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Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

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April 25, 2002updated 22 Nov 2022 12:56pm

Cyberview 260402

By Press Gazette

Hello! magazine has lost its bid to take control of the hello.com domain

so it will still be running its website from hellomagazine.com. The Spanish publisher issued a claim to the World Intellectual Property Organisation, which deals with domain names ending with .com and can order names to be transferred if there are copyright or other trademark infringements. Currently the name is owned by US internet venture company Idealab – it was originally registered in 1996. Hello! said it became aware of the domain name in July 2000 and asked Idealab to provide a link to the Hello! website from hello.com, which it refused to do. Hello! claimed in its appeal to WIPO that Idealab is using the name in bad faith. Domain name disputes have gone hand in hand with the growth of the internet as speculators often took names that were specific to brands and tried to extract money from the brand owners. With generic names it has been difficult to take control of a name, so it did seem unlikely that Hello! would win. It will be interesting to see if it will take any action over hello.co.uk, which is owned by a small UK computer company. And will OK! try to take control of OK.com? The domain is owned by a group promoting "positive media choices" for children, helping people to avoid material unsuitable for family viewing.

 

If you are looking for fast internet access from home, then broadband access is what you need. Now it has finally become more affordable and less complicated to set up. Freeserve has linked up with Dixons, PC World, The Link and Currys to offer the special modem and kit needed to go broadband. The package costs £84.99 plus a monthly subscription of £29.99, with no connection charge. In the past modems have cost more than £150 plus £100 just for connection to the service. Expect to see other deals emerge as suppliers battle for customers.

 

Meanwhile, if you want unlimited internet access from home using regular phonelines, Virgin.net has reduced its monthly subscription from £14.99 to £13.49.

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It is good to see that the Sunday Mirror (www.sundaymirror.co.uk) and the Sunday People (www.people.co.uk) websites finally update on time on Sunday, but someone should change the "Picture of the Week" that appears on the right-hand side of the home page. A week after she had been buried, the latest was still that "The Queen Mother has died, The Queen was at her mother’s bedside at Royal Lodge, Windsor when she passed away at 3.15 yesterday afternoon."

Leslie Bunder

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

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