i have got this mail Re: American Express Company’s Objection to Registration of amextraders.com (Our Reference 308637) Dear Mr. ............ We represent the American Express Company in matters involving trademarks and unfair competition. It has come to our attention that you have registered the domain name amextraders.com with Directi Internet Solutions Pvt. Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com, and are using the URL in connection with a website offering trading services and manufacturing products such as crushed bones, garments etc. Please be advised that our client is the owner of a federal trademark registration for AMEX, specifically Registration No. 1,161,278 registered on July 14, 1981. American Express began using the AMEX mark in 1969, and has continuously and extensively used and advertised its AMEX trademark since that time, making the AMEX mark famous in the United States and worldwide. As such, the AMEX trademark is a valuable asset of our client, one it will take all reasonable steps to protect. Unauthorized registration and/or use of AMEX and amextraders.com is likely to cause confusion, mistake, or to deceive the public and is a violation of our client’s federally-protected rights under 15 U.S.C. §§ 1114 and 1125. Indeed, the registration of amextraders.com appears to be clearly intended to falsely create the impression that American Express is the owner of or associated with this domain name. Further, misuse of our client’s famous mark for commercial gain is further evidence of your bad faith use and infringement of our client’s mark. Additionally, under 15 U.S.C. §1125(d) a domain name registrant is liable in a civil action if the registrant of the domain name has a bad faith intent to profit from registration of the trademark as a domain name and registers, traffics in, or uses a domain name that is identical or confusingly similar to another party’s trademark or dilutes a famous trademark. Further, the trademark owner can recover damages of $1000 to $100,000 per domain name registration. Your registration of the amextraders.com domain name with constructive knowledge of our client’s famous AMEX mark constitutes bad faith use of the domain name. In the ICANN STOP decision of American Express Company v. Swarthmore Associates, LLC, FA0204000110759 (NAF July 10, 2002), the panel held that the domain name owner registered the domain name in bad faith due to its constructive knowledge of the American Express Company’s AMEX trademark and found that “there is possibility, even probability, of confusion.†Accordingly, your mere registration of the amextraders.com domain name is actionable under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy and no further use of the domain name is even necessary for our client to bring an ICANN complaint against you at this time. We request that within 10 days the amextraders.com domain name registration be expressly withdrawn from Directi Internet Solutions Pvt. Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com, and that you cease and desist all current and future use of amextraders.com, or anything else confusingly similar thereto, in connection with a domain name or in any other manner. We look forward to hearing from you within 10 days so that this matter can be resolved. Should you have any questions, please contact the undersigned. Very truly yours, Anne E. Naffziger LEYDIG, VOIT & MAYER, LTD. 1420 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3670 Seattle, Washington 98101 206-428-3102 (direct phone) 312-616-5700 (fax) www.leydig.com What should i do please reply ASAP.
They have no case. They send these out by the dozens and hope some of them stick. You are clearly not infringing on their trademark, and they do not have the right to control that 4-letter combination in every conceivable context worldwide. Either ignore it, or write back something like this: And then do follow through as mentioned in the last paragraph. Visit http://www.chillingeffects.org/domain/ to read more about your rights, and if their lawyers continue to pester you - which they will probably not - then get help. You should also submit the letter you received to the Chilling Effects C&D database, here: http://www.chillingeffects.org/domain/submit.cgi?TriggerID=6 This will help people who advocate on behalf of people like you to understand what sort of threats are currently circulating. Do not under any circumstances offer to sell the domain to American Express, because they will (and probably successfully) use that as pretext to claim bad faith and then they will take it away from you and pay you nothing anyway.
Indeed? And you know these for facts because? Amex may hope some of them stick. But they also know they have the burden of protecting their trademark rights nonetheless. I see the same thread is also present elsewhere: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1463369 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?p=12272167 And Amex is arguably using the same mark in India, though I do not know how popular Amex is in there for especially financial services or so.
Just ignore it. They surely will get off your back soon. In case things will be getting worse, ask for professional help.
Obviously nobody knows "for facts" what the future will hold. But I have been involved in enough of these cases to make a fair guess about which ones have legs. Yes, and that's why they send out these letters. Heh... last time I tried to change American Express travelers cheques in India it took 4 hours.
Indeed. But is a fair guess enough to tell a forum member to ignore a potential legal issue without knowing any and all possibly relevant facts, especially since only the OP will be directly affected by this? I suppose you know something I don't, especially about this case. Good for you if you're right, but what about the OP if he followed what you said and turned out eventually wrong? Then again, the OP ought to seek a licensed expert with real-world experience in these things anyway. Perhaps you can recommend him one as I don't know any in his jurisdiction.
This is why I suggested seeking help at the chillingeffects site. But realistically, the worst that can happen is that his domain will get taken away. Not in anyone's wildest dreams can they show bad faith, at least based on the evidence we've seen here.
WOW . never new they can do that . suggesting that you should sell the domain to them . get some money out of it . they have money they willing to pay u . TRY