Someone might be operating a website on the Internet right now known as [name of your company or product here] sucks.com. There are literally hundreds of websites on the Internet that use trade-names or trademarks belonging to well-known companies together with the word ‘sucks’ (or ‘bites,’ ‘blows,’ ‘I hate’ or some other similarly disparaging term) as their domain names.
‘Sucks’ sites are typically operated by aggrieved customers or employees who want to broadcast their complaints about the target company to the world. Such sites frequently reproduce the trademarks and/or copyright logos of the target entity, often with a red ‘X,’ a slash or the word ‘sucks’ superimposed over the logo. Many of these websites are interactive – in that they encourage others to post their own complaints about the target directly on the website for all to see.

Brad Hanna is a lawyer at the Toronto law firm of McMillan Binch and a member of the firm’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group….