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News Trademarks

Microsoft to launch new publication? Company files trademark for Latinzine

Latinzine

It looks like Microsoft may have something in the works for a new publication, focusing perhaps on Latin America.

On January 24, 2012, Microsoft filed a trademark application (Serial Number: 85524272) with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for “Latinzine”.

The goods and services listed in the application include “streaming of video material via the Internet and mobile networks” and “providing on-line magazines accessible via the Internet and mobile networks in the fields of lifestyle, news, entertainment and sports; On-line journals, namely, blogs featuring content in the fields of lifestyle, news, entertainment and sports“.

Microsoft has opened two major technology centers in Latin America in the past six months. 

In January, the company inaugurated a major technology center in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  In October 2011, it inaugurated its first Latin America MTC in Mexico City.

At the time of this story, Microsoft has made no announcement about Latinzine.

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News

Google quietly launches Women Entrepreneurs on the Web initiative

Women Entrepreneurs on the Web initiative

Google employee Pooja Srinivas appears to be one of the people behind Google’s latest web initiative called “Women Entrepreneurs on the Web” (or WeOW, for short).

Srinivas, a resident of India, registered several domains earlier this month like Womenentrepreneursontheweb.com (Whois), which transferred to Google’s ownership this past week and a website is already up and running.

What is the Women Entrepreneurs on the Web initiative?

Well, according to the site, “Women Entrepreneurs on the Web is an initiative aimed at helping women-owned businesses grow their online presence. This initiative is currently being piloted in India.”

Any women-owned business is eligible for the program, as long as one of the founders is a woman and as part of the program, the people involved will learn to use various web-based technologies in their day to day business.

Google has been launching a number of initiatives online in the past year aimed at getting more people online, like the Google-led program “Get Your Business Online” dedicated to helping local businesses in various U.S. states.

Discussion: @DashBurst

Categories
Disputes National Arbitration Forum News Video Games

Microsoft files complaint over another fake Halo 4 Beta site [UPDATED]

Halo 4 Beta scam

Halo 4 Beta scam

[Update 2 on March 7, 2012:. Microsoft Corporation won the rights to Halo4Beta.net. On March 6, 2012, a single-member panel ordered the domain name transferred from Edward Lee (the respondent) to Microsoft (the complainant).]

[Update 1 on March 5, 2012:. Microsoft is going after another phony Halo 4 Beta site.  A complaint has now been filed (Case Number: 1432610) with the National Arbitration Forum over Halo4Beta.biz (screenshot)  The domain name is owned by a resident of Illinois according to Whois records.  I’ve reached out the owner for more information and will update this post if I hear back.] 

Original story on January 28, 2012:. Nearly two weeks ago, David Ellis of 343 Industries, the company that is developing Halo 4, warned Halo fans through Twitter that if you see a site claiming to allow you to sign up for a Halo 4 beta  it’s a fake.

The site in question was hosted at Halo4beta.net (pictured above), and now Microsoft’s legal team is taking action by going after the domain name.

A complaint (Case No. 1426106) has officially been filed with the National Arbitration Forum.

Apparently wanting to avoid legal troubles after gaming sites went abuzz with David Ellis’ warning, the operator of Halo4beta.net took the website down, but that’s not going to be enough for Microsoft.

Microsoft can fully expect to have the National Arbitration Panel order the name be transferred, in what should be an open-and-shut case.

Stay tuned as I’ll be posting the details of the decision as soon as they’re available, likely no more than a few weeks from now.

Halo 4 has a holiday season 2012 release date.

Last June, Microsoft acquired the domain name Halo4.com for an undisclosed amount of cash, rather than filing a domain dispute.   When I asked the seller about the selling price/negotiations with Microsoft, the seller told me via e-mail, “The only term of the agreement that I can disclose is that I can’t disclose any terms of the agreement.”

Discussion: GameSpot, Kotaku, Joystiq, GameSpot, Hard OCP, Game Informer, Eurogamer.net, VentureBeat, Blue’s News, ITProPortal, Game Rant, VG24/7, Digital Spy, Piki Geek, Strategy Informer, The Escapist, Neowin.net, WebProNews and 411mania

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Disputes National Arbitration Forum News

Rosemcgowan.com domain name ordered transferred to Rose McGowan

Rose McGowan in Scream

Actress Rose McGowan filed a complaint (Case Number: 1419570) over the domain name <rosemcgowan.com> with the National Arbitration Forum back in December 2011.

Now a three-member panel has ordered the name transferred to Rose McGowan, after finding the domain identical to the common law service mark in her name, that the respondent had no rights or legitimate interests in the domain, and that the domain had been registered and is being used in bad faith.

Respondent is using the website . . . to redirect Internet users to a website that contains information and advertisements . . . . Respondent presumably profits from this use of the confusingly similar disputed domain name in the form of click-through fees.  Additionally, Respondent’s use of Complainant’s mark creates a likelihood of confusion regarding the source of the content resolving from the disputed domain name.  The Panel finds this is an attempt by Respondent to profit from the goodwill associated with Complainant’s mark.  Therefore, the Panel finds Respondent’s attempt to profit from its use of the confusingly similar disputed domain name constitutes registration and use in bad faith pursuant to Policy ¶4(b)(iv).

The full details of the ruling have been released and can be read online here.

Categories
News Video Games

SkylandersPatriots.com domain registration by Activision adds to mystery

Skylanders Patriots

Skylanders Patriots

Almost a week after I first reported that Activision had purchased several “Skylanders Giants” domain names like skylandersgiants.com and skylandersgiantsgame.com, it appears the video game company has registered another new Skylanders domain, further adding to the mystery of the company’s future plans for the Skylanders brand.

On January 24, it appears Activision registered the domain name SkylandersPatriots.com (Whois), through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, a service that over half the Fortune 100 rely on for online brand protection.

The “Skylanders Giants” story created quite a buzz among gaming and tech sites like Joystiq, Wired.com, and Giant Bomb, but as of today, there has been no official word from Activision.

At the time of this story, skylanderspatriots.com does not resolve to a website.

[Update 1 on January 26, 2012:  Reporting Gamer suggests the registrations may be for a Skylanders sports game pitting the Giants vs Patriots.]

Discussion: Wired UK