Over the past couple of days, the internet is abuzz when Google announced their latest corporate restructuring. In a shake up, a new parent company was formed by the name of Alphabet. Under Alphabet, Google which we are familiar with YouTube, Android and Chrome (plus other stuff) sits as a subsidiary. A bunch of corporate speak? Well it gets a bit more interesting.
It seems that BMW has already trademarked the name Alphabet and they own the domain www.alphabet.com. Thats the reason why the Alphabet (parent company of Google) uses the web address, http://www.abc.xyz instead. Both companies may seem different but if you can remember, Google is also in the midst of building and experimenting on self driving cars.
This gives BMW a ground for legal action. BMW’s Alphabet provides leasing services to companies for their vehicles.
Again, the name Alphabet isn’t a very uncommon name and a lot of businesses especially those who operate online will get some extra stream of visitors or also get lost within the big name which is Alphabet (especially news).
The key point is that, according to a spokesperson from BMW, the automotive giant isn’t selling the domain at the moment.
Source: NY Times
