Josh Bourne ⬥ 10 December
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has officially registered a trademark for “GI Bill” and taken steps to protect the term online as well. The G.I. Bill is a key piece of legislation that primarily helps U.S. servicemen and women pay for higher education after military service.
Although the Bill has been in existence since 1944, Executive Order 13607, passed in April, allowed the VA to register the “GI Bill” mark in order to protect veterans and ensure that they are able to find official materials in the right place. In addition to the trademark registration, the VA gained control of the domain name GIBill.com when the original owners agreed to hand the site over.
According to WHOIS data, which does not yet reflect this change in ownership, the owner of the domain name is still QuinStreet, Inc., a California-based marketing agency that specializes in vertical marketing and online media. The VA currently uses GIBill.VA.gov as its homepage for information on the G.I. Bill, but adding GIBill.com to its domain name portfolio will significantly boost awareness and user access. Compete data shows that GiBill.com had just over 3,000 visitors in October, but that number reached nearly 40,000 in May, the month after the new Executive Order.
The VA will presumably redirect the domain name to the official .GOV homepage, which will strengthen the online presence of the G.I. Bill and represents an important addition to the VA’s domain name portfolio.
Tags: California, Compete, domain names, Executive Order, G.I. Bill, online media, QuinStreet Inc., trademark, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, VA, vertical marketing, WHOIS