ICANN corporation requested Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Canadian Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) to check pricing rules in relation to the the new gTLD .SUCKS. This means that a series of scandals that accompany this domain since it was mentioned for the first time, it seems, carries on.
The domain zone .SUCKS entered Sunrise period in the end of March. ICANN gave it a green light despite the exuberant objections of many members of the public and desperate resistance of its own Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC). Canadian registry Vox Populi, operator of .SUCKS domain zone, has been accused of establishing “predatory” pricing, using the fact that because of the negative associations caused by the name all trademark owners will have to register their names. (During Sunrise period registration fee is $2000).
ICANN addressed FTC and OCA with a letter where the corporation asks state regulators to check the pricing and determine whether its practices violate any laws on consumer protection in the US and Canada. In case of violations, ICANN corporation will take all necessary measures to change the situation.
