Digital Equipment(DEC) has filed suit in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts against the Campbell, California-based multimedia software company AltaVista Technology Incorporated, (ATI) over use of the AltaVista name, which is the trademark of DEC's popular search engine.
The Maynard, Massachusetts-based Digital bought the name from ATI last March and preceded to license limited use of the AltaVista name back to ATI. Yet, in the suit filed yesterday, Digital said ATI has breached the licensing agreement and has infringed on its trademark rights since then.
Digital--which sells several software products and services using AltaVista as a brand name--said it licensed ATI to use the word "AltaVista" only in its corporate name and Web site address but not to in the names of products and services. The company maintains ATI has breached the agreement in statements published on its Web site and by adorning the page with a link to Digital's AltaVista search engine. DEC, in the lawsuit, said Internet
surfers and advertisers are confusing ATI's site with DEC's AltaVista site.
"ATI's actions create a strong likelihood that many consumers will presume that ATI, not Digital, provides this Internet search service," Digital wrote in the legal papers. Digital is seeking monetary damages for trademark infringement and hopes to prevent ATI from further "infringing and diluting" the AltaVista name.
The company has asked the Court to terminate its licensing agreement and order ATI to transfer ownership of
the "altavista.com" domain name to Digital.
ATI said it will issue a statement later today or tomorrow.
ATI's Web page allows users to search the Net using Digital's search engine, and includes information for downloading ATI's multimedia and
Internet software. The page also has a message for potential advertisers, under a banner advertisement, promising them a chance to "reach millions every month!" DEC does not sell advertising space on its AltaVista site.
The popular AltaVista search engine developed by Digital as a showcase for its technology receives as many as 20 million visitors a day, the company said.
Join the conversation
Comment replyThe posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks is prohibited. Click here to review our Terms of Use.
MIT creates a simulation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Spacewar. A relic of the early days of minicomputers, it was one of the first computer video games and set the stage for many others, including Asteroids.
Company requests ban on sales in the U.S. of the Samsung-made showcase for Google's heavily touted Ice Cream Sandwich version of the Android operating system, saying it violates four Apple patents.
AstrologyDating.com is a new site that tries to find you your perfect love on the basis of birth date, birth time, and birthplace. But will it tell you the truth? Well, it asks you to pay only per match. So I tried it.
The Web fulminates when it is revealed that executives from VEVO--vehement music industry antipirates--played a pirated stream of an NFL playoff game at a party. VEVO claims it left its Wi-Fi unsupervised. Have we heard that argument before?
Tor's "obfsproxy" technology would make encrypted data look innocuous and let it dodge government censors. That could help citizens in Iran reach blocked sites as antigovernment protests reportedly loom.
iPhones and Angry Birds aside, the arcade endures. Crave pays a visit--and offers up an homage to games and gamers of years past and a tribute to the possibly endangered, but not yet dead, atmosphere of the arcade itself.
Join the conversation