Volvo Tries To Take Away Domain Of The Volo Auto Museum

Miscellaneous

from the lawyers-without-brains dept

Found over on Dave Farber’s IP list is this news that Volvo (the car company owned by Ford) has decided to try to take away the domain name of the Volo Auto Museum, in Volo, Illinois. The Volo Auto Museum has been in operation for over 40 years and has displays of “antique, classic, and muscle cars”. The Volo Auto Museum has struck back with an amusingly written press release detailing why they think the effort from Volvo to take their domain is unfounded. Unfortunately, at this time, it appears no news organization has taken up the story, leaving only the press release to link to – but unlike your standard corporate press release, this one has some quotes worth mentioning. For example: “Can you imagine anyone interested in viewing on the Internet or purchasing a 1972 Mustang Mach I, being confused and therefore not purchasing a 2003 Volvo 4-door sedan? Or is Volvo contending that the museum is somehow profiting or being deceitful by displaying a beautifully restored 1958 Thunderbird and, therefore, a potential Volvo customer might be misled into thinking that the restored 1958 Thunderbird is a late model Volvo?” Update: And along come the trademark lawyers to suggest it’s more complicated than this story makes it out to be. Yes, it’s true, that Volvo’s website is Volvocars.com and the Volo Automuseum has the website Volocars.com – but it’s still tough to believe that anyone going to one instead of the other wouldn’t quickly realize their mistake. The “threat” of lost business due to this is minimal.