If there are so many easy*.ext sutes out there, you might find it helpful to contact them and see how things are for them. If they're in the same situation, join forces. In that case you would find yourself in a much stronger position. It's still good to have a contingency plan. I like the idea of the shelf company owning the domain and making things more difficult for them. It's not fair at all what they're doing.
It is incredible that this is going on. I wonder how many other threads in other forums are being started by other bullied ´easy´ domain holders and if Easy are aware of just how much bad publicity they are likely to stir up for themselves in the long run. On the one hand I agree with Fryman´s point about standing your ground but on the other, this is the guy´s livelihood and he can´t afford to stand his ground no matter how firmly he is in right. How bloody unfair. This really pisses me off.
This is just harassment. Nothing more. You will not get sued, and if you do with a half ass lawyer you will win. If a lawsuit is filed, I would contact every single MEDIA online, and outside with my story, this would give you so much traffic you will be at an advantage with sales plus you will win the lawsuit as well.
Ouch! Easy is coming after you. Unfortunately, this is not the first time they have went after a domain featuring the 'Easy' prefix. According to The Register, in this article about Easy Group, they gave up using WIPO because of a "string of negative judgements" and allegedly chose to bring their considerable financial muscle to bear to force domain holders to give up the domains or face lengthy and costly court battles instead. They even have the domain, easyprotest.com, which was, as the name suggests, a protest site. My own opinion is that EasyGadget is an excellent name with which to trade on the internet and that Easy would like to acquire it to add to their growing portfolio of domain names bearing the Easy prefix. You can get the Brand Manual (PDF) here showing the list of Easy names. Legally, Easy Group would need to prove that the domain Easygadget was impinging or 'passing off', by trading on a Trademark they currently owned. My own thoughts are that the domain in question, Easygadget.co.uk, is not passing off as an existing Easy trademark and a quick WhoIs of other variations; Easygadget.com, Easygadgets.com and Easygadgets.co.uk do not show the Easy group as being the registered holders. If you have the money for the legal side, my opinion is that you should fight for the domain rather than allow it to be swallowed up by the Easy group. nice site, btw.
Your lawyer should have more fully informed you of your situation. The easygroup is unlikely to ever obtain an injunction against you. Their tactics will be to threaten you repeatedly and if they get the idea that you are very stupid they will sue. Otherwise suing is a waste of money for them because if you put up even a semblance of a fight they are unlikely to win. This is all of course assuming that you are not trading off of their commercial name, which I think is unlikely since the only publicity easygroup ever got was for their intellectual property thefts.
This is the most accurate post here. This is just a company tactic. You have 2 choice. Either give up the domain or pay for a legal defense against a WIPO decision...this will cost you 2-3k from my understanding. Contact j. berryhill about this if you need a 100% incredible internet lawyer. Have you spoken again to them or have they just sent you this email? It could simply be a form mail they send out with hopes of scaring people into giving up the domain. I hope you didn't respond to them. They really can't win against you. It's a waste of their money but the problem is that it's a waste of yours too.
Agreed. It seems to be a company tactic to try to force domain owners to simply hand over their domains. Not quite. From what I understand, Easy Group target domains under UK Trademark law, not WIPO, citing a case known as the One in a Million case (full judgement here). The One in a Million case was when a company scooped up lots of Trademark names as domains, e.g. britishtelecom.co.uk, and basically held them to ransom, offering to sell the domains to 'any interested party' should the various companies not stump up the asking price. My thoughts exactly. That's the crux of the matter. Go to court and win, but fund your legal defence in the mean time, or bend over and get shafted out of a great domain.
Check your age of registration aginst their registrations. Find your earliest document mentioning easygadgets and make sure you keep it! Use wayback to secure evidence that when launching no easysomething was anywhere near your goods class. I would not give up easily and would register the TM easygadgets in the UK trademark register. I checked looks like available. Make sure you pick the right goods class!! You may not get it but they may fail to object, so a TM pending will give you a strong case. I think its about £250 Send the registration to whoever is concerned but not easygroup If you want to play it very save and haven't acknowledged their e-mail think about selling the domain and brand including the TM pending into a LTD company newly set up. Just in case this will keep any liabilities at bay. They haven't anything in this channel yet. I would register ezigadgets put out a couple of pages and sit back. Expat
Good advice from expat! Also, have a look at this site, Institute of Trademark Attorneys which has some basic articles on some of the issues covered as well as a searchable database of UK trademark lawyers.
hi guys, great feedbacks, we have enough information from the owners of those who have risen against easyGroup in the past and 'won' We are convinced they do not have a legal case for the word 'easy' as we are not in anwyay, trying to immitate their brand. The trademark suggestion is warmly welcome and i will investigate that! We have written back to them 2 days ago with 10 points why we are not misusing the word 'easy', we have yet to hear from them. We have contacted experienced IP lawyers who have worked on easyGroup cases and we are happy to go to court with them! meanwhile, we have registered a series of domain names and will create a contingency website in case all fail. We think someone have to stand out in court against them if they insist, we are willing to fork out financial support during this difficult period. Thank you to all your support!
it's great to hear that the combined wisdom is appreciated... And best of luck. Please keep us posted....maybe a blog ala shawn and his ongoing fight... Expat PS trademark db is here (I use text search to check) http://www.patent.gov.uk/tm/dbase/
Yeah, keep us posted as much as you can safely let us know about, anyway. Don't ever post or discuss online, any of your legal plans or strategies. Often in legal disputes, lawyers will search the internet looking for available information on the 'enemy'.
Not raise the comotose here... But I think this whole thing raises an interesting possibility. What if companies that refused to accept arbitration in domain disputes and pursued other avenues were just prohibited from owning any domain names... It would be fairly drastic... but if companies/individuals are just going to askew the arbitration process it makes the whole thing much less useful. Just a thought.
wow, I am out of words. next thing I know, I'll have to perform a trademark search to make sure I will be permitted to use certain words in the English language. I can tell you, no matter how much money they have, it won't be that easy