November 11, 2005

Good season for gripe sites

homedepotsucks.com is not confusingly similar to Home Depot, a NAF panel ruled (in an unusually long decision).
"The term “sucks” is sufficient to distinguish the disputed domain name from Complainant’s THE HOME DEPOT mark", the Panel wrote. The panel added this remark of great interest: "The logic of panels who feel non-English speakers will misunderstand the meaning of the word “sucks” escapes this Panel. “Sucks” is a pretty short word and it isn’t a compliment. Considering most beginning linguists learn curse words first, it is likely anyone with any command of the English language knows “sucks” doesn’t have a good connotation."

And independent online newsletter devoted to reporting about a drug called Acomplia (a Sanofi-Aventis trademark), which uses the acompliareport.com domain name, may keep this name, "as long as there is a disclaimer stating that the website is not associated with Sanofi-Aventis". This is not a UDRP decision, but a Nov. 8 settlement.

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