Cease & Desist

Hey everyone.

A friend of mine is part of an internet group. There is a web master at a site with a chat, forums, profile pages etc. There is another site with just a chat and a similar name. The name is a common phrase. The common phrase is Social Anxiety Support

The web master that sent the cease and desist had banned pretty much everyone that is at the new site, which only hosts a chat, and it's own completely different logo. One of these people paid for the software and hosted his own chat.

I don't really know much more than that. I could probably figure it out if you had any questions.

What's the claim of the letter. A webmaster sent it? Not a trademark attorney? It would really help if you told us what that "letter" says and what the issue is. Banning has nothing to do with anything.

I searched tess@uspto and didn't get an exact hit on Social Anxiety Support, btw.

I got a copy of the e-mail.



Apparently, SocialAnxietChat.com is complaining about SocialAnxietySupportChat.com.

I don't see where this "Trademark Complaint" would come from. They seem different enough and look nothing like each other, except they use the same Java chat software and are aimed at the same audience. It's mostly users that were banned from the older site.

My friend is upset because the complainant is joining the chat and banning everyone they think is going to both sites. It's ridiculous if you ask me. This isn't really something you would expect for a anxiety support forum.

I'm told this has happened before and the banned had created sahideout.com.

So write to the guy then (the person who has anxiety over his domain name not the registrar) and demand of him serial number/registration number of the trademark filing. The name is similar, yes, but they need to have an established brand identity and it would help if they registered the trademark they claim to have. You often need the first for the second, so it may be something they are working on but I doubt it ... because ...

Or



Assume that is the false threat that it appears to be. There's no lawyers here, someone filled out a complaint form. Wait until you actually here from an attorney, not some support desk clerk ;-)



Completely irrelevant.



irrelevant - so are all the porn sites ;-)



The only thing that makes this relevant is its obvious you have two site owners in a tiff and actually may be a basis of a legal claim if it can be proven that the site was set up deliberately to detract visitors from the other site (banned or not). Assuming this can even be proven, I don't see any damages worth litigating over.

It might be worth the time and expense to actually talk to a lawyer about this. A half hour meeting should suffice. Its nice to get to know one you can call up. Contrary to popular belief you really don't need a second mortgage to chat about issues such as these. It's why they are there. Ask around people in your area for a recommendation of a good IP or general practice attorney, either can probably tackle this matter.

Thanks,

I've informed my friend to inform the web maser about the "offending" site to contact the "complainant" site and sent him this thread. I hope all goes well. It's a bit ridiculous if you ask me.

And I've been informed that most of the people there that aren't banned from the other site, join both chats. So "stealing" members shouldn't be an issue. I'm told they all like the site but they like the people who have been banned too. They keep making references to "he's off his meds again" so I'm thinking this is a recurring problem.

They don't want me to post their emails, just the ones they forward to me. I hope everything goes well for them. These people are trying to get help and are getting caught in the middle of a squabble.