ICANN Asks U.S., Canadian Governments If .sucks Is Breaking laws

ICANN, the organization that licensed the .sucks area, is asking the U.S. and Canadian governments if the company operating the area is breaking any laws with the controversial pricing and registration construction it’s set up for trademark holders.

in keeping with an ICANN blog submit this week, the group has despatched letters to each the U.S. Federal alternate fee (FTC) and Canada’s place of job of shopper Affairs (OCA), inviting them to study how Vox Populi is running the .sucks domain. The letters had been despatched after ICANN got complaints from its own advisory teams, the intellectual Property Constituency — letters that referred to as .sucks a “predatory scheme” with pricing that’s “over 250 occasions greater than what [Vox Populi] will cost most peculiar shoppers.” From ICANN’s weblog post:

as a result of the serious nature of the allegations, we have now sent letters [PDF, 742 KB] to each the U.S. Federal change fee (FTC) and, as a result of Vox Populi is a Canadian enterprise, Canada’s workplace of shopper Affairs (OCA) asking them to believe assessing and figuring out whether or not or now not Vox Populi is violating any of the laws or regulations those agencies put in force. ICANN is at present evaluating therapies available to us below the registry settlement. As we stated in those letters, if Vox Populi is not complying with all applicable rules, it can also be in breach of its registry settlement. ICANN may then act constantly with its public hobby targets and shopper and industry protections to change these practices via our contractual relationship with the registry.

ICANN factors out that it’s the federal government’s job to come to a decision if Vox Populi is breaking any regulations, and ICANN can handiest “enforce the phrases and prerequisites of our contracts with registries.”

In a remark despatched to advertising and marketing Land by means of electronic mail, John Berard, CEO of Vox Populi, says he believes the company hasn’t damaged any laws or ICANN rules:

VoxPop has colored well within the lines each of ICANN’s ideas and national laws so I used to be shocked by using the request. i would first have expected a query from ICANN or an aggrieved party, however bought none. possibly it is driven by means of real issues or it may be a case of the squeaky wheel.

both approach, we see real worth in bringing these names to life on-line. there may be a lot to be learned from criticism.

Vox Populi opened early registration for .sucks domains on March 30. Google, Apple, facebook and Microsoft are among the many many main brands that have already registered company and product-related names at $2,500 per year, per domain.

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Matt McGee

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