CReATION: CNN, Maya Online battle for domain name

Network news giant CNN is in a legal battle with Shanghai-based website Maya Online, which refuses to give up ownership of the domain www.cnnews.com. CNN had demanded Maya stop using the name and transfer the site to CNN by mid-October. Maya reportedly said it had no intention to infringe the network's name and that cnnews.com stood for Chinese Network News. However, CNN has argued it has registrations for the term CNN with exclusive rights for the CNN mark. Maya Online, which is a tom.com content provider, registered the name legally in November last year through Network Solutions. Meanwhile, recent results from the 2000 Asian Target Market Survey (ATMS) showed CNN.com as the most popular media site in Asia. The survey found CNN reached 38 per cent of business people in Asia on a monthly basis, compared to CNBC with 20 per cent and BBC World with 19 per cent. Separately, China's top Internet regulatory body, China Internet Network Information Centre (CINIC) attacked NSI, which is the world's largest domain name registration firm, for infringing on Chinese sovereignty by offering Chinese domain names. Director of CINIC, Mao Wei, reportedly said it was unfair that the US should control the top domain names used throughout the world and collect on registration fees. NSI had earlier started a Chinese domain name registration service. An official at CINIC had said domain names in languages other than English should be managed by the respective nations in order to respect that nation's culture.

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