Multinational wants my domain ...

Hey all,

This has been discussed on IRC yesterday and today, but i'd like your opinion on this one.

I own www.shrekkie.com (its down for now) and I had used (stupid me, but heh) a logo and fonts in my header of the forum i had there.The logo was kindly taken from a moviecharacter , almost similar to my nick ;).

Yesterday i got a registered letter from the multinational owning that particular movie and character, with the announcement to reply on their demand to take down that logo and fonts. Also they *force* me to not use or drop that domainname.
So I did take it down to avoid legal consequences .... :s


The copyrighted logo and fonts i can imagine, but the domainname too ? Come on. IMO thats not fair. I did pay for that domainname, so they should refund that , no ?

Also I had a call of their lawyer, where she said I probably will need to hand over the domainname to that multinational. Can they do that , that simple ?

Anyway its ****ed,

Greetz,

i am not well versed in law but it is not just to give away your domain name also

Shrekkie that suck ass. I read that pamela anderson sued people because they owned a domin name called pamelaanderson.com or some **** before her ditsy ass got introduced to the intraweb i dont think she got cash from them but i know she was awarded the right to the domain name **** knows what will happen best of luck anyway

and wasnt the characters name shrek ? so why do they feel they need to own that domain name

they allready own http://www.shrek.com/ by the looks of it

They would own the picture issue so that you wouldn't have much to stand on in regards to likeness of the Shrek character. The other issue, well, that'd be hard. IIRC, in the movie, the character was referred to as Shrek. I don't recall "Shrekkie" being used so that, I would think, would be to your advantage. You might want to visit an actual lawyer about it and find out what kind of "legs" you stand on.

While being no lawyer I would suggest that this company has no more right to the word "Shrekkie" than the company that owns Star Trek has over the word "Trekkie". Thus, with confirmation from a _good_ lawyer I would tell them to go and shove it up their @$$ and that any further conversation on the subject initiated by them will be treated as harassment and counter-sued.......

Then duck..... ;)

I believe the term is "Fair Usage". Anyways, this might help Internet Law Page/Trademarks and Internet Domain Names. The other thing to check is what is Belgium's stance on this versus the US. What is applicable in one country may not necessarily be enforceable in another.

thnx MSMittens,

Lemme go check that out ....

Here's a site that should answer all your questions, Shrek(kie) :)

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Your opponent should say that your mark is causing consumer confusion or is likely to cause consumer confusion. (If the C&D does not say this, then no trademark claim exists, and you can rest assured that your opponent is engaging in scare tactics or has hired a highly incompetent attorney).

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under ICANN rules (the UDRP), you may have to surrender your domain name if the following three conditions are satisfied:
(1) your domain name is identical or confusingly similar to your opponent’s;
(2) you have no legitimate right or interest in the name (in other words, you are not using the name to conduct a bona fide business or for non-commercial fair use purposes); and
(3) your name is registered and used in bad faith.

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Geographic Limitations
A trademark is protected only within the geographic area where the mark is used and its reputation is established. For federally registered marks, protection is nationwide. For other marks, geographical use must be considered. For example, if John Doe owns the mark Timothy’s Bakery in Boston, there is no infringement if Jane Roe uses Timothy’s Bakery to describe a bakery in Los Angeles.

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If you registered the domain name in good faith, if you don't use the domain name for business purposes, and if you don't use anything that could confuse users with the "original" domain name (unless you're making a Shrek parody, which would make Dreamworks' case worthless), you should be fine :)
It's up to them to actually prove that your domain name confuses people...

Everything you need to know should be on that site. I don't know if it all is worth taking the risks, though...

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It's up to them to actually prove that your domain name confuses people...

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What if he add the line to the effect of "This site is in no way related to or to be associated with Shrek, the Movie. For Shrek the Movie visit here" (with appropriate link)?



Dammit! It's so freakin' cold I had to type this 3 times!

Ms. M:

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Dammit! It's so freakin' cold I had to type this 3 times!

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Take the computer off the front of your bike and go back into the house....... It's too cold to be long distancing today, silly...... ;)