Proper use of domain names.

[srodawa <srodawa at oakland.edu>]

My apologies if this is off the subject for the list, but...

There is a non-profit organization which has had the domain name mi.org
since 1988.  They are about to have the domain pulled from them because
some commercial organization is claiming to hold MI as a trademark.

On the surface, this seems wrong for several reasons:

1. mi.org is not MI and by the intended meaning of "org" would seem to clearly
   not be a trademark infringement on a for-profit organization.

2. How can a commercial organization sieze a .org domain name?  Isn't .org
   for non-commercial use?  They should be placed in .com, right?

3. This organization has held the domain name for eleven years during which
   there has been no problem.

I'm becoming very troubled by the crass commercialism of the web when root
domain names such as .org no longer are used for their intended purposes.

As a small non-profit, this organization (basically an ISP for small
non-profit organizations) has empty pockets.  Any advice?

Ron Srodawa

| Ronald J. Srodawa               | Internet: srodawa at oakland.edu |
| School of Engineering and CS    | Voice:    (248) 370-2247      |
| Oakland University              | FAX:      (248) 370-4625      |
| Rochester, Michigan  48309-4478 |                               |