今天得到一个惊人的消息，西安最大的电子商务网站tigercool（虎酷）被美国加州南三藩市泰胜娱乐公司没收国际域名tigercool.com。泰胜娱乐公司是美国最大经销香港以及其他亚洲电视和电影节目的经销商，因一个500多万美元的补偿案，导致泰胜将tigercool的域名“没收”。
tigercool网站名义上归英国某公司所有，实际运作为西安太一通信有限公司，此公司在西安99年左右可谓大名鼎鼎，曾经成功运作西安最大的社区类网站269，tigercool由于一直面向北美华人，在西安本地十分的低调，所以一直不为人所知。但是tigercool却是北美最大的华人生活服务网站，在西安本地业界都称它为“太酷”网。虎酷网(Tigercool.com)于2001年4月在美国加州成立，是最早的向北美地区华人提供大陆文化产品的电子商务网站。经过几年的运作，虎酷网已遍布美国本土48个州、阿拉斯加、夏威夷和加拿大地区,拥有百万多个有效用户。除北美华人家庭外，还涵盖了图书馆、中文学校、华人超市、餐馆、书店等众多商业用户。虎酷网以全面和新颖的产品，及时和优质的服务，在北美华人中赢得了良好的声誉,已成为迄今为止最大的华人生活服务网站。
据笔者所知，同tigercool类似的网站在西安也有几家，也是面对北美市场出售影碟、书籍、鲜花和蛋糕等，甚至还有出售香烟。这种模式的网站在中国互联网界一直默默无闻，但是他们却是异常的成功，据传获利颇丰，尤其是tigercool甚至能和很多大型门户网站的年报媲美。tigercool在北美地区华人社会影响力比较大，在致力于服务海外华人，实现自身发展壮大的同时，虎酷网还积极投身于各项社会公益事业。2005年9月，虎酷网赞助青岛小海燕艺术团访问演出；2005年10月，赞助美国南部地区“中华文化艺术展”；2006年，应北美地区对汉语学习的需要，决定承担所有费用，免费分发汉语教材，同时还签约赞助两项以“弘扬中华文化”为主题的全美青少年才艺大赛，为繁荣和扩大中华文化在世界的影响做出了积极的贡献。
早在几年前tigercool就与泰胜娱乐发生过版权纠纷，也是由于tigercool的某网友在论坛上出售TVB的影碟。没想到06年泰胜娱乐终于不能容忍tigercool的存在，540万美元的官司了断了他们的恩恩怨怨，没收了虎酷的国际域名www.tigercool.com。
据了解虎酷的中国cn域名tigercool.cn还在使用，不知道西安太一公司会如何应对此“域名事件”？做为西安本地最大的电子商务网站tigercool是否还能继续？西部e网将继续跟踪报道。
以下是泰胜娱乐发出的通告：
DOMAIN NAME OF TIGERCOOL.COM
South San Francisco, CA: TAI SENG ENTERTAINMENT, the largest U.S. distributor of Hong Kong and other Asian television series and movies announces that in an effort to collect copyright infringement damages of $5.4 million, they have seized the domain name of “tigercool.com”. This is the first time that Tai Seng has expanded its collection efforts to seize an active Internet domain name of an overseas company. The website was owned by a British Virgin Islands company operating in China known as UNITOPIA XIAN CORPORATIONand by an individual named LEI LEI.
The “Tigercool.com” site has been engaged in the widespread sales and distribution of VCDs and DVD products to the United States violating U.S. Copyright Laws on parallel imports and in violation of Tai Seng’s exclusive U.S. distribution rights. Many of the unlawful products included China released discs of programs produced by Television Broadcasts of Hong Kong (“TVB”). Tai Seng obtained a judgment of $5.4 million in the federal district court in San Francisco against the defendants in 2005. The defendants made no effort to cease their distribution in the U.S. despite the $5.4 million judgment. The current lawsuit was the second time Tai Seng took legal action against the business having sued and settled once before in 2002.
Alan T. Huie, General Counsel for Tai Seng stated: "Tai Seng had no choice but to seize the domain name of this illegal Internet operation from China and end their Internet distribution business, not only in the U.S. but in China as well and throughout the rest of the world. The defendants in Xian believed that their operations in China made them immune from U.S. copyright laws. By our seizure of their domain name, Tai Seng has proven that the consequences of their unlawful acts will be accounted for under U.S. law. No effort has been spared to effectively shut them down for good."
For TVB Series (East Coast): please call Caddie Leung at 1-800-888-3836 (ext. 210) or email caddieleung@taiseng.com
(West Coast): please call Priscilla Hou at 1-800-888-3836(ext. 212) or email priscillahou@taiseng.com
For Tai Seng TV Series: please call Sharrie Lao at 1-800-888-3836 (ext. 211) or email sharrielao@taiseng.com
