Too many muses in the Alps
A magazine and two websites are using the name Musenalp
A magazine and two websites claim the name MusenalpBy Bruno Amstutz The label Musenalp is more coveted than ever. As many as three companies use the designation, but not all by mutual agreement.
The Musenalp Express has a varied history: In 1976, the magazine was founded by Othmar Beerli and included a platform where young people published thoughts, poems or travel reports. At the same time, Musenalp functioned as a mail-order business. In 1988, Beerli launched Musenalp magazine in Germany and also tried to expand to Austria. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, however, financial problems arose in Germany, which meant the death knell for the German and Austrian editions.
The Swiss Musenalp Express has been on an odyssey ever since: in 1996, it came into the hands of Musenalp-Express-Medien AG in Hergiswil, a subsidiary of publisher Romeo Maggi's S.A.R.I. AG, which banned mail order from the magazine in the spring of 1998.
In August 1998, Ringier took a 60 percent stake in the magazine and then tried to spice it up with a redesign under the title MEX. This included the launch of a website with the address www.musenalp.ch, which was soon accessible at www.mextown.ch as well.
Ringier ended the MEX experiment in November 2000 and sold the print title to the direct marketing agency Factum, but kept the mextown site. Factum launched its own Internet presence under the name www.mexworld.ch, while Ringier sold the domains mu senalp.ch and mextown.ch to the Zurich-based IT company Athena in the fall of 2001.
The confusion is complete since Musenalp founder Othmar Beerli got back into the action. At the end of December 2001, he launched the www.musenalp.com website. There he wants to realize his original idea anew and offer a multilingual forum for young people from all over the world. He is of the opinion that musenalp.com can run parallel to musenalp.ch without any problems and has also reserved the domain extensions .de, .at and .info. The long-serving musenalp logo is also emblazoned on Berli's site.
Valentino Mauriello of Factum, which manages the magazine's business through the newly founded Mex Verlags AG, is less than pleased: "What Beerli is doing is not correct, and we will take steps against it." Factum bought the naming rights to Musenalp from Ringier and owns the trademark rights. Mauriello therefore also classifies the domain trade between Ringier and Athena as not one hundred percent comprehensible.
Nevertheless, a joint venture between Mex and Athena is planned, in which the now somewhat neglected Mextown site is also to be spruced up. Collaboration with Beerli's site is out of the question for Mauriello, however: "Beerli had a good idea at the time, but we've moved on from that and geared the magazine towards an older target audience."
The Musenalp Express has a varied history: In 1976, the magazine was founded by Othmar Beerli and included a platform where young people published thoughts, poems or travel reports. At the same time, Musenalp functioned as a mail-order business. In 1988, Beerli launched Musenalp magazine in Germany and also tried to expand to Austria. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, however, financial problems arose in Germany, which meant the death knell for the German and Austrian editions.
The Swiss Musenalp Express has been on an odyssey ever since: in 1996, it came into the hands of Musenalp-Express-Medien AG in Hergiswil, a subsidiary of publisher Romeo Maggi's S.A.R.I. AG, which banned mail order from the magazine in the spring of 1998.
In August 1998, Ringier took a 60 percent stake in the magazine and then tried to spice it up with a redesign under the title MEX. This included the launch of a website with the address www.musenalp.ch, which was soon accessible at www.mextown.ch as well.
Ringier ended the MEX experiment in November 2000 and sold the print title to the direct marketing agency Factum, but kept the mextown site. Factum launched its own Internet presence under the name www.mexworld.ch, while Ringier sold the domains mu senalp.ch and mextown.ch to the Zurich-based IT company Athena in the fall of 2001.
The confusion is complete since Musenalp founder Othmar Beerli got back into the action. At the end of December 2001, he launched the www.musenalp.com website. There he wants to realize his original idea anew and offer a multilingual forum for young people from all over the world. He is of the opinion that musenalp.com can run parallel to musenalp.ch without any problems and has also reserved the domain extensions .de, .at and .info. The long-serving musenalp logo is also emblazoned on Berli's site.
Valentino Mauriello of Factum, which manages the magazine's business through the newly founded Mex Verlags AG, is less than pleased: "What Beerli is doing is not correct, and we will take steps against it." Factum bought the naming rights to Musenalp from Ringier and owns the trademark rights. Mauriello therefore also classifies the domain trade between Ringier and Athena as not one hundred percent comprehensible.
Nevertheless, a joint venture between Mex and Athena is planned, in which the now somewhat neglected Mextown site is also to be spruced up. Collaboration with Beerli's site is out of the question for Mauriello, however: "Beerli had a good idea at the time, but we've moved on from that and geared the magazine towards an older target audience."
