AOL Sues Tribal Voice Over Use of 'Buddy List'.America Online See AOL. Inc is getting increasingly litigious litigious adj. referring to a person who constantly brings or prolongs legal actions, particularly when the legal maneuvers are unnecessary or unfounded. Such persons often enjoy legal battles, controversy, the courtroom, the spotlight, use the courts to punish over its instant messaging Exchanging text messages in real time between two or more people logged into a particular instant messaging (IM) service. Instant messaging is more interactive than e-mail because messages are sent immediately, whereas e-mail messages can be queued up in a mail server for seconds or technology and is now apparently suing Tribal Voice Inc over its use of the term "buddy list" in its PowWow instant messaging product. AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. has already launched a separate suit against Tribal Voice's partner AT&T Corp, which licensed PowWow in December 1998 as the basis for its IM Here instant messaging. Tribal Voice notes that AOL asked Tribal Voice to stop using the term "instant messaging" in April, but it has since dropped that from the law suit even thought Tribal Voice refused to stop using it. It says "instant messaging" is also part of the suit against AT&T, but it's not clear if AOL is still pursuing that phrase in the AT&T case. Scotts Valley-based Tribal Voice is highlighting the suit as a David and Goliath David and Goliath are figures of a well-known tale in the Bible (1 Samuel 17, in most English language versions), wherein David, an Israelite shepherd-boy and future King of Israel. struggle with AOL trying to exert proprietary control over what has become a common term on the internet. It says it is "gratuitous" to be suing Tribal Voice when it is already suing AT&T. AOL filed for the mark in December 1996 and it was registered in in July 1998. |
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