Your Company Sucks!

• Published date: 05 April 2022
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Trademark, Arbitration & Dispute Resolution, Libel & Defamation
• Law Firm: LCF Law
• Author: Mr James Sarjantson

"Gripe" or "Suck" sites are websites created for the purposes of complaining about and/or criticising a business. In order to attract the attention they seek, gripe sites often register a domain name that incorporates the target business's trade mark in some way. For example, in Leonard Cheshire Foundation v Drake a disgruntled former Leonard Cheshire employee registered the domain name www.leonard-cheshire.com (whereas the "genuine" website for the Leonard Cheshire Foundation was to be found at www.leonardcheshire.org) and proceeded to use it as a gripe site.

Invariably the similarity between domain names coupled with the presence of the target's trade mark or branding on the gripe site, can lead to a business's customers, or potential customers, accessing a gripe site (where they will usually be greeted by inflammatory, and often defamatory, material about the business) instead of the target's own website. This can inevitably cause real damage to the target business.

The rise of gripe sites

Gripe sites are a common method for individuals to put pressure on businesses quickly, cheaply and effectively. A gripe site which attracted a fair amount of media attention was that relating to the domain name www.walmart50.com. In July 2011, Wal-Mart registered that domain name in...