Misleading Web site linking MU to KU home page disappears

COLUMBIA – A misleading Web site that linked an MU trademark to the University of Kansas homepage disappeared Tuesday afternoon.

Linda Gilbert, MU Licensing and Trademarks Office program administrator, became aware of mizzou.us last week, said Christian Basi, MU spokesman. Although the address listed an MU trademark, "Mizzou," visitors were directed to the KU site, Basi said.

He said the Collegiate Licensing Company sent a letter Monday asking the owner to deactivate the account because of trademark infringement.

The site was still active at about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. But the Missourian received word of the site's disappearance from MU Tiger's Lair webmaster Kevin Valliere shortly after 4 p.m. "I tried going to the Web site, and it just leads me to a GoDaddy filter page," Valliere stated in a Facebook message.

The top of the site now reads, "This Web page is parked FREE courtesy of  GoDaddy.com," and also offers a listing for other MU-related sites.

The Collegiate Licensing Company could not be reached to confirm whether the site's disappearance was directly related to Monday's letter.