Friday, February 26, 1999
Website infringes upon university’s trademark
INTERNET: Using ‘ucla’ on webpage generates trouble for
alumnus
By Jaime Wilson-Chiru
Daily Bruin Contributor
With the Internet recently emerging as a powerful intellectual
force, legal ramifications have yet to catch up.
Regulations regarding what materials may be posted on the
Internet can be obscure, but if someone uses a registered
trademark, such as "UCLA," without permission, the legal backlash
can be devastating.
Bruin.net is a website that offers links to forums, personals, a
postcard page and the Daily Bruin, but the site’s originator may be
using the UCLA trademark illegally.
Marty McKolskey, the website’s creator and a UCLA alumnus,
claims he created the site for UCLA students.
"It primarily offers a place for UCLA students to communicate
online," McKolskey said.
"Originally, the site had the UCLA name on it," he added. But a
few months ago, McKolskey received a letter from UCLA instructing
him to remove the trademarked logo from the site.
"We sent a cease and desist letter," said Patricia Jasper, UCLA
campus counsel. Jasper is responsible for regulating the use of the
UCLA trademark.
"We inform the person who is misusing the name that it’s a
criminal offense, according the the criminal education code,"
Jasper said.
McKolskey was angered by the letter, but decided to change the
site, removing the UCLA logo.
"I was angry for a day, but it’s sort of amusing … if you have
a website you really are not allowed to mention your school," he
said.
McKolskey added he constantly reads the online news to keep up
with Internet laws and regulations. "The laws are extraordinarily
obscure in every respect," he added.
McKolskey said he thought the site was changed enough to abide
by Internet policy, but Jasper still believes the UCLA trademark is
being misused and recently sent a second letter.
"There is still a misuse of the UCLA trademark. We may ask that
additional steps be taken," Jasper said, because the URL still
includes "ucla."
In general, if a website owner fails to comply with the
university’s wishes, the owner could face a lawsuit.
"We’ve had people stalling, but so far we’ve been pretty
successful," Jasper said. "If we have to sue someone, we’ll do
it."
Although Bruin.net was meant to offer students a form of
communication, it eventually transformed into a testing ground for
potential websites.
"It evolved onto a place where we test out programs," McKolskey
said.
Jasper doesn’t like that the site uses the university’s name to
boost the number of hits the page receives.
"He’s using the UCLA name to attract visitors to the site," said
Jasper.
The link from Bruin.net to the postcard site became very
popular, generating large amounts of revenue.
"The postcard site pays all of my bills," McKolskey said.
By having students try out the features on Bruin.net, McKolskey
decides whether or not to make the feature into a separate
site.
If all goes well, he predicts the postcard site, which currently
receives about 1.5 million visitors a week, will generate a $1
million a year from the advertisements posted on the page.
McKolskey hoped to provide other services on Bruin.net, such as
homepages, chatrooms and guestbooks in hopes of gaining
visitors.
But if McKolskey doesn’t make the proper changes, UCLA’s office
of legal affairs may try to shut the site down.
"In the last year, this has happened about four or five times,"
said Jasper. "We rely on other people to bring these misuses to our
attention."
UCLA’s most famous case of online trademark infringement
happened in the spring of 1998, when campus counsel discovered that
someone set up a website at www.ucla.com.
"It was a porno site," Jasper said.
She said that someone surfing the web accidentally typed in
"ucla.com" instead of "ucla.edu" for the address.
"He figured, correctly, that the pornography was something we
weren’t involved in," Jasper said. "We not only got the site shut
down, but we are now the owners of ucla.com."
Because website owners are usually compliant, campus counsel
hasn’t sued any of them for trademark infringement. But it is often
difficult to track down site owners.
Jasper’s office works with UCLA’s Marketing and Communication
Strategies to find information on the site owner.
"If we find a report of an infringement or an abuse, we provide
information about the domain owner," said Mike Stone, director of
marketing and communication strategies.
He usually uses the Network Solutions website, which provides
listings of owners of web addresses.
"Once we know that information and determine that it’s an
infringement, the campus counsel gets on it."
If McKolskey wants to evade legal retribution, he’ll have to
make more changes to Bruin.net or completely abandon the page, said
Jasper.
"We’ll be following up on it," she
added.http://ucla.bruin.net
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