerous precedent, and not just in the porn world. Sorry, MindGeek, but this was a pretty crappy thing to do.