It sounds crazy, but it's true. On one of the free designs I released, I said "Proxify Me!" as a "Go!" button because I thought it sounded cool. Never even thought about the site. Well, to keep it short, I got an email from Proxify asking me to take down the designs and replace their name. Obviously, I did, but was amused that a button can be considered Trademark Infringement.
He taks all this copyright crap too far. Its a damn button FFS, it doesnt affect him what-so-ever. It also erks me when people give in to his idiocy. Youre only making his epeen bigger.
Maybe you should signup as an affiliate and turn the "button" into a banner ... lol ... regardless of how silly it is, if it`s a trademark name, he has every right to do what he did ... what was your "Proxify Me" button for? If it was a "go button" for the same service as proxify.com provides then you sure can`t blame him for stopping you ... Kudos for complying quickly Daniel591992
G`day Daniel, yeah it`s difficult coming up with something different for buttons aye, I`d never heard of "proxify" before either as a website or even as a word, no biggie I guess. Hey mate, checked yourdodesign.us site out ... shweeet ... downloaded on of your designs, looks very good and will use it very soon. (PM me if it`s not appropriate to "chat" off topic here ... lol) Drop.io looks pretty cool to ... came across a similar site the other day ... senduit or something like that ... you create drop.io yourself?? More kudos to ya
@immortality - This is a trademark issue. Not copyright. Unlike copyright, trademarks must be vigorously defended because if they become too general then they will lose protection. Personally, I think the term proxify is on the edge of losing protection status (but then I am not a judge). The owner of the trademark must take a hard stance on this or he will lose his trademark status.
I meant trademark, stupid me and not thinking as fast as I type. Its just a button..1 out of the 1000 people that use it will even read the button much less connect it with proxify. He isnt protecting his trademark... hes being greedy.
If he was being greedy then he would have asked for money for violating his trademark. All he asked for was to have it removed. In trademark law, common usage does not mean the man on the street. It means people in the industry. That 1 out of 1000 (or even 100,000) can have large ramifications. Especially since the OP is not the first person to mistakenly use the trademark without permission. If the owner of the trademark lets these things slip then he gets no protection for his mark. That's just stupid business.
In this case its just a button. In the other cases he is asking for people to send the domain over to him for being SLIGHTLY similar to his trademark.
Trademark law is very specific about misspellings, phonetic equivalents, and phrases containing trademarks are all protected under trademark law. Again, if he doesn't vigorously defend his trademark he loses the trademark status. ICANN rules are also very clear about who would win. The simple answer is don't try to make your maoney on somebody else's coat tails. Whether you like it or not, the law is on his side.