Cybersquatters are keeping visitors to UT’s website lost in cyberspace.
The site, http://www.universityoftampa.com, is used by a handful of Florida colleges such as DeVry University and Strayer University, to direct visitors to their respective sites. Visitors to the site will find no link or connection to UT other than the domain name.
Cybersquatting refers to the placing of a trademark’s name into a domain without having ownership of the trademark. This sounds harmless but actually interrupts with the recognition of businesses and people.
The Tampa Tribune recently reported that domain names for Joseph Caetano and Frank Margarella, candidates for District 7 city council were registered for a gay porn site. An unknown perpetrator purchased domains under the candidates’ names, which one of Caetano’s supports brought to his attention. Caetano’s official campaign site, joecaetano.com, was experiencing interruptions when the campaign site linked to the porn site.
Since more attorneys are specializing in internet law, cybersquatting is becoming more of an issue. A firm in San Francisco, Calif., entitled Kronenberger-Burgoyne, specializes in cybersquatting cases.
How is UT protected from this infringement? UT works closely with Educause which searches, registers and maintains .edu domains. UT pays $40 each year to keep the current domain.
“Educause is a gatekeeper for registering .edu domains,” Alexander said.
Clayton Long, former professor of Information Systems initially bought the domain ut.edu in the mid 1990s for $100, knowing this would be beneficial.
“I knew that ut.edu was a much more valuable domain name that utampa.edu,” Long said. With schools such as The University of Toledo and The University of Toronto as candidates for the domain name, UT snatched it first. Mike Sharkey, a former student of Long, immediately contacted Long, informing him that The University of Tennessee allowed their registration of the domain ut.edu to lapse. Grant Donaldson, UT spokesman, Long’s decision to purchase the ut.edu.
“He was clearly thinking out of the box,” UT spokesperson Grant Donaldson said.
Donna Alexander, executive director of information technology said, “We are very appreciative of his generosity to give us ut.edu.”
Expressing an interest in Long’s purchased domain, UT received the site name as a donation from Long and started its use in 2001-2002. Administration decided to shorten the URL and go with ut.edu, which correlates with UT’s nickname.
Shortly after acquiring Long’s URL, administration received calls from The University of Texas and The University of Tennessee because they were interested in potentially purchasing the URL, but UT administration declined to release the domain. The amount offered by these schools is unknown, but Alexander notes how the interested universities did not persevere in their pursuit of the domain.
“The conversation stopped after I told them we were not interested in selling. They didn’t push it because they understood our position completely,” she said.
Admissions Counselor Travis Abercrombie feels ut.edu is beneficial for the school.
“I have spoken with many students that have ‘stumbled’ upon us because they thought they were going to the website of Texas, Tennessee or Tulsa,” he said.
Having not been contacted by theuniversityoftampa.com, Alexander explained how administration does not plan to associate UT with the site.
“We are not currently interested in associating with the existing site and feel the impact is negligible, as the site is not displayed in the first several pages of a Google search for The University of Tampa.”
When locating UT online, prospective students have two domains from which to find UT online from, ut.edu and utampa.edu. As for keeping an eye on universityoftampa.com, Donaldson said, “We will look at it.”