Here's the situation.

Another hosting company, http://www.lasvegaswebhosting.com is blatantly using our tag line on all pages of their web site. The phrase "Because it shouldn't cost a fortune to make a fortune" has been our catcth-phrase since day one, and is even part of our logo on our own site.

But wait, it gets better...
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Plaintiff's Exhibit B:
When we started out, we resold for a company called DigiHost (stay far away - but that's a story for another day). Apparently these other guys haven't caught on to the problems there yet, 'cause they're still using them. Our old support site was copied word for word and is still up at their location. We've since moved on, but boy o boy...
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Plaintiff's Exhibit C:
They paraphrased our About Us info:

From our site: "The way we figure it, why do you need 300 MB for a small web site? Sure it will work, but it's like parking your car in an aircraft hangar - it's overkill! Just pay for what you need - that's a big part of our philosophy."

From their home page: "With prices starting at $4.95 per month, you should get only what you need to get going and grow as you need it. Our theory is, "Why rent an aircraft hangar just to park your car?"
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Plaintiff's Exhibit D:
Their comparison page: http://www.lasvegaswebhosting.com/Hosting_Plans/Comparison/comparison.htm

Our comparison page: http://5dollarhosting.com/compare.htm

Wow! They picked the same companies to use in their comparison chart!
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Plaintiff's Exhibit E:
They copied our TOS word-for-freaking-word. Even to the point of our November 2000 updated section. So obviously this guy keeps an eye on us and regularly makes sure his site is "up-to-date". The absolute dead give-away: His TOS says this:

"Inclusion in our "Merchant Spotlight" page is free". He doesn't HAVE a Merchant Spotlight page - but we do.
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There's more, I could go on for a while, but I think the Plaintiff will rest here.

So the question is, do I bother contacting this guy? The only part that really gets me is their blatant use of our tagline. The rest just irks me, but I'm not too worried because they don't look like they're a serious threat. I'm just pissed, as you would be if your effort was co-opted by someone too damn lazy to make their own site. It looks like this is a one-man show, do I bother with this guy or am I liable to regret the effort?

I will let cooler, objective heads prevail. Thanks

Have you trademarked your tag line? If so, then absolutely send him a nasty-gram. If not... well, if it's not trademarked, he's done nothing illegal (on the tag line, anyway - you could almost certainly nail him over the copied TOS).

It might be worth sending him a nasty-gram over the TOS issue, too. The rest of it... well, paraphrasing isn't illegal, and you'd have a hard time proving he intentionally copied you on his comparison chart (after all, AIT, Webhosting.com, Tristarweb, and Burlee are really major hosts that almost anyone could think to use as a comparison. Now, if you had used "bobsdiscounthosting.com" as a comparison, you might be able to make a good case he intentionally copied you on that one. But not with the 4 you chose).

So send him a nasty-gram over the TOS copying (or better yet have your lawyer send him a nasty-gram with a CC to his upstream provider), and if your tag line is trademarked send him a nasty-gram about that, too. It only costs about $4 to send a letter (make sure it's sent certified mail), or about $15 to send it FedEx (which is more effective in scaring the crap out of people - *especially* if you address your nasty-gram to "Legal Department, Las Vegas Web Hosting").

And if you don't have that tag line trademarked, why not? It only costs a few hundred dollars to file a trademark, and yours is distinct enough that the USPTO probably won't turn you down (although Las Vegas Web Hosting might be able to challenge it if they keep their eyes on the USPTO mailing list and see it come through for the public comment period).

Good luck,

Jason

Defnintely contact him and point out the similarities (and that he's ripped off your site). Tell him in no uncertain terms that if doesn't remove your content that your next step will be to contact his upstream AND your attorney. That's usually enough to take care of it. Of course, if any casual visitor should happen to drop him a note telling him he's a freeloading, cretinous leech, that might make him change it just to avoid getting those emails - the responses to which may very well wind up on a public forum or newsgroup somewhere, increasing the public shaming of said leech. ;)

Just an FYI, his upstream and us aren't exactly on the friendliest of terms, seeing as how we fled their service screaming last year. Worst support you've ever encountered. Well, maybe not. But it sure felt like it.

I suppose I could threaten anyway, but contacting them would just earn me some belly laughs on their part.

I will contact an attorney immediately to see about trademarking the tag line. It's something I should have done 3 years ago. Thanks for reminding me.

I also have copies of the old support pages (some are actually still online I believe at http://www.5dollarhosting.com/NT) so you can see the word-for-word copying there. I believe I *will* have a friendly chat with this "Darrel" fellow. No need to get nasty unless I don't get the reply I want.

---
On second thought, seeing some of what he's got posted on there, maybe I just should sit back and watch him go under:

"The Domain Registrar of choice is Network Solutions.
They are the most reliable, fastest, and easiest to use.
Plain & Simple!"

Watchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis? Easiest to use? NetSol??? Knock yerself out, buddy.
And he takes orders by check or PayPal. Not exactly the signs of a full-timer.


[Edited by shpilkus on 02-05-2001 at 10:36 PM]

Just to play Devil's Advocate, is it possible 2 people came up with similar slogans on their own? Certain concepts are pretty much universal. I don't think you can trademark "Have a great day!" for example.

It's a little more specifc than "have a great day". And it's long enough that 2 separate people with similar mindsets could easily have come up with different variations, not the same esact wording: 'because it shouldn't cost a fortune to make one', 'because it shouldn't cost you a fortune to make your fortune', etc. It is a 10-word slogan. Anyway, it will be trademarked shortly since I don't want to think up a new one.

Couple that with these facts:
1) They used the same provider we did (until last year anyway), and charged the same amount for the same plans (until we changed providers and plans last year).
2) They copied our TOS, word-for-word, including references to services they don't provide but we do. Even to the point of specifying the banner and logo requirements for a program (Merchant Spotlight) that they don't offer. Ironically, we use those same banner and logo requirements - wrote 'em myself! - on our program which is called, amazingly, "Merchant spotlight". One last example from the TOS: "For customers at the "Super" plan level or above, custom solutions can be arranged if the need grows beyond the plan offering.
". They do NOT have a plan called "super". But we do.
3) They paraphrased just about everything else we had on our site, including our 'about us' information.
4) They copied our comparison page - probably not even bothering to see if it was current anymore.
5) They copied our support FAQ word-for-word.

Now, I am a firm believer in the occasional coincidence. But don't try to tell me this is one of them...

And the more I look into this, the more pissed I get.:smash:

flamethrowBut I want to be calm when I write my little 'hello' letter.

Shipilkus: Just do what SickofAds suggested. wether you`re going to take action or not is another case.

(I know why he didn`t copy your Network Solutions recomendation though)

If you have used your tag line to identify the source of your service, and you have gained customers while using the tag line, you have common law rights in the mark -- regardless of whether you have sought federal registration for it. [This assumes that nobody else has rights that overlap and predate yours, of course.] You SHOULD see a lawyer to clarify your rights; don't assume, however, that the game is lost because you didn't get around to registering the mark before you discovered your competitors use of it.

Best regards.

-- Jon

[The above does not constitute legal advice (although it does constitute advice to seek legal advice. . .) and no attorney-client relationship has been formed.]

Thanks for the uplifting advice. I have applied for - and received confirmation of receipt - federal service mark (sm) status on that phrase and others. I appreciate the advice and opportunity to vent.

Thanks all,

For anyone interested...

While I was busy writing my big nasty letter, before I could send it the guy contacted US. Seems he checked his web log files and found hundreds of hits from this thread! Since he never got more than a few dozen hits a week, he was curious and found this posting and probably had a near-coronary. Needless to say, he was very apologetic and immediately took down the site. I didn't like one thing he said though:

"It has been fun and duplicating an existing site was easier
for learning rather than sit there and think up stuff."

It's one thing to think this way, but I found myself thinking "did he really just say that out loud?" Jeez... at least he was totally cooperative.

Still waiting on the trademark thing - I guess the government hasn't modernized everything...

Thanks for the advice back in Feb. to all who replied.

I was a reseller for Digihost for 3 years. HORRIBLE Experience! I got stuck because many of my clients were using a "stealth" DNS that was mapped to them. Being a newbie when I started, it was a great solotuion. Ended up being huge amounts of downtime & tons of weird errors. The list goes on and on.

Here's the kicker. Today I called to aks why 50% of my sites are down. They said it was because I moved a domain name that was tied to DNS. It was moved over a year ago and everything was working fine. then I hear some dip **** in the back say "I dont want you wasting your time on him. He does not even have an account here!" Oh really? I have only spent $3000+ over the past 3 years there!

STAY AWAY FROM DIGIHOST. They have bad service & even worse attitudes.

Originally posted by Organic
I was a reseller for Digihost for 3 years. HORRIBLE Experience! I got stuck because many of my clients were using a "stealth" DNS that was mapped to them. Being a newbie when I started, it was a great solotuion. Ended up being huge amounts of downtime & tons of weird errors. The list goes on and on.

Here's the kicker. Today I called to aks why 50% of my sites are down. They said it was because I moved a domain name that was tied to DNS. It was moved over a year ago and everything was working fine. then I hear some dip **** in the back say "I dont want you wasting your time on him. He does not even have an account here!" Oh really? I have only spent $3000+ over the past 3 years there!

STAY AWAY FROM DIGIHOST. They have bad service & even worse attitudes.

um, just to let you know.. this thread is over 1 year old.. lol

OMG IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

not sure if anyone mentioned it or not, but that design looks so much like ventureonline's!