Rich Jerk wants to Sue me!

I think the bottom line is that you are profiting by running ads on a site that whores out this guys trademark. If it were to go to court you would not stand a chance in hell in winning against this guy. If this guy indeed is rich and i were him, i would sue you back to the stone age as well. Based on principle, but also because his rankings would surely improve.

I think you deep indside your gut know that you are walking on eggshells. If i were you and if your not making a ton of money with the current site i would cave. This guy is within his rights to ask you to take down your site.

 

Yeah, everyone buy this ebook instead...

 

No one seems to remember fat albert . com

 

I had a similar run in with RJ a while back and I simply sent him an email that said go right ahead with your lawsuit.

I've never heard from him since

I will admit that my website host was threateing to shut down my site if I did not comply so I told them that I would SUE them if they shut me down without due cause

Website hosts feel it's easier to just get rid of you rather than get involved in a legal dispute so therefore you have to let them know that if they get rid of you without due cause then you will create real legal problems for them.

 

What, or who, is fatalbert.com?

 

I own www.tottenham.info , I got a letter like yours about 4 years a go from a popular football club of the same name..... I am still waiting for them to carry out their threat.
That is not to say the company in question may not follow through their threat (if they are super rich) if they want to take any action again you its cheaper for them to report you to ICANN and ask ICANN to take it off you and give it to them than to sue you.

 

You must be quite young my Dear.

Hey, Hey, Hey...It's Fat Albert...

 

I wish.

That is of no help whatsoever. Who / what / where - is fat albert and what's the significance to this topic?

 

A famous Saturday morning Cartoon Character made famous by Comedian "Bill Cosby"

It also later became the name of a famous fast food restaurant franchise specialising in submarine sandwiches (owned by Ralph Nader...I believe)

What does this have to do with this thread?

I'm not sure...Probably because somebody got sued for using the domain name Fatalbert.com

 

Hence OJ Simpson.

You can hire the "dream team" of lawyers as my business law professor would say.

 

Ryan- it always comes down to money. If youve got it, dont worry. Rich Jerk is just that, so he can afford to drag you into court and spend $$$. I would wait till he serves you, and in the event he does, consider redirecting to another domain and agree to withdraw yours in 30-45 days etc.
The legal system isnt always about who is right..its about who has money and who can endure a legal battle. I have been served for LINKS to content about competitors...heck I only had LINKS on my site, yet they knew they were serpd and hurting their business. It would have cost me tens of thousands of $$ to win, which I would have eventually, but it was cheaper to simply delete a darn link!

Although the other domains that have been mentioned in this thread didnt pursue legal action, porsche for one did, and has had ANY domain with their name in it sued, and won all of them...so be prepared.

Heck, maybe even offer to sell it to him since you are serpd so well-

 

Post on your site what he is planing on doing. I hate the guy and I barely even read about him. It seems he just sells useless e-books.

 

good luck, I would give the domain up. But I give up a lot

 

If it is indeed being used as a parody site than it is covered under fair use. There have been previous UDRP cases where it was found that even with ads, the rights of the protected speech superceded any bad faith claims based on the ads. Plus if it is a review/opinion/parody site and you would have ads for Rich Jerk, as well as competitors, this might fall under Comparative Shopping which also falls under fair use.

But like others have said, regardless of your legal position, it comes down to how much money you have to defend yourself. Welcome to the world...

 

Hello Everyone,

I've just run into this thread as I was researching something related to the RJ.

Here are the facts:
http://www.eff.org/bloggers/lg/faq-ip.php

 

i wish you look
i also have a site that has a trademark

its currently number 2 for that keyword

i will see what happens when or if they get knocked of the top spot

 

to be honest, its just a scare tactic

especially his little "wont cost us a dime" rant... it might be true but generally places like that don't house attorneys

at the law office i work at we forclose on houses for HSBC Bank (MERS) which are HUUUUUGE lenders, and they outsource their attorneys... so i'm not sure if he's at all credible

in sum, don't let it scare u - wait until you're properly summoned to get legal advise... email is probibly the least professional "cease and decist" available... the least he could have done was thrown it on some letterhead and bucked up $.39 for a stamp... for all you know it could be some 10yr old whose dad made it big on richjerks

altho i do see s/he Cc'd an attorney on the first letter, you might be in for a surprise :-/ sorry bud

 

My advice is simple.

Do one of two things.

A) Find a guy named Richard Jerks
B) Change your name to Richard Jerks

In the case of A, send him a webcam and tell him you will share profits with him on the site you set up for him called RichJerksCam.com

In case of B, put a webcam in your shower and start promoting your Richard Jerks Cam site at RichJerksCam.com

Otherwise, there is probably already a male porn star out there name Rich Jerks or Dick Jerks and just set up a porn site glorifying them and make some money that way.

 

Reminds me of that time where that kid named Mike Rowe took the domain name MikeRoweSoft and Microsoft sued him. Bastards

 

wonder what happened as i can not find this site in google but this thread is ranked 11th.