Baa-baa black sheep… have you a trade mark?

The latest fight over Internet URLs has produced a sad tale of airports and fluffy sheep. The only thing standing in the way of the British Airport Authority and its latest on-line venture, is website Baa.com, dedicated to ‘sheep and woolly resources’.

Baa.com was launched from the US in 1993 by Tom Bourke, who spotted ‘a gap in the market’ for all things woollen. BAA now says the site infringes its trade mark, while Bourke will fight the claim, relocating temporarily at www.baa.net.

‘Let me get this right. BAA claims a website about sheep and woolly resources has been passing itself off as a company that runs airports,’ says Bourke.