Free the Internet ?

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Date: Mon, 20 Mar 1995 08:30:55 -0500
To: [e-mail]
From: Tony Rutkowski <[e-mail]>
Subject: Free the Internet
Cc: [e-mail]


This morning's Washington Post Business Section
ran the following p.3 story:

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IT'S AN INTER-KNOT

As cyber pioneers scramble to put down stakes in the
digital work, a more old-fashioned squabble is taking
place over the right to use the name "Internet."

At odds are two Reston-based organizations.  On one
side: the Internet Society, a nonprofit organization with
the aim of making the on-line world a place where everyone
can play.

On the other is a network with a membership of
about 520 financial institutions, which began using the
name "Internet Inc." in 1984.  It registered its "Internet"
trademark word in 1989 with the Patent and Trademark
Office.

According to David O'Connor, chief executive of
Internet Inc., the group adopted the name because it
seemed to reflect the nature of their business - namely,
linking financial institutions to support electronic
banking.  Internet Inc., for instance, owns the "Most"
ATM network.

The organization only uses the "I" word as its corporate
name - not as the name of any product.  Still, it 
diligently defends its trademark when others use it in a
way that might create "the potential for confusion,
conflict and damages," O'Connor said.

That's where things get sticky.

The Internet Society, you see, wants the Patent Office
to rescind the trademark.

"The Internet, as a technology and as a global network,
was well established even in 1984," argued Tony
Rutkowski, executive director of the Internet Society.
"It's always been a generic term."

The Patent Office is reviewing the dispute.  Until it is
resolved, the department has suspended decisions on whether
others can register trademarks with the word "Internet."

"It's sheer folly to think that someone holding a trademark
could keep all the people in a good cross section of the 
world from using what has essentially become a household
word," Rutkowski said.

Perhaps the conflict itself will spawn a sub-business.
Imagine the T-shirts and bumper stickers: "Free the
Internet!"

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