Lubby
02-26-2004, 10:35 PM
Ok well some of you may have seen the comment that was made....anyway....I don't know what to do.
My Domain: truechoicehosting.com
I messaged TotalChoice about his comment and I have included the posts that resulted, what should I do? I have most everything set up under this name and don't particularly want to sell or give it up as it isn't even the same name.
-----------------------------------------
truechoice wrote on 02-26-2004 05:24 PM:
I saw your message. Not sure how you figure they are the same? because they both have choice? I have never seen your site before so I am sorry about that. However domains aren't exactly easy to find these days. If you are going to have a big problem with it please let me know now so that it can be resolved before we start our hosting business.
Greg Lubbelinkhof
------------------------------------------
TotalChoice wrote on 02-26-2004 07:09 PM:
Greg,
I think it would be wise for us to come to a conclusion before this goes to my legal guy.
A trademark is in place on the word TotalChoice. It relates to hosting, web hosting, web design.
A trademark can be a word, name, symbol, device or any combination thereof which is used to identify and distinguish the goods or services of one company from goods or services of another. In order to qualify as a trademark, the mark must be used in federally regulated commerce, and the mark must be distinctive. In a nutshell, the distinctiveness requirement means that a mark cannot describe the underlying product, or if it does describe the product, the mark must have been used extensively enough in commerce to acquire a certain level of market recognition (i.e. secondary meaning).
Your url is easlily confused with our trademarked name. The main job behind a trademark is to avoid confusion on the end users side. Your url is "Muddy" to say the least.
TotalChoice and Truechoice are very close in name and print.
Let me simply buy the domain name and design from you and lets just leave it at that.
Your thoughts?
Bill Kish
General Manager
TotalChoice Hosting, Inc.
-----------------------------------------------------
truechoice wrote on 02-26-2004 07:40 PM:
We have spent a lot of time setting things up, all our resellers, payment systems, automation and everything is under this name and to be honest I honestly don't think they are very common. Someone isn't accidentally type in truechoicehosting.com instead of totalchoicehosting.com
I kind of doubt that in any sort of court this would be considered trademark infringment....
Please let me know yours thoughts.
Greg
----------------------------------------------------
It is not about typing a url. It is about muddy infringement.
For example, you will use the acronym TCH, which we have used for over 14 months.
I will refer to my attorney in the AM. They can make the judgement call.
A simple whois on your domain show it was created on the 15th of Jan.
A simply whois on your IP shows your a reseller of another provider, so I am not sure how to construe your statements.
We have over 17,000 clients in every country on the planet and maintain over 70 servers. Hosting well over 20,000 domains. This is a very serious matter to us.
Is this your legal address?
xxxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxxxx
Please advise, as this is on record with x***********
Good luck.
Bill Kish
TotalChoice Hosting, Inc.
------------------------------------------------------
I don't want to look like an idiot, and I don't want any problems, I just want to run my company under truechoicehosting and that is it. I don't use the acronym TCH anywhere nor will I. What should I do guys?
Greg Lubbelinkhof
My Domain: truechoicehosting.com
I messaged TotalChoice about his comment and I have included the posts that resulted, what should I do? I have most everything set up under this name and don't particularly want to sell or give it up as it isn't even the same name.
-----------------------------------------
truechoice wrote on 02-26-2004 05:24 PM:
I saw your message. Not sure how you figure they are the same? because they both have choice? I have never seen your site before so I am sorry about that. However domains aren't exactly easy to find these days. If you are going to have a big problem with it please let me know now so that it can be resolved before we start our hosting business.
Greg Lubbelinkhof
------------------------------------------
TotalChoice wrote on 02-26-2004 07:09 PM:
Greg,
I think it would be wise for us to come to a conclusion before this goes to my legal guy.
A trademark is in place on the word TotalChoice. It relates to hosting, web hosting, web design.
A trademark can be a word, name, symbol, device or any combination thereof which is used to identify and distinguish the goods or services of one company from goods or services of another. In order to qualify as a trademark, the mark must be used in federally regulated commerce, and the mark must be distinctive. In a nutshell, the distinctiveness requirement means that a mark cannot describe the underlying product, or if it does describe the product, the mark must have been used extensively enough in commerce to acquire a certain level of market recognition (i.e. secondary meaning).
Your url is easlily confused with our trademarked name. The main job behind a trademark is to avoid confusion on the end users side. Your url is "Muddy" to say the least.
TotalChoice and Truechoice are very close in name and print.
Let me simply buy the domain name and design from you and lets just leave it at that.
Your thoughts?
Bill Kish
General Manager
TotalChoice Hosting, Inc.
-----------------------------------------------------
truechoice wrote on 02-26-2004 07:40 PM:
We have spent a lot of time setting things up, all our resellers, payment systems, automation and everything is under this name and to be honest I honestly don't think they are very common. Someone isn't accidentally type in truechoicehosting.com instead of totalchoicehosting.com
I kind of doubt that in any sort of court this would be considered trademark infringment....
Please let me know yours thoughts.
Greg
----------------------------------------------------
It is not about typing a url. It is about muddy infringement.
For example, you will use the acronym TCH, which we have used for over 14 months.
I will refer to my attorney in the AM. They can make the judgement call.
A simple whois on your domain show it was created on the 15th of Jan.
A simply whois on your IP shows your a reseller of another provider, so I am not sure how to construe your statements.
We have over 17,000 clients in every country on the planet and maintain over 70 servers. Hosting well over 20,000 domains. This is a very serious matter to us.
Is this your legal address?
xxxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxxxx
Please advise, as this is on record with x***********
Good luck.
Bill Kish
TotalChoice Hosting, Inc.
------------------------------------------------------
I don't want to look like an idiot, and I don't want any problems, I just want to run my company under truechoicehosting and that is it. I don't use the acronym TCH anywhere nor will I. What should I do guys?
Greg Lubbelinkhof