A trademark claim has been filed by Arizona State University over the domain name sundevils.com.
Currently, searching with that URL redirects to the homepage of the Diablo Sun Devils, diablosundevils.com, a naturist club that promotes nude recreation. A photograph of a nude woman is on the homepage and more are depicted throughout.
The claim, a Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy complaint, was brought to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which handles such disputes, said Julie Newberg, a spokeswoman for ASU.
The current domain for ASU athletics’ site is thesundevils.cstv.com.
Rod Marshall, a co-founder of the Diablo Sun Devils, said the group started in 1999, and has had the website since about the same time.
But he said he was unaware that using the URL sundevils.com redirected to diablosundevils.com. He added that he knew ASU used the Sun Devils for its athletic teams, and said he made a conscious decision not to use that domain.
“It’s nothing that I ever intended to happen,” Marshall said. “I wasn’t going to do that from day one.”
As of July 8 he had not yet been contacted by ASU or anyone else about the dispute, which was filed June 27, and added that ASU had not contacted him in the past about the website, either.
“I’d be more than happy to contact somebody at ASU about it,” he said.
Marshall said he would attempt to reach ASU officials and the company that he purchased the domain diablosundevils.com through.
He said he agreed that ASU should have the domain sundevils.com and would not fight for it in any legal dispute.
“I’ve never wanted to own that domain,” Marshall said. “Why in the world it pops up … I have no idea.”
Reach the reporter at clecher@asu.edu
