BRANSON: AGAINST MULTIPLE VIRGINS
Renegade businessman and V2 records founder richard branson',390,400);">richard branson',390,400);">Richard Branson's Virgin Enterprises Ltd. Has filed lawsuits arguing trademark infringement against two dozen Web sites that have "virgin" in their names. The Virgin Group's complaint is that Web surfers will confuse other Virgin sites with those affiliated with the Virgin Group.
The London-based Virgin has already won injunctions against a few sites already, including Virginbrides.org and Virginrec.com. They claim that the word is protected under 950 separate trademarks in 114 countries. The company has also recently sued Virgindrinks.com, Virgingifts.com, Virgintea.com and Virginballoons.com.
As you may have noticed after clicking on some of these links, a number of the URLs now kick directly to one of Branson's sites.
In addition to Virgin Megastores, the Virgin empire includes Virgin Cola and Virgin Airways, which combined for sales topping $5 billion in 1999. Sites targeted in the lawsuit include Virginnews.com and Virginmedia.com, neither of which focus on hot-air ballooning or strippers.
The Virgin Mary had no comment.
