Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin boss, has won control of the web address richardbranson.xxx, part of a new area online devoted to pornography, from an Australian man who registered it as a "souvenir".
The entrepreneur took Sean Truman to the National Arbitration Forum, a body based in the United States that adjudicates on disputes over the rights to web addresses. It found that Mr Truman “should have recognized that his registration and control of 'richardbranson.xxx' would serve to vex or embarrass” Sir Richard.
“Registering and holding a .xxx domain name identical to [Sir Richard’s] mark without having any rights or interests therein is evidence of bad faith registration and use,” it said in its ruling.
The controversial .xxx top-level domain was introduced after several years of wrangling at ICANN, the organisation in charge of the web’s address system. The Bush administration blocked the creation of an area of the web devoted to pornography after lobbying by Christian groups, but the company behind the venture successfully appealed the decision.