I have a problem with another person running a website with the same name as my website name except there is a difference in the names of only the letter "s". An example.... eBay and eBays Both sites are catering to the same exact niche. My site has been up and running for years, their site have been up for only days. What can I do about this? I have spoke to their site admin and he told me to take a hike. I heard I could report them to their hosting company and they would get shut down but I do not know who they use or how to find out? What can be done? Any advice would be great. Thank you!
Reporting them to their hosting company is not an option. That is for DMCA filings related to copyright infringement. This would be a potential trademark infringement situation. It's all going to depend on the exact domain name and whether or not you have common law trademark rights. Your rights will also hinge on if you were the first to use this term (not just before this other person) for this particular usage, and of course, whether or not it can be used as a TM. There isn't going to be a course of action that is cheap. Anything you do to force the other party to take down the site is going to run up some costly legal fees. You should perhaps check into getting a Federal trademark registration for your mark. Consulting with an attorney, doing a search, and filing fee should run around $1,000+. This would be this first step and the process takes time.
I agree with the second post here. If you do not own a trademark on your name - or a copyright on a unique name your not going to get anywhere. Ebay is a major trademark and copyright. If I put up a auction site called ebays they have every right to sue me, just as if I make google2 or anything else such as that. But if you have mysite.com and someone makes mysites.com it wouldn't matter - you have no grounds to challenge him.
Your post is completely wrong. Common law trademarks can be established upon first usage. NO FILING is required. Phonetic, similar, and misspellings can all be infringement. Making a site plural does nothing to get around infringement. A good example is PerfumeBay - which lost their trademark infringement suit by ebay. MikeRoweSoft.com (Mike Rowe was his real name) is another example. Again, you don't copyright trade names.
Thanks, I appreciate your compliment. However, your post is the wrong post, not mine. So let me phrase it as bluntly as you did: Your post is absolutely and utterly incorrect. I say again for those NOT listening. No matter how similar, or how close my site is to another - IF my site is NOT a trademark it cannot be protected by copyright infringement. UNLESS that site is marketing, advertising, or using content that is copyrighted by me - I cannot take any action. You cannot take action against another site like that, unfortunately, the system does not work that way. Completely, and utterly wrong. Unless there is filing there is no record of who used it first! Just think we may have the IPOD in the '70's with that sort of thinking! (src)
You're post is just plain stupid. You need to learn the basics of copyrights and trademarks - they are two completely different things. Here's some information to give you the basics, lol...... Copyrights are automatic. When is my work protected? Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Do I have to register with your office to be protected? No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#patent Do I have to register my trademark? No, but federal registration has several advantages, including notice to the public of the registrant's claim of ownership of the mark, a legal presumption of ownership nationwide, and the exclusive right to use the mark on or in connection with the goods or services set forth in the registration. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/tmfaq.htm#Basic001 Now research "common law trademarks" and feel free to post when you have the slightest clue about what you are posting.
sorry but i dont have any COPYWRITTEN quotes to post or anything but the fact is THAT IF YOUR INFORMATION THAT HAS BEEN STOLEN IS NOT DOCUMENTED ANYWHERE you will have a HELL OF A time getting anything done as you can SAY i was the first one to write THIS paragraph . . . there is NO PROOF that it is that way so when you go in front of a judge IF it even gets that far it will be considered HEAR SAY and might not get that far . . . as i dont really know what you can do at this point i suggest REWRITING your content and keep updating it frequently then it wont really matter if they come and STEAL your info . . . cause next week YOU WILL HAVE NEW info i know it sound like a pain . . . in the you know what . . . but unfortunately this is something we have to live with on a regular basis when doing work on the internet . . . for example i just hooked up my removable hd to my old computer and came across these 1000's of articles that i found from somewhere i dont remember and i would laugh at some sort of like this in an email " AHAHAHAHAHAA LOL LOL AHAHAHAHA " if once i post these articles and some one comes along and say HEY THAT IS MY CONTENT YOU STOLE IT didnt you see that little c at the bottom of my page, I HAD IT FIRST LOL although i am not an internet attorney i dont think there is much you can do IF you are NOT trademarked as of the time when your content was STOLEN so once again i suggest you just update your site
If this is only related to Domain name then ICANN is the answer. If the content on the site is the problem then DMCA is the answer.
All great advice. I guess there is no solid answer unless it was a well known site with lots of power. I will just let it be and continue on. I guess there will always be thieves out there that can't create their own. Thanks to all.
This is all assuming the person running the copied website is from a country that recognizes the laws of your country. If they are, then yea, you can try going after trademark, otherwise, you are SOL.
to claim it you would need it to be trademarked b4 he registered and a lot of very expencive lawyers... not worth the trouble