General Availability Registration Period for Brand Owners
Began on June 21
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
has the responsibility for the administration of domain names. In
2011, ICANN developed a program for the expansion of new generic
top-level domain names (new gTLDs) beyond the standard .com and
launched the first of the new gTLD registries in 2013.
The .SUCKS registry, owned and operated by Vox Populi, is one of
the most controversial of the new gTLDs. The introduction of the
.SUCKS gTLD has put pressure on brand owners to develop a strategy
and decide whether, when, and how to protect their trademarks. That
said, the .SUCKS Registry stands firm in its belief that .SUCKS was
"designed to help consumers find their voices and allow
companies to find the value in criticism." They further stated
that they did not envision that the .SUCKS domains would be
"used solely as a defensive registration to keep trolls from
owning the
