Anti-piracy group Motion Picture Domain Registry (MPDR) has launched a new online domain, .film, that will be exclusive to the film industry.
The new domain, which will only be allotted to a film’s official site, is intended to help prevent third-party copy cats and help improve online search rankings for legitimate sites.
Among the first films that will make use the .film domain are TIFF titles February from director Osgood Perkins, starring Emma Roberts, and Wayne Blair’s Septembers of Shiraz with Salma Hayek and Adrien Brody. Both are from Avi Lerner‘s Nu Image/Millennium Films. Lerner has been one of the most vocal and aggressive anti-piracy campaigners since Millennium’s Expendables 3 was leaked to online pirates before its theatrical release. February.film and Septembersofshiraz.film will go live just ahead of their world premieres at TIFF on Saturday and Tuesday, respectively.
“Having an industry specific domain name for our films does has an inherent value,” said Jeffrey Greenstein, head of international sales and distribution for Nu Image.
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Because .film domains will only be allotted to legitimate film companies for use with their own works, it is hoped they will help combat so-called cyber-squatting, when third-parties set up sites that piggy-back on the interest surrounding a film to attract revenue and traffic.
Film companies can apply for .film domain names at go.film, with names being allotted starting from Oct. 6.
In addition to Nu Image/Millennium, companies including Highland Film Group, Big Talk Productions, Paris Film and the Film Distributors’ Association have registered film domain names with the site.
