The sunrise period for "dot sucks," the new generic top level domain (gTLD), opened on March 30, 2015 and ends on June 19, 2015. During the sunrise period, the suggested retail price per .sucks domain name registration is $2,499 annually. Thereafter, the price remains unchanged for companies that were diligent enough to register their marks with the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) in order to protect them as to newly-introduced gTLDs.

Starting in September 2015, the owners of marks registered with the TMCH will be prohibited from purchasing any .sucks domain names because those marks will only be available to individual consumers who, at an annual cost of just $9.95 per domain name, wish to use .sucks domain names to host forum discussions on the consumer advocate subsidized website, everything.sucks. 

Some would argue this sounds like extortion that targets brandowners and uses their money to fund the .sucks registry. However, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has blessed the .sucks registration scheme and many brandowners, including oprah.sucks, donaldtrump.sucks and nasdaq.sucks, have already purchased .sucks registrations.

Vox Populi Registry, Inc, a Canadian company, operates the .sucks registry. ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency submitted a formal complaint to ICANN. As a result, ICANN reported that it sent letters to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs "asking them to consider assessing and determining whether or not Vox Populi is violating any of the laws or regulations those agencies enforce."

For now, it appears the .sucks registry is here to stay. Therefore, it may be wise for brandowners to monitor the relevant .sucks websites and develop means by which they can interact positively with consumers in an effort to turn complainers into admirers.