Veronica.org domain

["Carl Miller" <systemdesign.chazz@com>]

Dear esteemed producers of Archie Comics,

    I have recently learned of your campaign to take over the veronica.org
Internet domain.  I wish to voice strong protest to this action, and ask
that you desist further attempts to usurp the domain.  Your action is
without technical, legal, moral, or business merit, and therefore is
extremely ill-advised.

Technical:
    Archie Comics is a for-profit business venture.  As private citizens
doing nothing more than posting pictures of, and text about their daughter,
and not making any attempt to sell or advertise anything, the current
owners of veronica.org are, without a doubt, classed as a non-profit
organization.  Internet naming protocol is clear.  For-profit business
ventures use domains ending in .com, and non-profit organizations use
domains ending in .org.  For-profit businesses do not belong in .org, and
any attempt for a business to take over a .org domain is a clear violation
of proper namespace management on the Internet.  Summary: you have no
technical claim to veronica.org; on the contrary, technical arguments say
you should not have veronica.org.

Legal:
    I anticipate that you'll send me the typical corporate response: we
have a responsibility to our shareholders / investors / owners / future
profitability and name recognition to protect our trademarks / intellectual
property and ensure that our customers do not confuse our trademarks /
characters / corporate icons with other things unrelated to Archie Comics.
I have one word for that response: bullshit.  Immediately upon viewing the
opening page at veronica.org, it is 100% clear that this page has no
affiliation with Archie Comics whatsoever.  Based on that, and the widely
known and respected (except by you) deliniation between .com and .org, no
sane person could confuse you with veronica.org.  Furthermore, the owners
of veronica.org have not used any pictures, descriptions, accounts,
references, or other depictions of any of your comics or characters, so
the trademark argument boils down to one thing: the name Veronica.  And
here, you haven't a legal leg to stand on.  You can't trademark the name
Veronica -- it's in common usage and has been for centuries.  Parents all
over the world have legal claim to use it for naming their children and
their websites.  Your action of attempting to take over the veronica.org
domain does not protect any trademarks or intellectual property, and does
not alleviate any customer confusion because there is none in the first
place.  It is purely an act of corporate larceny.  You can afford an army
of lawyers to pound Veronica's parents into submission, and they can't
afford an army of lawyers to pound back.  You like the odds, so you'll give
it a try.

Moral:
    There is nothing moral about attempting to steal something you have no
claim to, be it at gunpoint, or at preliminary-injunction-point.  Dare I
point out the striking parallels between your action and the common phrase
"like taking candy from a baby"?

Business:
    I have already made the assertion in the "legal" section that this
action, should you succeed, will garner no business benefit, and defended it
adequately, showing that there is no trademark to defend, and no customer
confusion to alleviate.  Now let's look at the negative business
ramifications of your action, namely customer ill will generated by the
amorality and lack of technical or legal justification of your action.  This
is exactly the kind of action that grabs the attention of people who use the
Internet frequently, and understand how it works (and how it should work).
Word will spread of your action, and many who hear of it will be as appalled
as I am.  Those who are will happily boycott Archie Comics in response.  To
demonstrate this point, I ask you to look at the CC message header and note
all of the friends, acquiantances, and colleagues of mine that are reading
this as you are.  Now they know what you are up to, most will frown on it,
many will join the boycott, and a few may even write you separately to
inform you of this.  Your action has no business benefits, and one major
business drawback, and therefore is not a good business decision.  I urge you
to rethink the logic of your action.

Thank you for your time in listening to my opinion on this matter.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl N Miller                   (devastator.chaz@extern.ucsd.edu)
informed Internet user

The opinions expressed are my own only, and in no way reflect the official
business position of my employer.