>>A rose by any other name? The only real problem is that unless you know about the site I wonder if you would find it while looking for info on MINIs. I found it when I typed in MINI Cooper on a search engine and it was very helpful in my decision to buy a MINI. But at least the site is alive and well.

Updates to the search engines have already been made and they should be active in the next few weeks. Essentially the content of the site hasn't changed and that is what Google homes in on. If you search in a few weeks for "mini cooper" you should see North American Motoring in the top 10 results...just like MCO is right now. Thanks!

Mark

 

If you type in "north american motoring" in Yahoo search this is what you see on the page:
"... Upgrade Garage, Contest, Calendar Contest. North American Motoring is an independently operated web site supporting owners and enthusiasts worldwide. ..."

No mention of Mini at all. Hotbot and Lycos read the same, or very similar.

If you search "mini cooper" on Yahoo, north american motoring is not in the first 100 listings (though MCO is in the top 15).

Will all references to MCO have to be deleted from the search engines after your 90 day change over period? If so, it may lead to a problem in finding the site while doing a general search.

Have to try it again in the next couple weeks to see if the changes you implemented improve the situation.

 

>>If you type in "north american motoring" in Yahoo search this is what you see on the page:
>>"... Upgrade Garage, Contest, Calendar Contest. North American Motoring is an independently operated web site supporting owners and enthusiasts worldwide. ..."
>>
>>No mention of Mini at all. Hotbot and Lycos read the same, or very similar.

First no one will know to search for North American Motoring. Usually, based on the search ratings I've researched the majority, by far, search for "mini cooper". If you search of "mini cooper" using Google or Yahoo you will find use coming in at #7 currently. Given that Google powers Yahoo and I have submitted change notices to Google you should see, sometime in the near future, it magically change to North American Motoring.

>>
>>If you search "mini cooper" on Yahoo, north american motoring is not in the first 100 listings (though MCO is in the top 15).

Yes...given I just implemented the name change last Tuesday Google (aka Yahoo's search results provider) will still reflect the old name. If you click on it it will automatically redirect to https://www.northamericanmotoring.com. Since Google's bots don't scan the entire web for many days or months at a time it will be some time before you see the change appear. Given that the content hasn't changed but the name has you should just see the name change in the top 15 results on Google/Yahoo.

>>Will all references to MCO have to be deleted from the search engines after your 90 day change over period? If so, it may lead to a problem in finding the site while doing a general search.

No...references that exist on the net will slowly migrate to the new name. That said that is why we have the 90 day change over specified...to provide time for search engines to note the change. Also, there is no way to force a search engine to remove listings.

I have taken measures to ensure the search engines take note of the change. Even if they don't search engines still represent a small fraction of the traffic on the site but I fully anticipate, at most, we'll have a short absence from Google.

Hope that helps clear up some of the questions are the change.

Mark

 

Wow. Sorry I missed this battle. I would gladly have contributed to a legal fund to fight the corporation. I don't think they have much of a case if someone owns a URL that they want.

Doesn't look like cyber-squatting because there was no intend to defraud BMW by using heir trademark. They really should've secured the URl before you got it if they intended to have it.

Oh well. I think it's a shame that you were backed into a corner on this. minicooperonline.com is a great name. Whoever said YOU should run the owner's lounge was dead right. I can't use that site. It's just huge lists of stuff that isn't organized well.

Thanks for hosting a great online community for us. i get my MINI at the end of this month and I can't wait to share the experiences with my new frineds here.

 

Glad to hear the report.

By my reasoning, the issue has been RESOLVED but a victory it is NOT. The whole fight was to keep the MCO name. If MCO had been willing to change its name to NAM from day one, there would have been no fight or stress. So, sure sounds like BMW North America won this one in terms of getting what they wanted. Of course, that the issue is resolved is a good thing for Mark. However, the protracted fight got nothing in terms of keeping MCO's name.

One final note: This whole fight over MCO by BMW has lost at least one customer who was on the list. MCO was the SOLE REASON for getting us into MINIs in the first place and BMW's fight quickly got us to loose interest and we're no longer on the list at our dealer. I happened to pop in out of curiosity after being gone for a while and thought I'd make a quick response.

This is not a troll - but wanted to post an opinion.

Thanks,
MT

 

I thank you for all that you do, Mark!! Will buy NAM attire come December

 

I wanted to reply to this directly to provide some clarification on the points you bring up.

>>By my reasoning, the issue has been RESOLVED but a victory it is NOT. The whole fight was to keep the MCO name. >>If MCO had been willing to change its name to NAM from day one, there would have been no fight or stress.

If you go back and look at my original post regarding this issue HERE you will find that I did offer to change the name at the very beginning (as part of a transition plan). The issue that arose is that I asked for guidance on what would or would not be acceptable and was provided several exampled domain names that contained MINI in them. As explained in the original post the issue was that the names that would and wouldn't be allowed was never made clear thereby resulting in a protracted discussion.

>>So, sure sounds like BMW North America won this one in terms of getting what they wanted. Of course, that the >>issue is resolved is a good thing for Mark. However, the protracted fight got nothing in terms of keeping MCO's >>name.

As mentioned above I offered to change the name so I don't feel that the name was the issue. To be quite honest I felt that trying to work with BMW (and thereby dropping MCO) was more important to the long-term interests of the site than to be a thorn in their side.

>>
>>One final note: This whole fight over MCO by BMW has lost at least one customer who was on the list. MCO was the >SOLE REASON for getting us into MINIs in the first place and BMW's fight quickly got us to loose interest and we're no >longer on the list at our dealer. I happened to pop in out of curiosity after being gone for a while and thought I'd make >a quick response.

Just wanted to keep the record as straight as possible about the origins and evolution of this issue that, now, has thankfully been resolved in a way that I feel good about it. Now....let's start moving things forward again!

Best regards,

Mark

 

Well it sucks that they got the best of you...the name. It is unfair as MCO is natura and North american motoring can go for anyone..like chevy, ford etc..it is not MINI specific!!!

If it wasn't for the love that I have for my MINI, I would drive it right thru their front door of their Headquaters.

Oh well...my $.02..glad this issue is over.

I wonder who else is next?

 

It is a shame BMW had to act like complete *******s over this. I find it insulting.

I am a very good customer of theirs owning 3 of their vehicles (a 325i, R1150RT and a mini).

Not allowing the mini name in the site name is shameful. That is what this site is about and it is a very positive site for the car.

BMW should do the walk of shame over this! (walk the gauntlet of all of us with their pants around their ankles while sucking their thumbs!)

At least it is over

 

How long will the redirection of typing minicooperonline.com and getting to NAM be good for? Is it permanent.....6 months...etc?

 

minicooperonline.com will continue to redirect for a while longer. It really depends on when BMW is ready to start the transition of the domain to their servers. In the meantime it will continue to redirect

Mark