Re: DEC vs AltaVista

From: Mikael Pawlo <mpawlo[_at_]algonet.se>
Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 10:54:03 +0200 (MET DST)

On Thu, 29 May 1997, Bruce Hayden <bhayden[_at_]copatlaw.com> wrote:
> >
> > the tiny Alta Vista home page which actually discussed the relationship
> > with Digital. However, the site can't be accessed any longer.
>
> I thought that Digital's position was that they had purchased the
> name from them, but that Alta Vista continued to use it.

When Digital started the work with the famous search engine, Digital found that another company with the same name (Altavista) was already using the name, as a corporate name as well as a domain name. Digital contacted the other company, Altavista Technology, Inc (ATI), and purchased the Altavista trademark. Digital then licensed certain rights back to ATI. ATI was, among other things, allowed to continue using the name Altavista, but only in its corporate name, and it was allowed to continue using the already existing altavista.com domain name with an attached web site. Digital then opened its Altavista web site at

   http://www.altavista.digital.com/

However, ATI continued using the Altavista name in a way which might have been misleading to consumers, thinking they was at the Digital Altavista web site. I guess you know the rest of the story pretty well.

Source:
http://xp7.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?recnum=49216&server=db97p2x&CONTEXT=8650 66609.24601&hitnum=3
(David Loundys column - I've actually searched the Web for more resources on the subject, but I can't find anything. Any tips?)

Regards,

Mikael

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       Mikael Pawlo, Law Student. Mailto:mpawlo[_at_]algonet.se
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                                    (Mikael Pawlo, 1973-)

Received on Sat May 31 1997 - 08:53:38 GMT