Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Domains

Domain: purdueonline.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to purdueonline.com.

Stories · 1

  1. What to do when your Domain is Threatened?

    Ask · Internet · · posted by Cliff · from the beating-down-the-DNS-bully dept. · 251 comments
    ttyp0 writes "I am a student at Purdue University. Three years ago, I decided to purchase the domain PURDUEONLINE.COM and use it for whatever reason. Just recently my ISP received a letter from Purdue's Executive Vice President threatening legal action if I do not transfer ownership of my domain to the University's control. (More below.)

    "My website offers free services to students, two of which are web based email and a student directory with full search capability yet Purdue claims that my domain infringes on the school's trademarked name. My question is, what legal rights do I have to keep my domain name? Any suggestions, or even a good lawyer whom I can call?"

    Things like this make me also worry about the new cybersquatting laws that may end up putting the little-guy-with-the-neat-domain between a rock and a hard place.

    ttyp0 continues: "After investigation I found that Purdue had only two names trademarked, which are "Purdue University" and "Purdue Boilermakers". I clearly state that we are not affiliated with Purdue University. There are other similar sites which use the word "Purdue" in the same fashion, such as, PURDUEPEOPLE.COM, PURDUECHAT.COM, and PURDUEDATING.COM to name a few...