- ZipZoomfly
ZipZoomfly is a popular Internet retailer for computer parts and related products. Based in
Newark, California , ZipZoomfly was founded in May 1999 under the name XtraPlus. The site relaunched in January 2000 as Googlegear. ZipZoomfly is a U.S.service mark of Xtraplus Corporation.Name change
The website changed its name from Googlegear to ZipZoomfly in September 2003. The official reason given was that the online store originally intended to offer a seemingly endless variety of products (a
googol of them), but had recently decided to focus on only high quality computer parts. The new name, they say, reflects the speed at which the computer industry moves.However, the true reason was a formal complaint by
Google to anICANN domain-name dispute resolution provider. [ [http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2001/d2001-0125.html Google, Inc. v. Xtraplus Corp] (2001-05-16 ).WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. Case No. D2001-0125. Retrieved on2006-12-07 .] The domaingooglegear.comis now owned by Google, andhttp://www.googlegear.comredirects to a Google page explaining that Googlegear has never been associated with Google.Perhaps coincidentally, both companies misspelled "googol" the same way.
Mascot
The original mascot of Googlegear was a smiling bean-shaped cartoon character as the first letter "O" in the name. [ [http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=76066286 U. S. Patent and Trademark Office] , Retrieved on 2007-01-27] Named GoogleGuy, the mascot was shown giving a thumbs-up sign with one of his two floating hands. The U.S. trademark filing describes GoogleGuy as an edible nut without a shell. Nevertheless, the website claimed that GoogleGuy was neither a bean nor a pancake, but a numeral "zero" from the virtual googol of products they carried. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20000510151906/www.googlegear.com/cgi-bin/xp/company/googleguy Archive.org cache of Googlegear.com] , Retrieved on 2007-01-27]
The mascot still appears in the logo for ZipZoomfly.
References
External links
* [http://www.zipzoomfly.com ZipZoomfly's website]
* [http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1991.html ZipZoomfly's ResellerRatings.com Page]
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