Pornrus.com: Toys R Us has kinky domain names to sell off
Here's your chance to own sextoysrus.com.
Toys R Us is closing all its US stores.
There may be no more generations of Toys R Us kids, but the bankrupt retailer's legacy could survive on the internet in unexpected ways.
Toys R Us is seeking to sell off its intellectual property, including its name, the Geoffrey the Giraffe mascot and an extensive stash of domain names, according to Reuters. Some of the domains are eyebrow-raisers.
A WhoIs record search shows Geoffrey LLC at One Geoffrey Way in Wayne, New Jersey as the tech contact for kinkytoysrus.com, sextoysrus.com, pornrus.com, toysrussucks.com, ihatetoysrus.com, f**ktoysrus.com, adultoysrus.com and naughtytoysrus.com, among others. There are no functioning websites at any of those addresses.
While it sounds a little odd that a toy store would amass such a collection of sex- and anger-related domains, it's standard operating procedure for big companies to buy up these sort of names to prevent others from using them.
Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy protection in the US in 2017 and said in March it would close its hundreds of stores and liquidate its inventory. Charles Lazarus, the founder of Toy R Us, died of natural causes at the age of 94 a week after the news of the retailer's closures.
Not all of the domains owned by Toys R Us have to do with hate or sex. Enterprising buyers could make use of more innocuous offerings like schoolsrus.com or girafficparty.com. And perhaps a nostalgic fan site could pick up iwanttobeatoysrusmom.com.
The assets will likely go up for bid, but no auction details have been released yet.