Web Round Up – W/E 28/02/97

Despite the well publicised Harrods’ domain name court case *There Is Still Only One Harrods, brand-owners are still failing to protect their brands in cyber-space. Research, carried out by New Media Age , has shown that it is still possible to register domains like adidas.co.uk and eastenders.co.uk. Although the court ruled in favour of Harrods in the dispute over the shop’s domain name, UK law is still not clear on domain name hijacking. As with many legal battles, the richest party is most likely to be victorious.

Still on the subject of domain names, Reuters has reported that the International Ad Hoc Committee, which includes members of Internet standards-setting bodies and legal and communications experts, has proposed 7 new ‘top-level domains’. If the plan goes ahead, addresses ending in ‘web’, ‘store’, ‘info’, ‘firm’, ‘arts’, ‘rec’ and ‘nom’ will join ‘com’, ‘edu’, ‘gov’ and other top level domains.

Adhunter UK Ltd has pre-empted the recommendations of a report into regional newspapers in the digital age Internet Poses Biggest Threat To Regional Press. The consortium of 7 of the UK’s largest regional newspaper groups is about to put the UK’s first classified advertising web-site on-line. The site will carry amalgamated content from each group in the consortium. Adhunter will launch in March and sites carrying property and recruitment classifieds will follow over the Summer.

The first issue of the magazine Bizarre may have beenhastily withdrawn from the shelves, but its web-site remains on-line. To check-out what the magazine is like, before it relaunches this Thursday, go to http://www.bizarremag.com.

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