Comments on: Stupid Press Release of the Week: Blu-RayOutlet.com

By: James Moore

James Moore — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:51:09 +0000

I saw a similar example somewhere, which is exactly why I added “Blu-rayOutlet.com is not affliated with the Blu-ray Disc Association.” to my site when I first put it together last year. I’m no legal expert (and was the fodder for this press release), so don’t take advice from me though…

Regards,
James

By: James Allen

James Allen — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:39:00 +0000

Just to add to this, I was looking at http://www.blu-ray.com recently and that is unrelated to the official Blu-Ray group but has this dislaimer on the footer of the site:

—
This web site is not affiliated with the Blu-ray Disc Association.
All trademarks are the property of the respective trademark owners.
© 2002-2008 Blu-ray.com. All rights reserved.
—

I wonder if this is all they had to do to cover themselves..

By: James Allen

James Allen — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:06:23 +0000

Thanks Andrew,

I appreciate your help. It’s helped to make me feel a bit more confident on moving forward with my project.

Not a bad idea to ask the right holders.. At least for a general response.

Cheers,
James.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:50:04 +0000

James, I guess it depends…they could argue that they had common law trademark rights. Regardless, I don’t want to be that non-lawyer worry wart that stops you from doing something that may be legit. You could always ask the Blu-Ray organization first if you want to.

By: James Allen

James Allen — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:24:27 +0000

Ah yeah, I noticed the LIVE term was ‘Blu-Ray Disc’. So even though the trademark is the term ‘Blu-Ray Disc’ they could still legally go after people using part of that phrase, even without using the hyphen? I always assumed trademarks were pretty absolute – i.e you had to be using the entire term to be in violation.

It’s an important distinction to be aware of I think.. Definitely keep my eyes open for that kind of thing in future.

I would much rather use BluRay as it’s alot more memorable and snappier.. I’ll have to give it some though and weigh up the risks.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:18:22 +0000

James, the new trademark is under the term Blu-Ray Disc, I believe.

It would be a shame to go with BD or BR or something instead. In all likelihood they won’t come after you, but that doesn’t mean they can’t. Sometimes lawyers don’t realize how you’re helping them promote their business’ cause

By: James Allen

James Allen — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:15:57 +0000

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the info. The site will definitely be a resource for people who want to find out what films are available on Blu-Ray and which ones are coming out in the various regions.
It will have advertising on it though so will be commercial..

I did do a search on the Blu-Ray trademark and apparently that is DEAD according to the USPTO. Wouldn’t this in theory allow a domain with BluRay in it?

The other option is to play it safe and just use the BD initials, though I’d prefer to use BluRay. Just don’t want to invest time in building a site only to find out I have to relinquish the domain and find a different one.

Thanks again for the help.