Hi everybody! I own a domain named Cheesecakefatorymenu.com I'm wondering if this is a trademark infringement of The Cheesecake Factory. There is also a domain named cheesecakefactory.com that is already registered for years and I didn't find any action against them. Thanks
It's trademark infringement if you use it for anything related to another company's business. Forget what other people are doing, it isn't a legal defense.
I have put this sentence on the bottom of my website. "Important Note: We are not in any way affiliated with The Cheesecake Factoryâ„¢. If you are looking for their website click here" Does it help me?
No, a disclaimer doesn't get around infringement. Trademarks don't have to be registered, but theirs is. You should just forget about using the domain and let it expire.
If it's a fan site your fine since it's bad pr to sue a fan site, but if you want to do a menu site. Why not just do a cheesecake menu or desert menu website?
More bad advice. There are thousands of "fan sites" that have been sued - it is not a legal defense and a trademark holder is required by law to take action to defend their mark. There are some cases of where a genuine, non-commercial fan site, can operate under fair use - but that means no monetizing the site in any form (no advertising, no memberships, no donations for bandwidth, etc).... And since fair use is a huge grey area, from a practical standpoint, no one is going to spend tens of thousands of dollars to keep a site that isn't making them a penny just to keep a domain if the trademark holder takes legal action. Since "cheesecake factory" is a registered mark, I fail to see how anyone could argue that there isn't a chance of confusion by seeing the domain name alone. The argument is pointless, because I am sure the OP isn't talking about building a non-commercial site anyway. If someone wants to build a "fan site" - they should request permission from the trademark holder BEFORE doing it. I really wish people who have no experience in IP law would stop making stupid guesses in the legal section.
That wasn't bad advice... 99% of fan sites won't ever be sued or touched. His might be because it's a spelling infraction of one letter and that looks suspicious, but 99% of the time no one will touch it. If they do you can just transfer it out to a different name usually (this is what happens many times) and have you transfer over the domain name to them. They aren't going to go all mumble jumble crazy time law on you unless your actually selling cheese cake menus. They might go after the menu because it's protected under their business, but free publicity ain't bad, companies love it. Especially the positive ones. Man people get so scared when they think of being sued. It's nothing to worry about. Why would they even touch his website anyways... It's a menu and it's giving them free promotions as long as he says he's not affiliated with them it won't matter. Companies don't just sue and spend millions of dollars to take out fan sites. They go after people that are causing them grave harm on the bottom line. Sometimes they do, but most fan sites are just fan sites. Seriously learn some business ethics if your going to say remarks like "I really wish people who have no experience in IP law would stop making stupid guesses in the legal section". PR is terrible for a company and if they are going after little things like that then they won't stand much longer. BP is getting fucked over by this oil spill and the PR is killing them. Their shares are dropping because people have morals and morals can kill a company. BP will probably survive, but they will be hurt for a few months or years after this depending on how long it takes them to clean up the oil spill. Live your life in fear or take that risk. I could be hit by a car tomorrow or sued tomorrow. I'll get to that road when it comes. If you plan on making money off of it though this is where you might find yourself in some hot water, but a fan site usually won't piss them off. If they send you a notice telling you to give it over. Just ask if you can transfer over the domain name and keep the site. Companies are pretty understanding in this area. Most companies don't just screw you over for the hell of it. It happens, but very rarely.
Yes it was. It is those that give bad advice that need to quote" Seriously learn some business ethics " unqote. I do not personally know mjewel but I would say that from reading his/her (?) posts (s)he is one of the most ethical people in this forum. You can not know in advance the reaction of anyone that has people infringing on thier trademark, and/or copyrights so it is a fools game to assume that just because one person/company does nothing that the rest will act the same way. If the poster has any moral and ethical standards (something that is clearly lacking in many members here in DP) then they will not infringe.
I do not know mjewel, but I have been reading his posts for quite some time and he knows his subject matter very well! Further, he takes the time to repeat himself over and over as this subject comes up about every 3 days. mjewel is correct -- using a trademark that belongs to another entity in your domain name in order to "profit" from their reputation is a violation of trademark law. (Understand that you can profit in other ways than just money - driving people to your site is a way to profit from someone else's reputation.)
I'm not saying I'm an expert, but that was my opinion. I don't worry about anything since I don't try to game the system, but I watch all the time when people try to game the system. It's always different, but many companies would just rather have the domain name than sue unless you were profiting.
Your advice and logic are equally incorrect. I have defended people in Federal Court who thought like you that they could just mess around with a company's trademark and then transfer the name at the last minute. Well, when a company is not playing around they simply get an injunction freezing the domain name at the registrar and then sue your ass in Federal Court. Have fun getting out of that. It does not take millions to screw you, just a couple thousand to a law firm they likely already have on retainer. Considering Cheesecake Factory is one of the few restaurants that actually places ADS every other page in their MENU, this website is not only infringing, but it is going after one of their key money making sources and unique aspect of the brand.
It all depends on your luck I guess. I see guys get sued that win or lose. Gives the pr bad rep and they are careful. People can create a menu website to make fun of a menu. It's called fair use limitations do apply, but it's freedom of speech for the most part. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...used-in-quest-to-shutdown-lowes-sucks-com.ars , also a story about the aken rapper guy. op never specified his intentions. When I think of fan site though I think for non-profit critical of the company site in a positive way. Not someone who is going to sell tons of cakes, ads, or etc.
You should stop posting in the legal section. The more you post, the more foolish you look. "sucks" type sites are a completely different story. Even a complete moron should be able to recognize that having "sucks" in a domain is a whole lot different than a domain that doesn't. By looking at the domain name alone, the average person isn't likely to think that "cheesecakefactorysucks" is a legitimate site run by the trademark holder vs. a domain that could be one that could be an official site (and that's the legal argument). And there is nothing stopping a trademark holder from filing a lawsuit and forcing you to go to court and spend large sums of money to prove your right to use it. btw, I guess you didn't even bother to check, but lowes-sucks.com is now owned by the trademark holder.
You have already proven that you no respect in an argument. You need to stoop to a lower level and I'm not going to waste my time anymore if you want to be that way.
Thank you. That mean's you are not going waste the time of other people who have to respond to advice that may seem logical to you but is not based on a thorough understanding of IP law. Now, if only some of the worst offenders would decide not to waste their time...
I don't mean to be nasty, but I laughed when I saw the domain in the OP. Honestly, you couldn't infringe on a trademark worse than that... hehe
I don't know I guess it's luck because I have a friend who has a blizzard (game) domain name and he's never been touched. He even requested for a direct sponsorship which they didn't give it to him. He also has 3 other sites in all total of 4 with company product names. Never been touched. None of them care since it's free traffic. It's all luck in this matter. They are all fan sites and he makes a bit of cash through advertising.
Until one of them realizes your friend is siphoning traffic that's actually intended for them, maybe. Heh.