Trademark Unauthorized trademark use letter

[Chad Miller]

Jurisdiction

Indiana

I received from the supposed trademark holder.

Do I need to comply to there demand?
French Lick is a City and is not trademarked

 

[adjusterjack]

French Lick is a City and is not trademarked

It's not the city that has trademark protection. It's French Lick Whatever that has trademark protection.

Do I need to comply to there demand?

You can ignore or comply. That choice is entirely up to you. But before you make that decision, consider this. That company has lots of money to sue you with and, obviously, a law firm already retained. How much money do you have? Do you have the tens of thousands of dollars it would take to defend against a lawsuit?

 

[mightymoose]

Just a suggestion... Since their argument is that your domain name and wording are confusingly similar to their own, you might place a very prominent notice on your pages that you are not affiliated with the casino.
That might deflate their balloon and make them go away. It can't be confusingly similar if it clearly states you are not associated with them.

 

[flyingron]

Just because you register a domain name doesn't mean that you are infringing their mark. What do you intend to do with the domain? Understand using a geographic name for a trademark is somewhat weak to begin with. However, I'd certainly not use the site for anything gaming or resort related. Now, if it's a porn site,...

 

[adjusterjack]

Now, if it's a porn site,...

Ooh La La.

 

[Disabled Vet]

Tell them your working for Larry Bird... The city name isn't a issue..... I will be fishing next week down there.

 

[zddoodah]

Let me start out by pointing out that it was a very bad idea not to redact the lawyer's name, her firm's name, her client's name and the trademarks at issue. How do you know that this lawyer or someone from her firm isn't going to happen upon this thread?

That said, and since you didn't redact that stuff, I feel compelled to point out that you're being targeted by a relatively large law firm and a lawyer who's a partner who's been practicing law for nearly 20 years. Those things tell me that someone is taking all this rather seriously.

Next, while the city name used in the marks at issue is not "trademarked," the lawyer's client owns or claims to own rights in at least two federally registered trademarks. Your domain name, if used in commerce, would pretty clearly infringe on those registered marks.

Getting back to your question, whether you "should" or should not comply with the demand depends on a bunch of things we don't know, one of which is your ability to finance a federal trademark infringement and cybersquatting lawsuit. Do you have a spare $25-40k that you can afford to spend on such an endeavor?

About the only thing I see working in your favor is that you don't appear to be doing anything with the domain name. Of course, that begs the question why you registered it.

 

[hrforme]

I would expect that domain name to be linked to the casino. I am curious also why you registered it and what you expect to do with it. I'd not want to deal with the lawsuit....

 

[army judge]

I have attached a letter I received from the supposed trademark holder. Do I need to comply to there demand?

Do yourself a HUGE favor, divest yourself of a potential problem, get rid of that useless website.

Why?

THEY are watching you.

THEY are prepared for any shenanigans.

Be smart, whatever you may have had "up your sleeve", THEY have detected it!

Save yourself a massive financial burden that will rain down upon you, if you resist!