Often, domain names consisting of a company name followed by the
word “sucks” are used for web sites where customers of the company
can air their grievances. When the companies have taken action to
recover the domain names, results have been mixed.
In Seo Kim of British Columbia registered philipssucks.com in
January 2000, together with 14 other similar “sucks” names based on
well-known brand names.
WIPO panellist Jonathan Turner wrote:
"Not all internet users are English speaking
or familiar with the use of 'sucks' to indicate a site used for
denigration. Furthermore, it is not unknown for companies to
establish complaint or comment sites or areas of sites to obtain
feedback on their products; accordingly, some people might suppose
that a web site of this nature at the domain name was operated by
[Philips]."
He continued:
"It does not follow from this approach that
the registration of any domain name comprising a famous brand
followed by sucks.tld [top level domain] can be successfully
challenged under [the dispute rules]. If such a domain name is
genuinely registered and used for the purposes of criticism of the
brand, [the challenge will fail]."
In deciding in favour of the Dutch company, he noted that the
web site for philipssucks.com was “rudimentary.” The site contains
an “under development” message and comments purporting to be from
five Philips customers. Turner said it did not appear “to
constitute genuine non-commercial use” and inferred that the likely
reason for registration of the name was to re-sell it to Philips at
a profit.
