Red Bull wins redbullsucks.com from energy drink rival

A recent ruling by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has interesting implications protest websites owners, seeking to highlight alleged product and service short comings, after they ordered Carl Gamel, owner of redbullsucks.com, to hand the domain over to Red Bull.

In this case WIPO’s decision was based on the fact redbullsucks.com was being used to promote a rival energy drink, rather than as a protest site. The outcome may have been different had redbullsucks.com been a legitimate, and genuine, protest.

“The Panel is cognizant of the importance of protecting protest sites that use a trademark to identify the object of their criticism,” said the ruling. “The ‘legitimate interest’ and ‘bad faith’ factors should adequately insulate true protest sites from vulnerability under the Policy, especially as [Red Bull] retains the burden of proof on each factor.” The panel found that Gamel did not have a legitimate interest in the domain because his site was not a site of legitimate criticism but one trying to sell a rival product.