Summary

AN AUSTIN-AREA WOMAN IS BATTLING TOY GIANT TOYS-R-US OVER HER HOBBY WEBSITE SPORT HORSES R US-DOT COM

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 181252
Story Slug Web - War
Location Manor, TX
Format PKG W/Tag
Date 03/14/2000
Archive Time 39:14
TRT 1:46
Supers Manor, TX Suzanne Warmack, Amatuer Equestrian Russ Rhea, Reporting
Video Description HORSE EATING GRASS, WOMAN WALKING HORSE, WOMAN RIDING HORSE,INTERNET SITE, TOYS R US, CU OF DOCUMENT, WOMAN SOT, INTERNET SITE, WOMAN SOT, INTERNET SITE, ANCHOR STANDUP, WOMAN SOT, HORSE EATING GRASS, WIDESHOT OF HORSE AND WOMAN AND ANCHOR
Description AN AUSTIN-AREA WOMAN IS BATTLING TOY GIANT TOYS-R-US OVER HER HOBBY WEBSITE SPORT HORSES R US-DOT COM
Script LEAD: COURTS ARE STARTING TO GET CLOGGED WITH DISPUTES OVER WEBSITE DOMAIN NAMES COMPANIES ARE GOING TO GREAT LENGTHS TO PROTECT THEIR TRADEMARKS RUSS RHEA HAS THE STORY OF A WEB SITE OPERATOR WHO IS STANDING UP TO ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S BIGGEST RETAIL GIANTS (TAKE PKG) SCRIPT: (He gets mad when I'm not here every day) SHE SPENDS MOST OF HER FREE TIME AT THIS EQUESTRIAN ARENA NORTHEAST OF AUSTIN PRACTICING FOR PRACTICING FOR COMPETITIONS THREE YEARS AGO, SHE STARTED A WEB SITE TO GO ALONG WITH HER HOBBY SPORTSHORSES R US-DOT COM ((Just for fun, kind of to learn how to build a web site)) WARMACK SAYS SHE NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT ANY SIMILARITIES WITH THE NATION'S LARGEST TOY RETAILER, UNTIL SHE GOT THIS LETTER FROM TOYS R US ATTORNEYS DEMANDING SHE DROP THE R US THEY SAID QUOTE YOU ARE DILUTING THE DISTINCIVENESS OF OUR R US MARKS (SOT) They don't own the alphabet, I can understand if I had the 'R' reversed, which I don't ALL WARMACK DID IS PUT A DISCLAIMER UP ON HER SITE SAYING IT'S NOT AFFILIATED WITH TOYS R US (They said, that's not good enough, I said, too bad, that's all I'm going to do) SO FAR, COURTS HAVEN'T BEEN KIND TO BIG COMPANIES IN THESE DISPUTES VOLKSWAGON LOST OUT TO A SMALL INTERNET COMPANY CALLED VIRTUAL WORKS, FOR THE CONTROL OF THE URLV-W-DOT-NET Tat trend of small buisnesses victories could come to a halt with a recent law passed by congress to stop what's known as Cybersquatting That's when someone registers the trademark of well known companies, and tries to sell the right to it for big money (I certainly don't have any intention of going to 'TOYS R US' and saying I have R US and I'll sell it to you for 100 million) WARMACK SAYS IT WOULD BE SILLY FOR TOYS R US TO KEEP BOTJHERING HER, SINCE HER WEB SITE IS NOT A MONEY MAKING VENTURE RUSS RHEA NEWS 36 SOUTHWES
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