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FundMe.com and GoFundMe.com in trademark spat

by Andrew Allemann — February 10, 2016 Policy & Law 11 Comments

Two similarly-named companies are on a collision course.

Not to be confused with GoFundMe.

The owner of FundMe.com has filed a lawsuit against personal fundraising site GoFundMe.com over the similarity of their names and trademarks, and a bit of nuance around types of crowfunding.

FundMe.com has a trademark related to business funding. GoFundMe is a site for personal or charitable crowdfnding.

Earlier this year, legal counsel for GoFundMe sent a cease & desist letter to FundMe.com regarding FundMe.com offering personal and charitable crowdfunding. Apparently someone copied a personal crowdfunding request from GoFundMe.com and put it on FundMe.com.

GoFundMe requested that FundMe.com stop offering personal crowdfunding services.

But once FundMe.com started researching GoFundMe’s arguments, it found that GoFundMe was apparently getting into the business crowdfunding space, which it believes infringes on its own trademark.

I’ve always thought GoFundMe.com was a horrible domain name choice. It looks like that’s coming to a head now.

You can view the lawsuit and cease & desist letter here.

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Twitter and rival Tencent might have to fight over “Moments”

by Andrew Allemann — October 28, 2015 Policy & Law 0 Comments

Tencent files trademark applications, presumably in response to Twitter launching new “Moments” feature.

On October 6, Twitter launched “Moments” in an effort to attract more users to trending topics.

It’s a pretty cool feature, but Twitter might run up against Chinese social networking giant Tencent over the name. Tencent has a number of services including microblogging.

On October 16, Tencent filed two trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for “Moments”.

One was filed for services already in use, claiming a first-use-in-commerce date of 2012. The fields of use are fairly limited but certainly clash with Twitter.

The other was filed as an intent-to-use application, also claiming foreign priority, and covers a laundry list of activities including social networking.

I can only assume Tencent filed these trademarks in the U.S. as a reaction to Twitter launching its Moments feature. It certainly looks like this could cause an issue down the road.

University of Cambridge withdraws trademark challenge after UDRP loss

by Andrew Allemann — October 15, 2015 Policy & Law 0 Comments

Tail between the legs.

University of Cambridge has withdrawn a challenge to a trademark application for a Cambridge.com logo after losing a UDRP for the same domain name.

As I reported earlier this week, a UDRP panel admonished the 800-year-old university for making some incorrect statements in a UDRP for Cambridge.com.

It seems the UDRP and trademark opposition were filed as a way to get the domain name. Once the UDRP failed so miserably, the university backtracked.

John Berryhill represented domain name owner Kirkland Holdings in the UDRP. David Weslow of Wiley Rein managed the trademark for Kirkland.

Igloo is currently brokering the sale of the Cambridge.com domain name.

Finally! Google sues robocallers Local Lighthouse

by Andrew Allemann — September 17, 2015 Policy & Law 1 Comment

Google files trademark infringement suit against bothersome SEO/SEM company.

Google has sued Local Lighthouse Corp, which has undertaken a massive robocall and telemarketing campaign and, from personal experience, tried to trick callers into thinking it was associated with Google.

It’s likely you’ve received a robocall from these this group, even if you didn’t know who was behind it. The calls suggest the caller is from Google, or representing Google, and needs to talk to you about your search rankings.

Google alleges (pdf) that the many of the company’s sales agents say they represent Google or are calling on behalf of Google. These allegations are apparently backed up by consumer lawsuits against Local Lighthouse.

When Google sent a demand letter to the company last year, it denied making robocalls, according to the suit.

After receiving numerous robocalls about Google rankings, I finally played along with one of the salespeople to figure out who was behind the calls and tied it to Local Lighthouse. The first time, the sales person caught on and hung up. The second time I had a lengthy conversation and eventually sussed out the company name.

If you receive a telemarketing call from someone falsely suggesting they’re associated with Google, you can report it here.

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Domain Development Legal Mistakes with Enrico Schaefer – DNW Podcast #47

by Andrew Allemann — August 24, 2015 Podcasts 1 Comment

Don’t make these mistakes when developing a domain name into a full website.

Domain Name Wire podcast Are you developing some of your domain names? You’ll want to listen to this week’s interview with Enrico Schaefer of Traverse Legal. Enrico discusses 5 things you need to do when developing a website to keep yourself out of legal hot water. Don’t make a mistake that can cost you more than you’ll earn from your developed website.

Also: Web.com credit card theft, eNom and Sedo link up, Verisign v. XYZ trial date set and what it’s like to buy a domain as an end user.

Subscribe via iTunes to listen to the Domain Name Wire podcast on your iPhone or iPad, or click play below or download to begin listening. (Listen to previous podcasts here.)