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Just thought you should know- no affiliation with "namestake.com"

In a message dated 1/28/99 10:01:54 AM Eastern Standard Time, AOL News writes:

<< Estee Lauder Lawsuit Illustrates Need for Online Brand Identity Management
 
      BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 1999--
Namestake.com's Bannerstake (www.namestake.com) Enables Marketers
 
     to Protect Trademarks and Brands from Misrepresentation Online
 
      Estee Lauder, the cosmetic and fragrance giant, has filed the first
lawsuit against Excite, a major search engine, for trademark infringement over
a key-word purchase. Estee Lauder claims that Excite sold the advertising
rights to its trademarked key words - "Estee Lauder" and "Origins"- to a
competitor, without consent. The Estee Lauder vs. Excite lawsuit is the
beginning of what could predictably be a landslide of lawsuits generated by a
largely unregulated online advertising industry.
 
      How do key-word searches work? When a user types in "Estee Lauder" or
"Origins" on Excite, the search engine serves up the banner advertisement for
The Fragrance Counter Inc., the company that purchased these key words. As a
result, The Fragrance Counter, which has no connection to Estee Lauder,
capitalizes on Estee Lauder's well-known brand name to draw consumers to the
Fragrance Counter's Web site.
 
 Other examples:
 
      --When a user types in "Audi" on a major search engine, a "Volvo" banner
ad is served up because Volvo has purchased the key word "Audi" on that search
engine
 
      --When a user types in "Levis" on a major search engine, a "Gap" banner
ad is served up because Gap has purchased the key word "Levi" on that search
engine
 
      Solution: Namestake.com's Bannerstake (www.namestake.com) helps
marketers monitor and protect the integrity of their brand names in
conjunction with the common practice of keyword purchases on search engines. A
free tool, Bannerstake, provides users with a display of the banner
advertisements associated with a keyword purchased on each of the major search
engines.
 
      Tom Barrett, vice president of T&T and general manager of namestake.com,
has tremendous insight on trademarks and domain names based on more than 15
years of high-tech and trademark experience. namestake.com is part of Thomson
& Thomson, a subsidiary of The Thomson Corporation, the world leader in
trademark and copyright research. Barrett is available for comment.
  >>



Estee Lauder Lawsuit Illustrates Need for Online Brand Identity Management

     BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 1999--
Namestake.com's Bannerstake (www.namestake.com) Enables Marketers

    to Protect Trademarks and Brands from Misrepresentation Online

     Estee Lauder, the cosmetic and fragrance giant, has filed the first
lawsuit against Excite, a major search engine, for trademark infringement over
a key-word purchase. Estee Lauder claims that Excite sold the advertising
rights to its trademarked key words - "Estee Lauder" and "Origins"- to a
competitor, without consent. The Estee Lauder vs. Excite lawsuit is the
beginning of what could predictably be a landslide of lawsuits generated by a
largely unregulated online advertising industry.

     How do key-word searches work? When a user types in "Estee Lauder" or
"Origins" on Excite, the search engine serves up the banner advertisement for
The Fragrance Counter Inc., the company that purchased these key words. As a
result, The Fragrance Counter, which has no connection to Estee Lauder,
capitalizes on Estee Lauder's well-known brand name to draw consumers to the
Fragrance Counter's Web site.

Other examples:

     --When a user types in "Audi" on a major search engine, a "Volvo" banner
ad is served up because Volvo has purchased the key word "Audi" on that search
engine

     --When a user types in "Levis" on a major search engine, a "Gap" banner
ad is served up because Gap has purchased the key word "Levi" on that search
engine

     Solution: Namestake.com's Bannerstake (www.namestake.com) helps marketers
monitor and protect the integrity of their brand names in conjunction with the
common practice of keyword purchases on search engines. A free tool,
Bannerstake, provides users with a display of the banner advertisements
associated with a keyword purchased on each of the major search engines.

     Tom Barrett, vice president of T&T and general manager of namestake.com,
has tremendous insight on trademarks and domain names based on more than 15
years of high-tech and trademark experience. namestake.com is part of Thomson
& Thomson, a subsidiary of The Thomson Corporation, the world leader in
trademark and copyright research. Barrett is available for comment.

CONTACT: 

FitzGerald Communications Inc.        

Nicole Maloney and Laurie Vaccarino   

(617) 494-9500                        

nmaloney@fitzcomm.com                 

lvaccarino@fitzcomm.com               

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