With domain names now reportedly selling for around the $3m mark (CI No 3,472)and Microsoft shelling out $5m for the Internet Explorer brand name (CI No 3,445), competition for good trademarks has, predictably, picked up. The latest claims issue from San Francisco-based consultancy E-Media and from Zap Futures, an online brokerage owned by Chicago futures merchant LFG LLC. E-Media, an internet consultancy established in 1993, sent a cease and desist letter to Ziff-Davis and IDG on August 10. The two publishers are poised to launch a joint venture, a magazine called eMediaweekly built on the bones of the venerable but defunct MacWeek. MacWeek publisher Colin Crawford told Wired that his attorneys conducted a trademark search before selecting the name, and concluded that there is no problem of infringement. E- Media founder Ken McCarthy disagrees, saying his trademark explicitly covers magazines. We have published, and we want to publish in the future, he says, we don’t move at the speed of a multi-million dollar company but that doesn’t mean we are not entitled to our name. It is our name, after all. Meanwhile, Zap Futures has filed a suit claiming internet pretender Zap Corp has infringed its trademark by offering brokerage services through its Zap.Com web site. Specifically, Zap Futures is concerned that Zap.Com offers daily stocks, a stocksheet and a starting point for web investors. These compete directly with services offered through Zap Futures, making it quite likely that consumers will be even more confused than they are already.
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