Precedential No. 37: ".SUCKS" GTLD Fails To Function As Service Mark, Says TTAB

In yet another failure-to-function ruling, the Board affirmed refusals to register the term .SUCKS in the stylized form shown below, as a service mark for "Domain registry operator services related to the gTLD in the mark, in International Class 42," and the standard character mark .SUCKS for those same services and for "Domain name registration services featuring the gTLD in the mark; registration of domain names for identification of users on a global computer network featuring the gTLD in the mark, in International Class 45." Despite applicant's attempts to use .SUCKS in the manner of a source-identifier, "the evidence shows that consumers will view it as only a non-source identifying part of a domain name, rather than as a mark." In re Vox Populi Registry Ltd., Serial Nos. 86700941 and 87187215 (October 29, 2020) [precedential] (Opinion by Judge Thomas W. Wellington).