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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (30018)	7/28/1998 7:35:00 PM
From: John Koligman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

El, Here is the article from the WSJ on the AltaVista deal.... Price Tag for Domain Name Is Believed to Be a Record An INTERACTIVE JOURNAL News Roundup Compaq Computer Corp. has acquired the rights to the domain name "altavista.com" in what's believed to be the biggest payment ever made for an Internet address. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Compaq paid Jack Marshall, of San Jose, Calif., $3.35 million for the rights to altavista.com. The deal would settle a two-year fight between Mr. Marshall and the computer giant, which got the popular Alta Vista search engine as part of its acquisition of Digital Equipment Corp. Mr. Marshall bought the rights to altavista.com in January 1994 with an eye toward using it for his start-up, Alta Vista Technology Inc. In November 1995, Digital launched the Alta Vista search engine, using the domain name altavista.digital.com. But the address was confusing and many searchers ended up at Mr. Marshall's site, overloading his computer system. Mr. Marshall agreed to sell the Alta Vista trademark to Digital, but kept the right to use the name on software and his Web site. However, in late 1996, Digital sued Mr. Marshall for the rights to altavista.com on grounds that Mr. Marshall had violated the earlier agreement by failing to state that his site was not the Alta Vista search engine. In March 1997, a federal judge in Boston told Mr. Marshall to change his logo and to add a disclaimer, but didn't rule on the domain name itself. Chad Hill of Hill Communications, a spokesman for Mr. Marshall, said Alta Vista is preparing to change both its name and its primary domain name to PhotoLoft.com. The company offers Internet photo-album services and storage for digital images. Mr. Hill acknowledged the deal between Compaq and Mr. Marshall, but wouldn't confirm the payment amount, noting that the deal included an agreement not to discuss the terms. But sources familiar with the deal said the $3.35 million figure was in the ballpark. Some question remains about the exact status of the deal, however. Mr. Hill said that Alta Vista had signed an agreement Friday or Saturday settling the issue, but a spokesman for Compaq said that no final contract had been signed. Trading in Web addresses isn't unusual -- a name can be initially purchased for only $100 -- but most addresses are sold for far lower prices than what Mr. Marshall apparently will receive. Such speculation has cooled of late as many holders of domain names have found companies and individuals unwilling to pay big bucks. In February, Internet-media company CNET Inc. disclosed it wrote off $700,000 in "unused domain names" in the fourth quarter. The company had purchased nearly 100 addresses for $5,000 to $85,000 each. A court ruled against the purchase of trademarked names in 1996, but generic names remain fair game. The Alta Vista domain name wasn't trademarked when Mr. Marshall bought the rights to it. --Lisa Bransten of the Interactive Journal contributed to this article. I'm still trying to hold 30 for you!!!! John