We have an e-commerce web site, Folding Chair Depot that we started last year. Today I noticed that another web site at buyfoldingchair.info put our company name at the top of their web site and also in the copyright notice at the bottom. This site links to a direct competitor to us. Clearly they are trying to use our company name to drive traffic to our competitor's web site. Our biggest fear is that we will start getting phone calls about mishandled orders or returns from our competitor's confused customers. My question is - since it is not our domain name they are copying but our company name, what legal ground do we have to make them take it down? And how should we handle this issue?
Short of hiring an attorney and suing them for trademark infringement i.e. likelihood of confusion, which is going to be very expensive, there isn't a way to force them to change the site. You could try a letter advising them that you intend to sue, but since the links on that site go to different websites, it is probably just some idiot who doesn't have ten cents to their name and is looking for make some affiliate commission. It's possible that they don't even reside in the US. Unless this site actually starts causing you problems, it probably isn't worth the effort or expense.