One of the UK's largest registrars has confirmed that four out of five businesses that have preregistered .XXX domain names have no links to the porn industry.

Easyspace said that only 20 percent of the "hundreds" of businesses participating preregistrations wanted to use them to flog adult content. Easyspace's managing director, Sarah Haran claims that non-adult industry businesses have realized the need to protect trademarks and brands in .XXX.

With a single .XXX domain costing around US$330 per year, many believed it would become a huge tax on legitimate businesses desperate to protect trademarks against third parties. Large companies who are protecting multiple domains, could see the costs could run into thousands a year.

Sites using the .XXX suffix have started appearing in small numbers but they are expected to appear in greater numbers in 2011.