traverselegal - March 31, 2015 - Cybersquatting Law
In 2011, ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) created the new generic top level domain (gTLD) suffix program to increase the number of new domain name options to be registered and used on the internet. The first of those top level domains were made available in November of 2013 offering new extensions such as .bike, .clothing, .guru and .holdings. Since that initial offering, several other gTLDs have been made available and many more are scheduled to be offered.
One suffix that was just recently added to the Sunrise Period and has been causing some commotion is the extension .SUCKS. The question that keeps arising about this new gTLD suffix is whether the new extension will help or hurt? Some feel that .sucks will hurt companies and famous individuals because it may produce additional opportunities for disgruntled customers or fans and competitors to create controversial and defamatory websites to discredit and harm those targeted. However, ICANN and others are stating that the offering of .sucks, along with the other new TLD extensions, will be highly beneficial because it should promote additional creativity and healthy competition in all markets. Time shall soon reveal how this will affect businesses and certain individuals since the .sucks is scheduled to be open to the public in June 2015.
If you are an individual or company that is unsure about how the new top level domain extensions could help or hurt your business and you would like more information about the effect of such extensions to your business or reputation, more information on the current Sunrise Period offering, the upcoming public offerings or registration of a new top level domain, feel free to contact one of our highly experienced domain name attorneys.
