Re: .edu.com domain

[David Bruce <david.bruce () SIMMONS EDU>]

Form letter.  I didn't raise any of these points.  I just asked them
to take us off.

Anyway we're off now... their response:

Begin forwarded message:
> From: "Brad Lohan" <brad () vantagemedia com>
> Date: April 5, 2006 7:36:52 PM EDT
> To: <david.bruce () simmons edu>
> Cc: <mark () vantagemedia com>, <CVandenbosch () sheppardmullin com>,
> <LBraun () sheppardmullin com>
> Subject: Simmons.edu.com
>
> Dear Mr. Bruce:
>
> This responds to your letter of March 24, 2006.  Contrary to your
> assertion, Vantage Media has not registered any domain name that
> incorporates your school's trademark.  Rather, we own a
> registration for the edu.com domain.  If an individual voluntarily
> enters your school's name in connection with our edu.com domain
> name, that individual may access a domain subdirectory that is in
> turn used to forward a bona fide inquiry to the requested
> institution.  The subdirectory does not constitute a separate
> domain name, and it is therefore not assignable to your school.
>
> To be clear, Vantage Media has not registered your trademark in any
> form, it does not prevent anyone from obtaining bona fide
> information about your school, and it does not falsely represent to
> be affiliated with your institution.
>
> For these reasons, we disagree with the points raised in your
> letter.  However, in the interest of preserving Vantage Media's
> business reputation, we have decided at this time to remove content
> from the referenced subdirectory on our edu.com domain.  We trust
> that this concludes the matter to your school's satisfaction.
>
> Sincerely,
> Brad Lohan
>
> Brad Lohan  |  Analyst
> p] 310.482.3737 | f] 310.943.1620
> e] brad () vantagemedia com


On Apr 5, 2006, at 7:58 PM, Dave Koontz wrote:

> Whoa, I just checked our domain on their site and it returns a
> completely different school!  Our domain is mbc.edu - Mary Baldwin
> College (http://www.mbc.edu), yet when I access http://mbc.edu.com it
> returns "Morris Brown College" instead!  I wonder if Morris Brown paid
> these guys to get the mbc.edu.com address?  Should I turn this over to
> our legal team or contact this questionable company?  Any tips on
> how I
> should proceed would be appreciated!
>
> PS:  I've also noticed a very high number of 'spam' emails to our
> students from this organization over the last few weeks.
>
> ---
> Dave Koontz
> Associate Director CIS
> Mary Baldwin College
>
> Walter Bourne wrote:
> > It's possible to get 'off'.  Try
> > <http://msu.edu.com/>
> >
> > Our Admissions and Counsel are doing a cease-and-desist.
> >
> > ==Walter Bourne
> >   Columbia University
> >   IT Security & Policy
> >
> > --On Wednesday, April 05, 2006 15:55 -0500 Graham Toal
> > <gtoal () utpa edu>
> > wrote:
> >
> > : > I do not know if they actually forward
> > : > the information, it appears the primary purpose is to harvest
> > : > information for marketing.
> > :
> > : More likely harvest leads to sell back to the Universities.
> > : And I would imagine if you don't advertise with them,
> > : some rival university will be prominent when someone
> > : stumbles on their site looking for you.
> > :
> > : Here's a good article on their business model:
> > :
> > : http://www.jayweintraub.com/2005/08/trends_report_a.html
> > :
> > : G

--
David Bruce                                          Phone: 617.521.2187
Director of Networks and Servers                     Fax:   617.521.3082
Simmons College, Technology
300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115-5898            david.bruce () simmons edu