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The “dot.info” domain was supposed to relieve the crowded dot.com space and make cybersquatting a more difficult undertaking. But the company that oversees registration of dot.info web addresses has been taking heat for making it too easy for people to register non-trademarked names and now plans to kick out likely cybersquatters. Afilias Ltd. opened up registration to businesses first so that they could register their trademarked names. But opportunists fooled the system and registered ordinary words as trademarks in the hope that other companies might come along later and want to buy the domains. Additionally, there were some possibly illegitimate claims to trademarked names. In response, Afilias says it will challenge all the questionable registrations, which number in the hundreds, through arbiters at the World Intellectual Property Organization. So far, more than 25,000 dot.info web addresses have been registered since trademark registration opened July 25. Non-businesses officially may register dot.info addresses starting Sept. 12. Dot.info web addresses go live on Sept. 19.
Egghead.com sells assets to Fry’s
Online software retailer Egghead.com has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is unloading its assets on West-Coast based Fry’s Electronics stores. A bankruptcy filing from the troubled e-commerce site, which lost $62.2 million in the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, has long been expected, as it underwent several rounds of layoffs and kept hemorrhaging money. The e-tailer began life as a bricks-and-mortar chain, and for its dot.com-only incarnation, had the backing of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. But Allen, realizing that e-commerce wasn’t as easy as it sounded, sold off his stake in Egghead. At the same time that Egghead announced its bankruptcy, it said that it was firing two-thirds of its staff. The few employees who remain behind will keep the site alive until the sale to Fry’s closes.
AA.com launches TV ads on MarketWatch.com
American Airlines’ newest TV ad campaign is starting to take off, but not on the boob tube. Instead, the ads, which tout the airline’s web site, have debuted on CBS MarketWatch.com. Site visitors have to click on a box embedded in the side of MarketWatch articles to be able to play the ads in full. The spots eventually will be broadcast during the airline’s in-flight programming, then on cable. American Airlines is among the first, and perhaps the first, major advertiser to introduce TV ads this way. MarketWatch has exhibited a greater willingness than most web sites to try out unorthodox forms of internet advertising. In March, it became one of the first web sites to introduce online advertising targeted by dayparts, in a campaign for Budweiser.
Judge: Yahoo need not divulge IDs
Yahoo does not have to reveal the identities of critics who blasted a legal services company within its message boards, a California judge has ruled. Judge Neil Cabrinha of Santa Clara County Superior Court has decided that the anonymous criticism posted about Oklahoma-based Pre-Paid Legal Services is protected as free speech under the First Amendment. Pre-Paid Legal Services, on the other hand, had argued that the incognito critics might have been current or former employees who possibly were violating trade secrets. The company had subpoenaed Yahoo to try to force the portal to release the identities. The California court’s decision is the latest in a string of pro-anonymity rulings. InfoSpace was exempted back in April from revealing the identities of people posting anonymous messages and, last month, an appellate court in New Jersey determined that individuals posting online messages could keep their identities confidential under most circumstances.
Study: Investors rack up most time online
People ages 25 to 54 who have brokerage accounts spend more time on the internet than non-investors in the same age group, according to a recent survey by Statistical Research. The internet comprises 17 percent of daily media consumption by 25- to 54-year-old investors. But for non-investors of the same ages, the internet is not as big a time drain, taking up 11 percent of media time each day. People with brokerage accounts spend more time with media in general, clocking an additional 48 minutes every day, compared to non-investors. All but 10 of those extra 48 minutes are spent online. To arrive at these conclusions, Statistical Research interviewed 2,500 people about their media consumption habits this past spring.
August 16, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
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