Playboy Gets Shirty Over Property Boss Who Grabbed Dot London Domain

A property mogul is at loggerheads with iconic adult magazine Playboy over a Dot London domain name which uses the Bunny brand's title.

Michael Ross, who is the director of London-based realty firm CNM Estates, snapped up the domain name www.playboy.london when it became available in 2013.

Incensed by Ross's audacity, Playboy's legal team wrote a letter to him telling him to give up the domain name or face the legal consequences.

However, Ross, 52, is unfazed by the Playboy brand, and is adamant that he is going to keep the title for his own enjoyment.

He told the Evening Standard that he will "argue that I am a London-based playboy with every right to use the domain.

"It is a bloody arrogant approach to make. They say that I am 'diluting the value of their brand'. That is personally insulting — I am improving it.

"Playboy is a word in the dictionary. If it was protected I would not have been able to register it.

"I am not going to go off and pretend I am Hugh Hefner or own the Playboy Club. I just like the sound of it and was amazed when I got it allocated to me. I thought anything that was properly corporately branded would be protected.

"My wife is pregnant and I am hoping for a boy. If he is anything like I was in 18 years' time I am keeping the domain for him so he can be London's newest playboy."

Tens of thousands of businesses, brands, charities, sport teams and other bodies have already signed up for Dot London website addresses, the Evening Standard reported.

More than 9,000 were snapped up on 9 September, the first day they became available to all, and now more than 48,000 registrations for new Dot London domains have been made.

Other cities to have already launched their own domain name include Berlin, which was launched back in March.