<p dir="ltr">I respectfully disagree with Andres. First of all, I an not convinced a string counts as publication, a requirement under the act. Leaving that aside for the moment...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Although andresguadamas.sucks refers to the claimant - Why would "sucks" be defamatory? Surely this fall under the available "fair comment" or "honest opinion" defence? </p>
<p dir="ltr">As far as I know, no one has tried to make this claim under the present system, despite powerful DNS cases like Ryanairsucks etc. I think the court may struggle to find loss/harm from such innocuous terminology.<br>
<br>
The point could be made that there is a regulatory authority (ICANN or NOMINET) with policies on registerability. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Finally, even if there is "publication" within the meaning of the Act, I'm not immediately aware of an authority. To my knowledge no one has sued in defamation for an address string.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Regards</p>
<p dir="ltr">Mark</p>
<p dir="ltr">Mark Leiser, BS, LLB (Hon) | PhD Candidate | University of Strathclyde | Faculty of Humanities and Social Science | The Law School l Centre for Internet Law and Policy | PGR Room, 141 St. James Road | Lord Hope Building | Glasgow G4 OLT | Tel. +44 7719739090</p>
<p dir="ltr"> </p>
<p dir="ltr">Email: <a href="mailto:markleiser@gmail.com">markleiser@gmail.com</a> </p>
<p dir="ltr">Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/mleiser">http://twitter.com/#!/mleiser</a></p>
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<p dir="ltr">Google+: <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/105289982691060086995/posts">https://plus.google.com/u/0/105289982691060086995/posts</a></p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On 28 Mar 2015 18:48, "Andres Guadamuz" <<a href="mailto:A.Guadamuz@sussex.ac.uk">A.Guadamuz@sussex.ac.uk</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
Defamation law in England tends to favour claimants, it was even a
joke in South Park (Tom Cruise shouting "I'm gonna sue you in
England!").<br>
<br>
Two elements need to be met for a claim in defamation, it must refer
to the claimant, and it must lower the claimant "in the estimation
of right-thinking members of society generally". My opinion being
familiar with the existing case law is that the registration of a
.sucks domain could meet these and other defamation requirements. <br>
<br>
For example, the threshold of what constitutes a defamatory
statement is very low, as evidence by the Lord McAlpine case where
this tweet was considered defamatory:<br>
'Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *Innocent face*"<br>
<a href="http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2013/981.html" target="_blank">http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2013/981.html</a><br>
<br>
In my opinion, a defamation case has a high possibility of success
in England. This is not to say that it will happen, just that at
least in the UK it is a distinct possibility. It might be difficult
to prove damages though, but it might be possible to obtain
injunctive relief. <br>
<br>
Andres<br>
<br>
<br>
<div>On 28/03/2015 16:55, Nicolas Adam
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">I guess
there is a difference between successfully bringing up an action
and standing a snowball's chance in hell of winning it on the
strength of that sole registration fact, but I'm kind of hoping
that registering is not the only threshold ....
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 2015-03-27 7:26 AM, Andres Guadamuz wrote:
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">I had a class today exactly about this. I
was joking to the students if I should consider buying
andresguadamuz.sucks and andresguadamuz.porn, and we had an
extensive discussion about whether the above would be defamatory
if someone else did it. Most of the class thought that you could
successfully bring up an action in England for defamation just
for registering the domain.
<br>
<br>
I tend to agree.
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre cols="72">--
Dr Andres Guadamuz
Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law
Room G17
Freeman Centre
University of Sussex
Brighton, East Sussex BN1 9QE
Tel. <a href="tel:01273%20678629" value="+441273678629" target="_blank">01273 678629</a>
<a href="http://ssrn.com/author=387238" target="_blank">http://ssrn.com/author=387238</a>
<a href="http://www.technollama.co.uk" target="_blank">http://www.technollama.co.uk</a> </pre>
</div>
</blockquote></div>