VeloNews Backs Down

The power of the people on the internet seems to be a force to reckon with.
Major Taylor received this from VeloNews yesterday.


Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 14:43:53 -0800
From: Charles Pelkey, Technical Editor, VeloNews
Subject: Re: Playing fair
To: Maj.Taylor@pailin.com (Pailin, Jim)

You wrote:
> no way to make friends in cyberspace. Your lawyers should reevaluate
> this decision. Seriously.

Mmmmm you have a talent for understatement....

Anyway, here's the company response. They would appreciate it if you'd
consider sending it out with your next update. If you add a note, tell them
to stop the onslaught of e-mail, since the powers-that-are already got the
point. Thanks!

Charles

=========================================================

PLAYING FAIR? VELONEWS RESPONDS

Our electronic "mailbox," full of consistently negative messages from
people we normally consider friends, is enough to show us that we were
wrong. In an effort to protect our trade mark, we took an all too
heavy-handed approach to the providers of a very popular on-line service
called VeloNet. We need to explain to our friends just how this happened.

A few months ago, we at VeloNews began receiving letters and e-mail
messages about our various "Velo"-related on-line services, including an
on-line service called "VeloNet." Understandably, we assumed the
respondents were being confused with our own VeloNews page on the world
wide web. Upon ascertaining that there was indeed an on-line service named
VeloNet, a letter was sent to VeloNet by our trademark lawyer, requesting
more information on the service. This was done because VeloNews seeks to
preserve its trademark rights within the bicycle-publication and
information-services businesses. After the request was rebuffed, our lawyer
again wrote to VeloNet, requesting information. That letter included an
incorrect statement, saying we were "aware of no other bicycling-related
product, publication, or company using Velo alone or in combination with
other elements or words. The sentence unfortunately omitted the phrase
"communication-related," and that it was referring to such companies in the
United States.

That letter was subsequently posted on the Internet, and as a result we
have been overwhelmed by hundreds of e-mail letters on the subject, most of
them criticizing the incorrect sentence in the letter, as well as the
heavy-handed tone used. We accept that criticism, and in hindsight we
should have handled this situation differently, to avoid the public
misunderstanding we helped create.

We have never sought to stop VeloNet from providing an on-line service, but
simply to eliminate any confusion between our respective cycling
information services.