Rich Jerk wants to Sue me!

This sounds like another one of those Internet Toolkits, featuring Al Borland from Home Improvement... I guess suckers are born every day who are looking to throw away their hard earned cash in order to try to make money... Lets be honest, if they had the motivation to make money, they'd already be doing it. It's not like in this day and age information isn't easily obtainable. This guy didn't offer anything new, except a chance to spend money on a lazy endeavor and the buyers will never put in the time required to succeed.

I don't see how you can claim this is a scam... It's marketing in the greatest concept, because it's playing on human desires, but then again, every piece of marketing tripe does the same thing. The fact is, the guy offers information for a price and makes no claims to your success. Theres absolutely no margin for scam... You get exactly what you pay for, what you decide to do with it is upto you.

Personally, from the content you have on the site, I don't think he has a legal claim, but you may have changed it since recieving the threat, I don't know. The fact that you use the word "scams" though does present a problem for libel and could cause you to lose if it goes to court. RichJerkSucks.com would be 100x better...

 

take it to court sell the domain to some Nigerian and wish him good luck

 

Ask him to buy ur domain for millions.

 

I know small companies that have a team of lawyers working for them for a monthly budget, so this isn't so hard to have.

Also I've also given a domain to Dreamhost for similar reasons. The domain included the word dreamhost, and they said it wasn't ok. It had reached quite a success, but I gave it because I want a good business relation with my partners.

Redirect it with a 301 to a generic domain if you don't want to fight for it (is it worth it?).

 

Not impressed with that ebook. Not worth the money. Take that money and buy specific strategies. His is a mish mash of different strategies... none original. Quite ironic.

 

If you have a trademark you HAVE to sue people with domains like this to keep your trademark. Look it up.

 

Wanna know why hes pissed off? .. from richjerk.com FAQs:

And the third result, Rich Jerk Scams ..

 

LOL, Gravereaper.

 

ha gravereaper, first result over here.

 

I have a feeling they really cant do anything to you. Trying to scare you and all that good stuff. I think they are just a little upset they have someone messn with there revenue lol and who likes rich jerk anyways!

 

After reading this statement, I think they are full of it and just trying to scare you. Do not reply to anything else they send you. Change the email address they are using to contact you so it gets bounced back to them and make them start mailing you "official" and "certified" letters....

 

Read my post above. Under US trademark law not only CAN they do something they are REQUIRED to do so. If you don't defend your trademark you lose it, simple enough.

 

Guys/Girls,
I've done some reading up on 301 redirects to another domain and really it would seem to be the easiest option out there and if I do it right should not really loose any rankings which I can definately get back quite easily. I mean I'm just a normal fella and I don't like lawyers much coz I just don't understand what they are talking about.

So now the question is, what do you guys/girls think I should name the next domain, naturally this time without the "rich jerk" trademark name in it to save from future problems.

Ideas guys!

Oh yah, I really have to thank everyone who gave time and effort to advise me on what is going on...you have been a great help in guiding my steps.

 

I was in this same situation and did a 301 redirect to a new domain. I kept the original domain for the backlinks, but moved the content. The company dropped all legal action against me. Good luck...

richandspammingjerks.com ??? hahah

 

3rd one here at Google, plus on Yahoo it suggests us the keyword 'rich jerk scam' when we search for 'Rich Jerk'.

I don't know why some members said that richjerkscams.com is ranked #1 for keyword Rich Jerk.

 

Well, he'd be living up to his name if he ended up doing it.

 

You probably won't have to worry too much longer, I think this post will probably rank #1 for "rich jerk" soon enough......

 

I think you can use this domain. He might try to bully you but history on domains dispute is on your side.

Why you can use this domain?

1. He does not have trademark on 'richjerkscams.com'
2. Fair use of domain other then to confuse people with his own.

Lots of this kind of threats going on around the net.

I think you're ok. Try contacting Electronic Frontier Foundation and Patent and Trademark Office to get more info on creditbility of this threat.

http://www.eff.org/
http://www.uspto.gov/

Oh yea... If he own 'Rich Jerk', you might want to put registered trademark next to each and every 'Rich Jerk' on your site just to be on the safe side.

 

It doesn't matter if he has a trademark for 'richjerkscams.com' or not.. First of all, domain names can not be TM... Secondly, if you use part of a trademark in your domain and your usage for that domain violates their rights then your screwed.

Also, adding a TM notice next to 'Rich Jerk' does nothing but show that you are aware of their TM and still violating it.

In this case, I think his best argument is for usage, because they way he is using the site may qualify as fair use, but he doesn't want to fight it so it's a moot point. Personally, I wish richjerksucks.com were available to reg, because I'd throw up a site just to piss the rich jerk off

 

Man! This thread is STUFFED WITH BAD ADVICE!

Crap like, offer to sell the domain - er, no, don't do that since offering to sell implies the domain was registered in bad faith with the express purpose of squeezing the richjerk Trademark domain holder.

Crap like, the term 'Rich Jerk' cannot be trademarked - er, YES, it can and has been.

Serial Number: 78719206 Registration Number: 3171019

Bad faith has already been demonstrated by the site, richjerkscams.com, by offering other ebooks for sale on the site. Nice SEO'ing btw!

Attempting to portray the site as 'a parody' won't wash since it does not parody RichJerk.com but instead attempts to profit from the Trademark by offering alternative electronic publications.

A Trademark MUST be defended by the holder - if it isn't, even just to lay down a papertrail, the Trademark becomes worthless.