He’s just the latest person the publisher has sued.
Entrepreneur Media, the company behind Entrepreneur magazine and Entrepreneur.com, has sued (pdf) yet another person who dared to use the word Entrepreneur in his brand.
The company filed a lawsuit against David Schools, who runs sites at entrepreneurshandbook.co and ehandbook.com. It alleges that Schools is infringing its trademarks for Entrepreneur and its E logo. Among its requests for relief are for Schools to transfer the domains and pay monetary damages.
Entrepreneur has a long history of suing entrepreneurs for allegedly infringing its marks. While it has a duty to protect its marks, I’m still confused how it got them in the first place. In the suit, the media company points out the many courts that it says have affirmed its rights in the marks. Of course, taking on small entrepreneurs makes those cases fairly easy to win.
re “While it has a duty to protect its marks, I’m still confused how it got them in the first place.”
1) Trademark law is not mainly for protecting trademark owners. It’s mainly for protecting consumers from brand confusion. But once again, it appears that “trademark bully” Entrepreneur Media is trying to intimidate and bankrupt an entrepreneur by suing them for federal trademark infringement, but claiming “likelihood” of confusion because they have no evidence of “actual” confusion. They also continue to falsely claim that their trademark is “famous.” As far as I know, they’ve never produced a single consumer survey that proves such a huge claim on a generic word like entrepreneur, which by the way predates Entrepreneur Media by well over 100 years.
2) Entrepreneur Media got its trademark by FRAUD. Its oldest “Entrepreneur” trademark application was perjuriously signed back in the 1980s by its founder, Chase Revel, using a fake and illegal name to hide that he was a convicted bank robber and serial con artist (search online for entertaining Los Angeles Times articles about Chase Revel’s extensive legal issues and illegal use of aliases).
3) One of Entrepreneur Media’s attorneys, Alex A. Graft of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, is being investigated by the State Bar of California for “forgery” and “perjury” because I let them know that to my disbelief, he forged my signature on a document and then filed it with the California Court of Appeal, and then blatantly lied about me on another document that he also filed with the California Court of Appeal.
4) Entrepreneur Media has tons more “cases” at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s “Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.” Just search for “Entrepreneur Media” (using quotation marks) in the “Party” field. You should not only be amazed by the number of cases, but also by how incredibly ridiculous they can be. For example, their case against a black woman nail salon owner for using the term ENTREPRENAILEUR in the “fields of nail care business.” Entrepreneur Media has also threatened Asians for using the phrase “Asian Entrepreneur,” Hispanics for using the phrase “Hispanic Entrepreneur,” and females for using the phrase “Female Entrepreneur.” And Entrepreneur Media has always been owned by white males.
5) Entrepreneur Media appears to be in serious decline. It’s flagship product, Entrepreneur Magazine, is down to only 6 issues per year, a massive 50% drop. And from what I can tell, they do not refund subscribers for issues they prepaid for but were never published. This could total millions of undeserved dollars for Entrepreneur Media.
6) Entrepreneur Media recently went through a significant corporate change. California-based Entrepreneur Media, Inc. is now “inactive”; Entrepreneur Media is now Entrepreneur Media, LLC, a Delaware-based LLC.
7) Entrepreneur Media’s chairman, Peter J. Shea, may have recently passed away, but if so, it doesn’t seem that Entrepreneur Media has honored him yet with any public announcements of his passing. I don’t think Entrepreneur Media ever publicly announced the passing of their founder Chase Revel either.
8) Entrepreneur Media is so desperate to prevent me from getting information like this out to the public, that they’re paying their very unethical and dishonest lawyers to sue me for defamation by filing what’s known as a “SLAPP” suit against me (SLAPP is an acronym for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation).
Entrepreneurs and attorneys who are interested in fighting back against Entrepreneur Media’s egregious efforts to monopolize the word “entrepreneur” are welcome to contact me (bizstarz-at-protonmail.com). I have decades of information and evidence against them.
Also, an Aug. 8, 1986 Los Angeles Times article says that Chase Revel’s given name was “John Leonard Burke,” and that he was even arrested for using the false name of Chase Revel (“Entrepreneur Magazine’s Revel Arrested : Ex-Bank Robber Held on Handgun, Perjury, Forgery Charges”). So, it may have been better to say that his name was false instead of illegal. My apologies if my wording was confusing. I also believe that Entrepreneur Media has committed fraud and perjury at the trademark office since Chase Revel left the company in disgrace, including for their now abandoned and cancelled “Entrepreneur Expo” trademarks.
I have enjoyed Entrepreneur Magazine as a reader and subscriber over the years…less so in recent years as the coverage (in my opinion) has increasingly focused on franchising which is not my style of entrepreneurship, and increasingly smells more like an advertorial to me.
The irony of their seemingly frivolous litigation targeting the very entrepreneurs they are supposed to be the advocate for is sad. However, their behavior pattern is well established and one that has influenced me as a domain investor when looking at entrepreneurially-themed names, which is exactly what they want. 🙁