Consumers Will See '.sucks’ as Domain, Not Trademark, TTAB Rules

A domain registry operator failed to demonstrate that consumers perceive '.sucks’ as a trademark rather than as a top-level domain, a trademark tribunal said.

VoxPopuli Registry Ltd. didn’t overcome the perception that its proposed trademarks would be perceived as just one of many top-level internet domains (TLDs), the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled in a Thursday precedential decision.

The board called .sucks “more akin to the applicant’s product, not its brand,” and said a common descriptive term for a product—for example, “table"—cannot be its maker’s brand.

Top-level domains face inherent obstacles for companies to register them as trademarks, which ...