Today I received a legal sue through fedex claiming I have done copyrighted infrigment by naming one of my business very similalrly to another. Among all the things they ask me to do is giving away my domain to the suppousedly perjudicated man. Of course I wasnt aware of their business and I am kind of lost in all this. But I think they just want my domain, which has a lot of hours of work, and I am not willing to give it to them, any ideas?
my domain is change-clothing.com and the one who is suing me is There is no relation between one and the other, I am sure they just want my domain, but if it was free domain I guess they can't take it from me? thanks
My guess is that they're bullshitting you. You can't claim a word in common usage like 'change' as your own. See what the others think.
There is no way that someone could sue claiming copyrighted infrigment for such common, generic words as change-clothing.com. It is my very strong opinion that you are being bluffed in the hopes that you will give in to them.
1. It is not clear from your comments if you have been sued or it is just a request from the company for the name. When I search uspto.gov under the name "Circosta" this is what I see: He owns a live mark, but it is for a stylized image of the word change: You can see that registration by looking up this reg number: 3200883 and this serial number: 78697081 Based on the little I know, I personally would be inclined to ignore the letter. But, of course, I haven't even seen it.
It isn't - trust me. Whereas 'Change Urban' and 'Cultivate Change' may well be trademarks, the word 'Change' by itself almost certainly isn't. They are bluffing you - don't be fooled into giving them the domain name because they aren't entitled to it.
well, thank you all, the problem is that if I loose the case I'll have to pay a lot of money. I'll talk with my lawyer and see what we can do I have uploaded images of the letter http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t298/acusador/1.jpg?t=1182887868 - page 1 http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t298/acusador/2.jpg?t=1182887867 - page 2 thanks
Personally, i don't think they would get anywhere, they are scaremongering Ive seen it hundreds of times, people giving up their domains because they are scared. your not passing off, which is the big no no, its your own brand it doesnt even look like his logo! if he has a trademark for the logo design then thats fair enough, having the rights to use the work change on any item of clothing. I dont think so!! Tell them politely. If mr X would like to purchase my domain, the company and the designs he can do for $$$$$$$ otherwise, c ya later. They won't take it all the way!
i guess this legal issue eventually favored changeurban. the site change-clothing.com is now showcasing change urban clothes. i dont know how the legal issue was fought. i hope the old owner got fair treamment or some compensation for the domain. best regards edit: oops... wrong comment above. the design on change-clothing.com was so PRO i though that was from changeurban. my apology. nice design! good luck with the legal battle.
Personally, in looking at the site and the clothing... I would say you are on a thin line. The product line does look a lot like the other person's clothing and you are using Change and Urban directly next to eachother on the site. I am not a lawyer, but if I were Mr. Circosta and I saw your site, I would probably take the same action. I think that you are ok, because you are not using the exact trademarked logos though. I would probably go see my lawyer and get a real legal opinion. Good luck to you, I'll be watching this thread to see the outcome.
Legally they could pursue you as they have registered a trademark and I hope you did too... For arguments sake, both of your companies share the same business of selling apparels with the word "change" in it... As any businessman, he would probably feel a competition, and that competition is you, and almost the same quality as his product line as well as yours... Your argument would therefore be, that your brand is not "change" but "change!" with the extra exclamation, that would probably help... but then again if I would register a popular name and add an exclamation, that wouldn't stand in court... hope this is resolved soon... just .2 *edit telling you this as I encountered the same thing last February. Talked to my Atty's to get the better picture...
After reading the letter, I have changed my mind and I think you will lose. Depending on how much your sites makes you, it may or may not be worth consulting a lawyer about a potential response. This is not some fake letter, this is a real letter from a serious law firm. They will sue you if you don't turn over the name. Win or lose, it will cost you. Unless you are making a lot of money which makes a fight or negotiation worth it, I would give up the name.
Do that, rather than believe a few posts here who know nothing of your case. Imagine what can happen if you chose to believe them if you hadn't uploaded scanned copies of the letter you received. To expand a bit what browntwn said, it's a C&D, not a notice of suit. If you've chosen to fight this, though, the next one might be. While IANAL, there are certain terms in that letter you don't have to agree to. But I'll let your lawyer tell you that.
thank you all for the feedback. I've talked with my lawyer and we will be answering their letter tomorrow, I was asked for silence though, so I can't give up what it will say. The main problem is that I sell urban clothing, it's a fashion trend and a lot of sites use the word in their own pages, I added the "clothing" word as most of google searches included those 2 words, now it's costing me lawsuite as they claim that I am using their "Change Urban clothing" trademark but it was just SEO ....funny world