HW: Domain Names - Short Sharp Shock

[Paul Mather]

On Tue, 9 Oct 2001, Alex S. Garcia wrote:

=> >actually, that was sorted out a while back.
=> >if you go to bbc.com, it will now re-direct you to the bbc site.
=> >I remember seeing this a few years ago and wondered how the bbc let that one
=> >go.
=>
=> That's kinda silly, though. It's just three letters. I mean, what if there
=> was another company with those initials that was just as old and respectable?

Actually, long-time owners of the "BBC Micro" will no doubt know this
piece of trivia, but the British Broadcasting Corporation does not (or
at least didn't) own the trademark on "BBC."  It is owned by a Swiss
company called Brown-Boverei, and BBC belongs to them.  Whenever the
British Broadcasting Corporation uses "BBC" it is with permission of
Brown-Boverei.  It's one reason the function key overlay of their
computer released to support their computer literacy project in the 80s
had the long-winded "British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer,"
when everyone commonly referred to it as the "BBC Model A" or "BBC Model
B."

So, I figure Brown-Boverei probably had first dibs on bbc.com.

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

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