Lawley's organization, ICM Registry, saw its application to enable the top-level domain .XXX killed back in March after three years and millions of dollars spent.
Lawley posted on the ICM Registry homepage that his company has filed a petition for an independent review of ICANN's decision.
Online guru Brandon "Fight The Patent" told XBIZ that the petition, even if it led to an independent review, would likely achieve the same result for Lawley: rejection.
"He's trying to cry foul that ICANN jerked him along until the very end and got him the thumbs-down vote on .XXX," he said. "He's also working the angle that the Department of Commerce put in their strong-arm of government to prevent .XXX from going through."
During the struggle to make .XXX a reality, the ICM Registry filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the Department of Commerce, accusing the agency of working behind the scenes to kill .XXX. A federal judge ruled against ICM.
In the announcement, Lawley complained that ICANN denied him the business he would have gained from the addition of the .XXX top-level domain.
"ICM has been wrongfully denied the opportunity to operate the proposed .XXX [top-level domain] and gain the significant 'first mover' business advantage that would have flowed from its registry contract for what has always been regarded as one of the more sought after and popular expected new [top-level domain]," the announcement reads. "Further, ICANN's rejection of ICM's application has denied the benefits the [top-level domain] would have provided to the sponsored community and other stakeholders, namely, empowering individuals wishing to select or avoid such adult content websites to do so easily and establishing a forum for the online adult entertainment community to communicate and proactively respond to the needs and concerns of the broader Internet community."
For more information, visit ICMRegistry.com.