AirLockAlpha.com

In the 24 hours since NBC Universal announced it had a new name for SciFi Channel, it seems they have found themselves in a tug of war with Airlock Alpha founder and site coordinator Michael Hinman on where exactly the "Syfy" name came from.

Last month, Airlock Alpha came into existence following a sudden rebranding of the site that had carried the name "SyFy" in some form or another for more than a decade. The move shocked many readers, and was described at the time as nothing more than a marketing move by the site as it prepares to launch Inside Blip.

But since the NBCU announcement, it seems that there were other motivations as well.

Hinman has talked openly with a number of news outlets Monday to try and clear up some of the air surrounding the name, and how it relates to his past creations. He confirmed to Portfolio, a publication of Conde Nast (and under common corporate ownership of Hinman's day job) that he did indeed sell the brand to another entity just a few weeks before.

"We actually suspected it was NBCU as the deal closed because the lawyer they used in New York on their side was the same lawyer that has represented intellectual property issues with NBCU in the past, specifically with SciFi Channel," Hinman told the magazine. "However, we had no clue they were looking to use the brand as the name of its network."

Hinman has declined to disclose what he was paid for to give up the SyFy brand, but has made it clear that it was significant.

"All I can tell you is that the amount was far more substantial than anyone who was simply looking to get into the science-fiction news business would pay, even me," Hinman said. "So we knew it was someone extremely well capitalized."

When the New York Times first announced the story, it stated that SciFi Channel came up with the name independently using internal employees and a marketing firm. When they were confronted with the fact that SyFy had been under the use and ownership of Hinman for more than a decade by Media Post's David Goetzi, NBCU apparently stuck to its story.

A representative told Goetzi that the network conceived the "Syfy" name "completely independently" of its current usage, and that any deals struck with Hinman were simply to clear up other usages of the name they developed.

"There's no way they can even sell that to anybody -- that they came up with [it] all on their own," Hinman told Goetzi. "They know who we are."

It is almost common knowledge in fandom that Hinman created "SyFy" in 1998 while developing his science-fiction news site. There are several "legends" about how the name came about, including a Wikipedia claim that it was inspired by the band Lynyrd Skynyrd. However, Hinman said he wanted to create a brand that could be his, and no one else's, while still making it clear that the site's offerings were science-fiction. He had originally wanted to use Psi Phi, but when another site was using it to review science-fiction books, he kept playing with spellings and letters until he developed "Syfy."

Hinman has made it clear he is not exerting any additional claim on the name or the brand, as he feels that he has released the rights free and clear to NBCU. However, that doesn't mean he won't make it clear to the world that while he no longer owns the name "Syfy," he did create it.

Airlock Alpha was, up to a few weeks ago, known as SyFy Portal, and was rebranded following a sale of the "SyFy" name to what has now been identified as New Fizz Corp.