Lawsuit Threat Results In: Freeoverstock.com Resurrected As CostsZero.com

[companyone]

Dead Internet Startup Comes Back to Life

Freeoverstock.com Resurrected As CostsZero.com

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- In less time than it took its URL
to propagate across the world wide web, internet startup
freeoverstock.com operated by New Venture Company was flatlining by
Monday morning and pronounced dead (i.e. offline) by late Tuesday. Possibly
one of the shortest-lived internet startups in history considering it was
launched only the Thursday before.
*(PHOTO 72dpi: Send2Press.com/mediaboom/07-1113-CostsZero_72dpi.jpg)

*(Photo Caption: Screen show of CostsZero.com home page.)
Initially, owner and founder of the promising new venture, Sarkis
Chakarian, was elated by the sudden and enthusiastic response. "We had over
a thousand unique visitors right off the bat ordering free products," said
Sarkis. But joy soon turned to dread when he received official word from a
certain online retail giant that demanded he shut down his site and
surrender the freeoverstock.com name immediately.

"I was horrified because I'd invested so much time and energy into this site, not to mention money ... and then to have the rug pulled out from under me was unthinkable." But the unthinkable did happen. Threatened with a lawsuit from a company worth hundreds of millions "makes you think twice about taking them on."

Why this reaction? What danger could a tiny startup pose to a global
leader in online retail? As one might guess, the problem lay in the name
Freeoverstock.com sounding a lot like another popular website with much
more money and power. Only Freeoverstock.com's business model is entirely
different: they give away free stuff to visitors while The Huge O exacts
payment from the net-surfing masses.

Nevertheless, the fear of serious repercussions was enough for Sarkis
to re-launch his site under a new name: CostsZero.com. CostsZero will
offer, as its name aptly suggests, a wide range of free merchandize.
"There was no way I could defend against these guys. They only gave me
the weekend to make up my mind. Basically they told me to shut down my site
and hand over my domain name or they were going to take me to court,"
Sarkis explained. Even if he decided to fight, was it worth hiring a lawyer
and spending tens (if not hundreds) of thousands defending against an
internet powerhouse ranked in the top thousand sites on the web? Sarkis
didn't think so.

That's why if one were to visit: freeoverstock.com today only an
empty shell exists. Just another casualty of "Big Business Intimidation."
Sarkis has less than one day left to turn over his Freeoverstock domain
name or face the full wrath of Corporate America. But he isn't worried: "I
have a feeling CostsZero.com will have a longer life expectancy."
CostsZero.com will continue to offer free products to anyone who visits
the site.

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