Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac: Not for Sale/Another.not.for.sale (Australia).iso/hold me in your arms/ES Cyberama/MTV sues Curry

Internet Message Format | 1994-06-03 | 9KB

From:     [e-mail] (Adam Curry)
Subject:  MTV SUES CURRY
Date:     10 May 1994 03:50:44 -0400
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                      [IMAGE] MTV SUES CURRY


New Jersey,
May 10 1994

I had planned to keep the following quiet until more information was
available, but since several journalists have already caught wind of
it, I decided to get it out into the open so my side of the story is
heard as well.

The domain I maintain and operate on the Internet, mtv.com was founded
approximately one year ago. At that time I registered mtv.com with the
InterNIC, purely because it was a cool address to have, and it was
available. What a great "vanity plate"!

The site quickly became a frequently accessed "hangout" on the net,
with an average of 35000 accesses daily from Mosaic clients alone.
During the start up months I had many conversations with executives at
MTV Networks about my endeavours, which btw, were all financed out of
my own pocket, and vps from MTV Programming as well as Viacom New
Media were aware of what I was doing on the internet, and although
they stated "MTV has no interest in the internet" they gave me their
blessing and supported my efforts.

This was enforced when I set up several email accounts on mtv.com for
use in MTV's on-air programming. Ever since the summer of '93,
[e-mail] was used for trivia quiz questions, that were then
aired on MTV's "Most Wanted" a program I hosted at the time.
Solicitations were made on the air, and the address was shown on the
screen. For MTV's annual Valentines video dedications, viewers were
offered the choice of calling in their dedications, or sending them
via email to [e-mail].

I never charged MTV Networks for this service, I purely saw it as a
cool feature to introduce to MTV's programming, spreading the
"gospel", so to speak.

Then I started to get a lot of press about mtv.com, and some people
started to wake up at 1515 Broadway (MTV's HQ in New York City). And I
was served with a "Cease and desist" on the use of mtv.com. MTV's
attourneys claimed that there could be "confusion" for users of the
internet, when connecting to *anything* that had the letters mtv in
the adress, and then receiving music and entertainment information. I
was obviously hurt by this move, but did see what point they were
driving at, an asked if we could settle this matter amicably.

The situation cooled down for a couple of months, but when I resigned
on-air from my job as a VJ, which MTV chose not to air btw, things
started to get ugly.

Long story short, MTV Networks has filed a lawsuit against me, for
copyright infringement of their "trademark", that being their "MTV"
call letters, as well as having information onlie that was MTVN
"property". In this case they are refferring to several press releases
I put up on mtv.com, such a an announcement about Beavis and
Butthead's "experience" cd release. Understand that MTVN sent me these
releases over their own internal computer network for this very
purpose! Again, I was only doing this to promote the channel, not for
my own personal gain..after all...mtv.com is free access for all, no
charge.

Throughout all of this I have offered to maintain the site
specifically for mtv, but again they said "we're not interested".
Of course I have no problem whatsoever removing all refrences to MTV
Networks and it's projects from mtv.com, no that I don't work there
anymore gives me even more reason to want to do this, but the kicker
is they are moving for an injunction to make me stop using the
internet address mtv.com!

This is ofcourse totally unacceptable, I registered the domain name,
and I don't plan on giving it up. Sure MTV and their parent company
Viacom have a vast legal team, but david also nailed goliath, so I
have faith. In the long run, everyone knows that the only *true*
winners will be the lawyers.

There are many different viewpoints on this situation, but I feel that
the use of mtv in an addressing scheme can't be seen as an
infringement of intellectulal propert laws, and a search of the
InterNIC database shows at least 15 domain names registered with mtv
in the address. Irony is that I incorporated a company called ON RAMP,
Inc (tm) and onramp.com was already registered to someone else, but
I'm not suing them :)

It appears to me that MTV has their mind set on the address mtv.com,
maybe not for now, but posibly for future use, and I feel extremely
used, in that I built up quite an audience for that address, and they
are basically saying "thank you very much, you may go".

A pre-motion hearing is scheduled for this thursday morning at 11am,
wit the honourable Judge McKenna presiding, in an attempt to get an
injunction to make me stop using the address mtv.com. I will update
the situation as it unfolds.

Adam Curry,
[e-mail]


_______________


From: [e-mail] (Adam Curry)
Subject: MTV v. Curry Update
Date: 13 May 1994 01:02:46 -0400


New Jersey May 12, 1994

As promised, here is an update on the proceedings in the lawsuit
filed against me by MTV Networks on May 5, 1994.

Today (May 12) a pre-conference was held with in the chambers of
Judge McKenna in New York district court.

MTV Networks was represented by three attorneys, one of whom
claimed to be an "Internet Expert." I was in attendance with my
attorney Joseph Donley, who I have retained for this case.

Obviously I can't go into great detail about the discussions, but I can
give you the general status of the suit.

For those who do not know, a pre-conference's function is to bring
the Judge up to speed on the case, by hearing each party's side of the
story, to determine if a hearing should be scheduled for a possible
injunction, and suit proceedings. At the end of this conference,
parties are asked to go out into the "hallway" and try to settle the
matter outside the court, thus saving everyone time and money.

This is where it got interesting, (for me, a court novice, it was like
watching a 3-D version of LA-Law).

I think MTV and I can sit down and work out most of the dispute.
Mainly, removal of certain "documents" from mtv.com, such as the
Beavis and Butthead Album press release, and a quicktime movie of
me screwing up on the air. Also my intent to move the gopher and
WWW servers to a new (to be announced) domain name, will remove
the possibility of what they claim to be "confusion" amongst
internet users when connecting to my domain. Confusing in the sense
that the site would have anything to do with MTV Networks. (Despite
numerous disclamers)

There is one major problem, where we could run into a dispute:

Ownership of the domain name "mtv.com"

MTV's attorneys made it clear that they feel their client has the
"right" to that domain name, and that neither Adam Curry, or anyone
else for that matter may use it, and that use of that name is a
violation of the MTV Trademark.

I informed them that I do not intend to give mtv.com to them, or
retract my registration of it. I intend to keep the mtv.com server on
the net as well, for use as a "notification" that my address has
changed. This will assure that all net users who connect to mtv.com
in its current state, are made aware of the new address. It would be
unthinkable that we just changed overnight. That would be the
equivalent of moving to a new town without leaving a forwarding
address or phone number.

Above all, I simply will not be "bullied" into giving up something
that belongs to me, no matter how powerful MTV and Viacom may be.

It's obvious that domain name registration is the issue here. It gives
all of us on the net a lot to think about:

If MTV wins the case, what happens to other domain names
registered to individuals who have no affiliation with a company or
entity by the same, or similar name?

What will happen to the hundreds, if not thousands of machines on
the net registered with "mtv" in their domain name structure?

If your home phone number includes the numbers 688 in succession
(=mtv) would this ruling pertain to that as well?

The irony of all of this is that I incorporated a company 6 months
ago and trademarked it's name "On Ramp, Inc." (tm)
After going through that process I discovered that the domain name
onramp.com was already registered to someone else. I was
disappointed, but never sought legal action, because that person was
first.

I can't begin to express my gratitude for the thousands of reactions I
have received from the internet community regarding this matter,
From attorneys offering their services pro-bono, to offers for
funding. Quite frankly, I don't think MTV realizes that they are
barking up a really big tree.

I will continue to update the situation on appropriate newsgoups
(feel free to crosspost) and on mtv.com. I will also have a mailing
list set up by the end of the week, for discussions regarding this
matter.

Thank you for your time and concern.

Adam Curry