Altaba: Is Yahoo Plagiarizing a Pakistani Company Name?

[Riaz Haq]

Altaba, the new name for Yahoo after its deal with Verizon, is currently the name of a Pakistan-based company spelled as Al-Taba, according to the New York Times. Is this plagiarism?

Not only is the new Altaba a much bigger company than Al-Taba, the two companies operate in totally different industries: The Pakistani company manufactures surgical and beauty scissors.

The new name for what will remain of Yahoo is a combination of words “alternative and Alibaba,” according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity  to the Washington Post.  After the rest of the company is purchased by Verizon for under $5 billion, Altaba's biggest  remaining asset will be its 15% stake worth $35 billion in the Chinese company Alibaba.  In addition, Altaba will also own 35.5% of Yahoo Japan.

As to the Pakistani company Al-Taba, its website describes it as "one of the largest private manufacturers and exporter of vast rang (sic) of Instruments.  It adds that "we specialized (sic) in Manufacturing Quality Medical Surgical Scissors and Beauty Scissors. It comprises of an integrated manufacturing facility, employing skilled craftsmen to produce broad range of professional Instruments".

It's sad to see Yahoo's demise. Started at Stanford University in 1994 by Jerry Yang and David Filo, the company is the pioneer of the web with an illustrious history in Silicon Valley. Yahoo enabled millions and billions of users to search the web for a variety of content and use its many services including e-mail, shopping and Yahoo groups. It will be missed.

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