New gTLDs: .SUCKS Illustrates Potential Problems for Security, Brand Professionals by Camille Stewart.
From the post:
The launch of the .SUCKS top-level domain name (gTLD) has reignited and heightened concerns about protecting brands and trademarks from cybersquatters and malicious actors. This new extension, along with more than a thousand others, has been approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as part of their new gTLD program. The program was designed to spark competition and innovation by opening up the market to additional gTLDs.
Not surprisingly, though, complaints are emerging that unscrupulous operators are using .SUCKS to extort money from companies by threatening to use it to create websites that could damage their brands. ICANN is now reportedly asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs to weigh in on potential abuses so it can address them. Recently, Congress weighed in on the issue, holding a hearing about. SUCKS and other controversial domains like .PORN .
Vox Populi Registry Ltd. began accepting registrations for .SUCKS domains on March 30 from trademark holders and celebrities before it opened to public applicants. It recommended charging $2,499 a year for each domain name registration, and according to Vox Populi CEO John Berard, resellers are selling most of the names for around $2,000 a year. Berard asserts that the extension is meant to create destinations for companies to interact with their critics, and called his company’s business “well within the lines of ICANN rules and the law.”
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If you follow the link to the statement by Vox Populi CEO John Berard, that post concludes with:
The new gTLD program is about increasing choice and competition in the TLD space, it’s not supposed to be about applicants bilking trademark owners for whatever they think they can get away with.
A rather surprising objection considering that trademark (and copyright) owners have been bilking/gouging consumers for centuries.
Amazing how sharp the pain can be when a shoe pinches on a merchant’s foot.
How many Disney properties could end in .sucks? (Research question)