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A
Lesson in History
by Michelle Roy; Staff writer -
October 2000
President
Abraham Lincoln once said, "how many legs does a horse have
if I call the tail a leg? The answer is four, because calling
the tail a leg doesn't make it one." The most important part
of marketing is naming, and this extends to the Internet.
What we name a business or product, and now an Internet site,
has always been a preoccupation of the North American consumer
culture. A great name delivers a message in the short time
it takes to say it. It is a quick, easy, and reliable way
to hint to the consumer as to what's in store.
This is especially true with Domain Names.
As individuals began to realize the potential value of the
Internet, they also began to register domain names. It were
the intelligent, money-minded, technology-oriented entrepreneurs
who began the cyber race for names. They captured names for
virtually everything, leaving the larger corporations behind.
Companies such as McDonalds had to buy their desired names
from entrepreneurs who were able to register certain names
first. In the case of McDonalds.com, a Wired magazine journalist
named Joshua Quittner was preparing an article on domain name
policy. In order to test if it was easy to register a trademarked
domain name he registered McDonalds.com. But, before he registered
the name he had contacted McDonalds headquarters many times,
alerting them to the fact that their name was available. At
the time, McDonalds didn't think it was too important. It
wasn't until Quittner's article, and a published website,
that McDonalds began to take notice of potential opportunities
on the Internet.
For
Quittner, registering McDonalds.com was a journalistic experiment.
One that not only worked, but helped to awaken the corporate
world to the potential value of consumerism on the net. McDonalds
was able to get mcdonalds.com back from Quittner, but only
after they agreed to Quittner's terms: underwrite the cost
to wire a public school with Internet access.
According to The Domain Name Handbook by Ellen and Peter Rony,
beer mogul Miller Beer Company was too late to secure their
ideal domain name as well. The circumstances were different
though. The person to register miller.com had a legitimate
right to the name. By the time Miller Beer Company was ready
to launch a web site, Steve Miller (owner of a computer consulting
firm) was already operating his company's website under miller.com.
And beer.com was also taken, secured as an acronym for the
Bilfish Energy Exchange Reserve. Although Steve Miller and
Bilfish had rightful claims to their names, both sites constituted
examples of WYSIWYE (what you see isn't what you expect):
beer!
WYSIWYE
is also quite common with web sites that have "cybersquatted"
domain names, especially when they have been squatted by the
competition. Case in point: kaplan.com.
The
dispute over the domain name kaplan.com was the first judicially-determined
decision on Domain use in the United States. It was between
the Princeton Review, a company that sells preparatory courses
for the standardized academic and professional licensing exams,
and Kaplan.com, the Princeton Review's main competition.
According
to The Domain Name Handbook, in February 1994, the Princeton
Review established review.com, a website where students go
to get information about its services. At the same time, it
developed kaplan.com and used this site to showcase the differences
between the two companies. WYSIWYE happened when kaplan customers
expected to find information about kaplan, but instead they
saw Princeton information.
The
lawsuit alleged that the use of kaplan's trade name on the
Internet violated laws of trademark infringement. Princeton's
founder claimed that it was only a playful prank. He argued
that domain names are no more than addresses and the use of
kaplan.com was just the same as if Princeton opened a branch
office on a Kaplan Avenue somewhere. The arbitration panel
disagreed and ruled that the Princeton Review had no right
to establish an Internet addres under the name of its primary
competitor.
The
cyber-race between Kaplan and the Princeton Review continued.
The Princeton Review quickly registered LSAT.com, GMAT.com,
and GRE.com, all common abbreviations for standardized tests.
At the same time Kaplan began defensive measures and secured
more than a dozen variations on the Kaplan name and its products.
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