Gaia Capitalist

Trademark and copyright on the Internet are issues Virgin corporate lawyers addressed in 2005. I can only wonder how they treated these people - who were just trying to make a living for themselves and their families. By their own hard work, initiative and investment. Not by riding off of Virgin's fame and fortune. GC 02.15.07 09:12

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Gaia capitalism goes both ways. Virgin Fuels virginfuels.org domain name registration ownership discussion. SEO indexing and rankings, Internet web keyword copyright and trademark issues.

Formerly middle-class, single, middle-aged white American woman does wild and crazy thing to find work and avoid bankruptcy.

Virgin responds ".... asking for sponsorship or paid work for transfer of your domain name (virginfuels.org) is wholly disproportionate in the circumstances." 

Slamming door is familiar sound to desperate ex-housewife.

Consider virginfuels.org my Christmas gift to the children of our world.

12.25.06  Christmas Day  Posted by Darlene Brice, (formerly) virginFuels.org publisher, Gaia Capitalist blogger

World BioEnergy News Service on virginfuels.org is an organic effort by one Internet web publishing professional, world citizen and loving mother of adult twin daughters who is concerned about the current global energy situation (in particular) and wants to do something about it. I need to pay my bills, like everyone else, and I simply took an Interpreneur, creative, Gaia Capitalist approach to find a job. That simple.

I offered Virgin Fuels a gift in the spirit of Gaia Capitalism, open source code, and freeware/shareware. I proudly stand by my work. (I have since launched BioEnergyWorldNews.com to continue the service. 12.28.06)

virginfuels.org is a fully developed and operational cms news site and has been produced entirely on a volunteer basis by me alone on my own initiative because I believe wholeheartedly in its purpose .

I do not have any sponsors or investers, advertisers, clients, customers, or contributors for this project. No one is underwriting me. Since it's launch on September 29, 2006, I have not received a penny in compensation from anyone for anything related to this domain name and website.

Virgin Fuels should not be confused with virginfuels.org - Please Note
This news site is not sponsored, supported, endorsed by, approved of, authorized by, or associated with Virgin Fuels, Virgin Group, Virgin Unite, Sir Richard Branson and/or any company owned and/or operated by Virgin Global Galactic Universal Enterprises Unlimited.

It's all been a labor of love and an offering of world service.
It is understood and acknowledged that I purchased the registration of the domain name virginfuels.org legally and ethically, long after Virgin Fuels itself could have done so and after the public announcement by Sir Richard Branson launching Virgin Fuels. I never operated under radar. I wrote to Virgin Corporate November 12, 2006 introducing myself, explaining what I was doing and why I was doing it. I finally received an email response from Virgin on December 18, 2006.

In return, I simply and respectfully requested consideration for some kind of sponsorship, underwriting, grant money, seed money or even paid work on a contract basis so that I can continue what I believe to be valuable service and keep the lights on at the same time.

Virgin response (direct quotes from email correspondence between gc and Mark James, Virgin Enterprises Intellectual Property manager)

" I can't speak on behalf of Virgin Fuels, or Virgin Unite, but I think it is unlikely they would want to sponsor your site or give you paid work in any case." and " I have offered to reimburse your official registration costs ($25) and asking for sponsorship or paid work for transfer of this name is wholly disproportionate in the circumstances."

"We accept your assertion that you do not to intend to infringe our rights and we appreciate that you agree with and are supporting a cause that is very important to us. Just because a domain name is available does not mean that registration and/or use of it will not infringe someone else's rights; .. . We cannot be expected to register every permutation of every possible domain name and should be entitled to rely on our trade mark rights instead." (side note: one might argue that virginfuels.org is hardly an obscure permutation of their company name.)

Virgin Group is asking that I transfer legal registration ownership of virginfuels.org
The problem Virgin is having with me is not that I purchased the registration but that I structured the content in such a way that might cause confusion to viewers. They are taking issue with me because I developed it as a news site in the same field Virgin Fuels has targeted for its own business interests. Direct quote:

"...your registration and use of the Domain Name is of particular concern given Sir Richard Branson’s recent and high profile launch of our Virgin Fuels business. On the site you state that "we launched the site September 29, 2006, the day after Sir Richard Branson announced his new bioenergy investment company, Virgin Fuels". "Virgin Fuels is in the process of setting up its own website." (side note: 12.24.06 - four months after public launch of their new company Virgin Fuels. I did it in one day.)

"In light of the fame of the VIRGIN name and of Virgin Fuels’ current activities, it is inevitable that the public will be confused or misled by your registration and use of the Domain Name. Such confusion is likely to make the public believe that you are, in some way, associated with the Virgin group of companies or somehow endorsed or sponsored by it . Please note that the disclaimer on your website does not remove the possibility or likelihood of this confusion and only serves to illustrate our concerns . Your registration and use of the Domain Name may also give rise to certain other trade mark issues."

(side note: they contend I am unfairly capitalizing on the Virgin brand and Sir Richard Branson's fame?
Keep in mind, please, I went to Virgin Corporate Development Team and offered my work as a gift to Virgin Fuels. I can also make this arguement - large corporations profiteer all the time by capitalizing on the plight of the poor and suffering. Especially at Christmas. Although corporate funding may do an enormous amount of good in the world (thank you), does anyone truly believe Exxon Mobile is conducting its public relations campaign to "help save the environment" out of the goodness of its heart, with no expectation of return? Corps like Exxon Mobile receive millions of dollars worth of free advertising value, amazing free publicity benefits and enormous tax breaks for "helping the poor, suffering hungry children." What happens to the starving child in Darfur after the advertising campaign ends?)

Mark James, Virgin's Intellectual Property manager, says I never should have produced the website virginfuels.org or purchased the domain name in the first place.

The Gaia Capitalist blogger can only respond: "Isn't it absolutely shocking what desperate people will do to keep the family home and avoid bankruptcy?"

Time magazine named Interpreneurs like me as their cumulative "Person of the Year" because we are finding revolutionary ways to create and conduct business, from the bottom up.

David and Goliath redux.

Domain name registration ownership, Search Engine rankings, SEO indexing, SEO optimization value, Internet web copyright, trademark, keywords, meta tags on Virgin Fuels news site discussion .  More to be posted on GC asap.