YourBrand.Sucks: How To Deal With The New GTLD

Law360

Partner Andrea Calvaruso co-authored the Law360 article YourBrand.Sucks: How To Deal With The New GTLD,” regarding the Internet Corporate for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (“ICANN’s) decision to approve the gTLD .sucks, a significant concern for brand owners everywhere. Brand owners who have registered their trademarks with the Trademark Clearinghouse will have first choice at domain names in the gTLD in less than two weeks, if they are willing to pay the annual fee of $2,500. After the start of the sunrise period on March 30, 2015, brand owners will have 60 days to decide whether or not to purchase a .sucks domain before the general public. While the authors emphasize the importance for brand owners of purchasing a .sucks domain, they also point out that trademark owners can still take advantage of ICANN’s existing trademark protection and enforcement mechanisms, such as the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy or the Uniform Rapid Suspension procedure in the event that a registrant uses a .sucks domain name in a way that infringes on any of the brand owner’s rights.