Date:         Thu, 14 Sep 1995 22:52:01 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         rickgo@halcyon.com (Rick Gordon)
Subject:      VW of A alleged lawsuit

Regarding that WWW-related lawsuit, it was hard to believe that VW could
be *that* stupid.  And apparently they're not.


> From: jan@lipari.usc.edu (Jan Vandenbrande)
> Newsgroups:
rec.autos.vw,rec.autos.makers.vw.aircooled,rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled
> Subject: VW of A alleged lawsuit
> Date: 14 Sep 1995 13:38:27 -0700
> Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
> Lines: 71
> Sender: jan@lipari.usc.edu
> Distribution: world
> Message-ID: <43a3s3$1l7@lipari.usc.edu>
> NNTP-Posting-Host: lipari.usc.edu
> Xref: news.halcyon.com rec.autos.vw:70632
rec.autos.makers.vw.aircooled:503 rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled:483
> 
> 
> OK, here it is from the horse's mouth.
> It sounds like we over reacted to the comments posted initially on
> the UofM's website.
> VW's objections apparently stemmed from the "girly" picture with the
> VW logo placed (without permission) at a "strategic" location. 
> I guess they have a point...
> 
> This was a good learning lesson:
> 
> 1) Unless you know the facts, don't judge. The information was only
>    hearsay.
> 
> 2) We have to be aware of copyright and trademark infringements.
>    Internet is not the secret little underground club shared by academics
>    and some organizations as it used to be.
>    Publishing anything on the net is similar to publishing 
>    on traditional non-volatile storage media (paper).
>    In our picture gallery, we need to make an attempt to: 
> 
>    a) identify the origin of the pic and give due credit
>    b) ask permission to publish if for non-profit reasons
>    c) share profits and get permission if anything will be used for profit
> 
> 3) The internet and this group is a wonderfully supportive club. Thanks
>    to all of you. 
> 
> Jan.
> 
> Here's the reply I got. I'll be reopening the sites soon, after reviewing
> for questionable data.
> 
> [Unedited]
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > jan@ug.eds.com
> > 
> > Jan,
> > 
> > The facts are:
> > 
> > 1. It is not now and never has been our intention to close any website or, 
> > specifically, the website at the University of Manitoba.
> > 2. We are neither suing or censoring anyone in this matter.
> > 3. It is our desire to protect our trademark and to ensure that it is
properly 
> > and tastefully used. This was not the case in this instance and we were 
> > attempting to correct this matter.
> > 4. Volkswagen does not charge people to view information on its website.
> > 5. We look forward to working with anyone interested in developing
their own 
> > Volkswagen Internet application, provided that our trademark is used
correctly.
> > 
> > The site in question presented the VW logo not only without permission
but in a 
> > way which was patently offensive -- as a cover to the private parts of
a nude 
> > woman.  At best this is in extremely poor taste; at worst it is
offensive to 
> > our current and future female customers.  
> > 
> > Thank you for your interest in the situation. 
> > 
> > Volkswagen of America
> > Volkswagen of Canada
> > Public Relations
> 
> 
> --
>               o   ___|___    [\\]    | Jan Vandenbrande jan@ug.eds.com
>    __0    /\0/   /-------\      _    | http://alicudi.usc.edu:80/~jan/ 
>    \<,_  O  \\  (_________)  .#/_\_. | "Aerodynamics are for people who
> (_)/ (_)    //  [_]     [_]  |_(_)_| | cannot build engines" - Enzo Ferrari
> -- 
> -----------------
> Jan                                                     jan@lipari.usc.edu