Gaia Capitalist

For some reason, my attempt to create a World BioEnergy News project and introduce it to Virgin for possible underwriting, funding or sponsorship has been twisted into something unrecognizable. Not to worry. I got an email this morning saying the US Government is handing out grants to millions of people just like me. Just in time to salvage World Bioenergy News.

How is it possible that something that started out with such good intentions and built on hundreds of hours of volunteer effort is now being considered a case of cybersquatting? I just hope they don’t turn their request for my funding proposal into an “exorbitant demand for money in exchange for the site” or that by discussing the subject in cyberspace and the blogosphere I am “posting derogatory remarks online in order to force the rightful owner to pay (what can be called) extortion money”.

Here we are, Sunday January 7, 2007, and basically I am left with the threat of “formal action” if I do not accept Virgin’s offer for transfer of my domain name virginfuels.org to them. We could have gotten to this same point six weeks ago.

For example, ten days after receiving my November 12, 2006 letter to Virgin Corporate seeking funding for my news site, Virgin Intellectual Property management could have written the same email:

“Received your letter. We decline your request for funding. We’re having a problem with your registration and use of the domain name. We assert it belongs to us. We are prepared to offer you $150. If you do not accept the offer we reserve the right to take formal action against you at some later date.”

At least I could have started accommodating Virgin’s demands around Thanksgiving instead of wasting the last six weeks developing the site, and working through the holidays and now the New Year trying to explain to them why I’m not a criminal cybersquatter.

The whole purpose of my request to Virgin was to find funding, underwriting or sponsorship for World BioEnergy News. Their last offer of $150 is $50 less than the suggested cost of a banner ad for one month on the new WorldBioEnergyNews.com site. I’m not taking this personally, but it feels like a slap in the face.  Instead of encouraging my work, it appears Virgin is ready to spend thousands of dollars to take virginfuels.org away from me.    01-07-07 19:17