Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 19:50:42 -0700
Reply-To: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Subject: Re: Internet firm sues Volkswagen over Web site name
In-Reply-To: <37CC740F.5A6DEE50@online.no>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Not again!
At 02:32 AM 01/09/1999 +0200, Per Lindgren wrote:
>From www.auto.com
>
>PerL
>87 Syncro 112i
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
> DETROIT, Aug 30 (Reuters) - An Internet service provider under
>pressure from Volkswagen AG to
>stop using the Web address www.vw.net has filed suit in a Virginia
>federal court in a bid to block an
>attempt to reassign the domain name.
>
> Virtual Works Inc., based in Herndon, Va., filed the civil lawsuit
>on Friday in U.S. District Court in
>Alexandria. Va. It is seeking $1 million in damages from the German
>automaker. It also sued Network
>Solutions Inc. (NSI), which until recently enjoyed a monopoly in
>assigning domain names ending in .com,
>.org and .net.
>
> Virtual Works claims NSI and Volkswagen have no legal justification
>for challenging its use of
>www.vw.net, which it said NSI assigned to the Internet service provider
>in 1996. A year earlier, VW
>was assigned the address http://www.vw.com, leaving http://www.vw.net
>unclaimed.
>
> Virtual Works alleges a reassignment of the name would constitute a
>breach of contract and an illegal
>confiscation on NSI's part. In addition, the Internet service provider
>alleges that VW is improperly
>interfering with its economic relationships by seeking the Web address
>for itself.
>
> Volkswagen spokesman Tony Fouladpour said the company had not seen
>the lawsuit, but it intended to
>pursue its claim.
>
> "We are going to protect our trademark, especially when it comes to
>domain names," he said.
>
> Fouladpour added Virtual Works only came to Volkswagen's attention
>when it tried to sell the domain
>name back to the automaker last year.
>
> Virginia-based NSI said it does not discuss ongoing litigation.
>
> Earlier this year, Volkswagen asked NSI to take back the domain
>name from Virtual Works, charging
>that the site violated its trademark, which includes the letters VW. NSI
>told Virtual Works in a May 4
>letter that it would transfer the www.vw.net domain name to Volkswagen,
>the lawsuit said.
>
> Virtual Works Chief Executive James Anderson pointed out VW
>registered for www.vw.com in 1995
>and left www.vw.net free for his company the following year. The
>automaker then said nothing until
>December 1998 when he received a letter threatening a lawsuit.
>
> Under the 1996 Trademark Dilution Act, a company can seek to stop
>another party from using a
>trademark even if that party is not in the same business. Companies also
>need to show they are protecting
>their trademarks or they can lose their rights to them.
>
>
>
>
>
>Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or
>redistribution of Reuters
>Limited content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly
>prohibited without the prior
>written consent of Reuters Limited. Reuters Limited shall not be liable
>for any errors or delays in the
>content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
>
-- David Marshall - - Quesnel, BC, Canada --
-- 78 VW Rabbit, 80 VW Caddy, 84 VW Westie, 85 VW Cabriolet --
-- 87 Audi 5000 Quattro, 88 2.0L VW Syncro Double Cab --
-- David's Volkswagen Home Page http://www.volkswagen.org --
-- Fast Forward Autobahn Sport Tuning http://www.fastforward.ca --
-- david@volkswagen.org (pmail) or vanagon@volkswagen.org (list) --
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