The Rockies asked a Denver District Court judge "to
temporarily stop" local Web publisher Robert Lewis from
producing his baseball Web page, arguing that it "infringes"
on the team's trademarks and "confuses Internet users,"
according to Leyla Kokmen of the DENVER POST. Lewis
publishes a CO Tourism & Sport site at www.rockies.com,
which links to www.blakestreet.com, his "Colorado Baseball
Daily" page. Rockies attorney Tom Kelley: "We want to
prevent Mr. Lewis and his company from using the Rockies'
trademark -- Rockies and Colorado Rockies -- to identify
himself and his product." Lewis' attorneys argue that he
"has made changes" to his online site, including "adding
disclaimers, dropping use of the Rockies' logo and colors,
changing the name from The Daily Rockies' Web to Colorado
Baseball Daily, and removing the newsletter from
rockies.com, although the sites are still linked." But
Kelley said that Internet users "still associate rockies.com
with Lewis' baseball site." The team does not currently
have a Web site, but it "expect[s] to launch one by the end
of October." A December trial is set (DENVER POST, 9/18).
NEW TENNIS NET: The Corel WTA Tour unveiled its
redesigned site at www.corelwtatour.com. The site, rebuilt
with MD-based American Cities Studios, features new player
audio and video interviews and features, up-to-date
tournament results, press conference transcripts, player
action photos, an educational section geared towards
youngsters, interactive games and a ticker with up-to-date
Tour news, among other features. Future plans include a
shopping mall area, full motion video, real-time scores and
multilingual sections (Corel WTA Tour).
ON ICE: NHL ICE celebrates its one-year anniversary on
October 4, and for the coming season, following every game,
NHL.com will produce a 90-second video highlight of that
game. NHL ICE also plans to introduce the NHL/IBM Real Time
Scoring System -- the NHL's first program for electronically
tabulating on-ice activity during a hockey game (NHL ICE).
DEVIL OF A SITE? The Devil Rays launched www.devilray.
com, developed by FL-based WebLink Communications. The team
is using "www.devilray.com" because "www.devilrays.com" was
claimed by FL businessman Joe Rossetto for $100. Rossetto
"offered to sell the address for what [team general counsel
John] Higgins said was $50,000." The team declined and
Higgins said, "Basically, we weren't going to pay 50 grand
for an s" (Marc Topkin, ST. PETE TIMES, 9/16).