And a day later after being pressed via the internet by bike riding protesters, VeloNews offered a backdown. Sus!
What's New: Mon Oct 30, 1995
VELONET TRADEMARK THREATENED!
Greetings VeloNet Lovers,
The legal representatives of Inside Communications, publishers of
VELONEWS and Inside Triathlon, have written to me insisting that we
cease to use the VeloNet trademark to describe the online services
provided on cycling.org. They claim that they are unaware of any other
"bicycling related product, publication, or company using VELO alone
or in combination with other elements or words." Consequently, my use
of the term VeloNet "dilutes the distinctiveness of Inside
Communications' family of trademarks and creates the erroneous
impression among consumers and others in the industry that there is
some relationship between you and your VeloNet service and Inside
Communications and/or its various publications."
As most of you know, VeloNet is a purely volunteer operation managed
in my spare time. No money is charged for any of the services provided
and no sponsorship is sought or accepted. Moreover, I recently
declined an offer from a commercial online service to buy the VeloNet
trademark.
I have nothing against the folks at VELONEWS and Inside Triathlon and
sincerely hope that we can resolve this issue amicably. At the same
time, given the time I have put into the VeloNet project, and the
usefulness it has provided to tens of thousands of cyber-cyclists, I
am reluctant to cave into their legal posturing.
If you are a copyright lawyer, or have legal experience in the field
of trademarks and copyrights, I would greatly appreciate your advice
in this matter.
Inside Communications, VELONEWS and Inside Triathlon can be contacted
as follows:
E-mail
velonews or velowww@aol.com
insidetri@aol.com
Phone
1-800-825-8793 (Inside Triathlon)
1-800-888-6087 (VELONEWS)
Fax
1-303-444-6788
Post
1830 North 55th Street
Boulder, CO 80301-2703
Thanks!
------------------------------------------------------------------->
Patrick Goebel | voice: (415) 321-2052 ------ __o
CASBS/GCN/VeloNet | fax: (415) 321-1192 ------- _`\<,_
202 Junipero Serra Blvd. | ---- (*)/ (*)
Stanford, CA 94305 | High Speed Digital Commuter
http://cycling.org |
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