Judge Rules Against AOL on Trademarks

A federal judge thwarted America Online Inc.’s attempt to bar AT&T; Corp. from using the terms “You have mail,” “Buddy List” and “IM” on its WorldNet online service. U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton in Alexandria, Va., granted AT&T;’s motion for summary judgment, rejecting AOL’s claims that the words and phrases are trademarked. Hilton’s decision, which invalidated AOL’s “Buddy List” trademark, also dismissed the case. “We’re pleased the court agreed that these terms are in the public domain--available for all to use,” said AT&T; General Counsel Jim Cicconi. “AOL’s claim that it owns the everyday language of the Internet is another example of AOL’s attempt to monopolize all aspects of services over the Internet.”

Dulles, Va.-based AOL, the world’s No. 1 online service, said it would appeal the ruling. “We are confident that the ruling will be reversed,” said Paul Cappuccio, AOL’s general counsel.

AOL filed its suit in December, shortly after AT&T; announced it was adding a “You have mail” notification window for its WorldNet customers and was launching the “I M Here” instant messaging service. AOL uses the phrase “you’ve got mail” to notify subscribers of unread e-mail. Shares of AT&T; fell 19 cents to close at $49.06 and AOL shares fell $1.94 to close at $94.94, both on the New York Stock Exchange.

Separately, EMusic.com Inc., which sells music downloaded from the Internet, signed a three-year agreement to offer music through AOL. Under the nonexclusive agreement, EMusic said it will offer complete albums from its collection of more than 20,000 songs for $8.99 to AOL’s ICQ, Spinner and Winamp services, which reach about 50 million users. EMusic will develop co-branded sites for the three services, selling music in the MP3 format. News of the agreement sent shares of Redwood City, Calif.-based EMusic up $1.31 to close at $16.44 on Nasdaq.