Did they buy it recently? I recall Google owning it for a bit through an acquisition? Yeah it certainly would be nice if ddg rebranded and pushed duck as it's name.
Google gave it to them. The sceptic in me saw it as future evidence against being a search monopoly "we even helped our rival you guys"
That's cynic, not skeptic. If Google kept duck.com you would say they were protecting their monopoly. When your model of blameworthiness says that every possible choice is wrong, your model is wrong.