[12453] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Name Reg. Time for Policy Change
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brad Templeton)
Wed May 18 10:35:56 1994
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <199405161920.AA14925@world.std.com>
Date: Tue, 17 May 94 18:11:07 PDT
From: Brad Templeton <brad@looking.clarinet.com>
Actually, Apple Auto Glass isn't fictional, it's a big chain of windshield
repair stores in Canada, but that's beside the point.
Apple Computers doesn't own the word Apple. They only own it when
it is applied to computer products. Apple Records owns the word
Apple when applied to music products, and there is a well known case in
this area.
An internet domain is an address, and so prior to declaring it, Apple
computer had no special claim on apple.com. (Though you might want to
argue that an internet domain name is inherently a computer thing, but
frankly, I think we would not want this to be the case.)
(Some cases are special. Barry owns "The World" (as he likes to say)
when it comes to online services. Erik Fair has taken "world.com"
for himself, but I wonder if he could really use it without Barry's
permission.)
