I rued the day my parents named me Telian.
My name was always mispronounced (still is, come to think of it). When I told people my name was Teli, it would be immediately followed by “…like television?”
One person even went so far as to quote every word in the dictionary that started with tele.
Now that I’ve grown up (some), I’ve grown to appreciate the uniqueness of my name.
If my name were Paul Dell, for instance, I’d be in a world of hurt because my website would most likely have been called Dell Websites, thus causing Dell, Inc to sue me and call me a parasite.
I understand the importance of protecting one’s brand, but I highly doubt that Mr. Dell registered his website in 2001 with the intent of purposefully leeching money from the $23 billion Dell, Inc empire.
Nonetheless, it’s not just about the money, it’s about the principle, isn’t it? Which perhaps makes it hard to understand why it was that Dell backed down the last time it tried to take Dellwebsites.com off Paul Dell. Yes, Paul Dell has been through this charade once before, in April 2002. Dell was still adamant that it rightly owned the domain, but when Paul Dell make it clear that he wasn’t prepared to cave in to pressure, the company walked away.
What this ultimately comes down to is the big guy trying to squash the little guy. It seems that the big guys forget they once started out as little guys. Truly shameful.
I never did care much for Dell computers, and now I care even less. Any considerations of making my next major computer purchase from Dell, Inc has just been thrown out the window.
When all is said and done, I hope this plays out with a lot of good publicity for Paul and a lot of bad publicity for Dell, Inc. If this could happen to him, it could just as easily happen to any other small business owner.
If you feel so inclined, and want to effect change, help out the little guy.
