[Hidden-tech] name/identity conflict

Rich rich at on-the-net.com
Wed Jun 28 14:23:20 EDT 2006


Warning: I am not a lawyer - take all comment with care, but I have
been doing this for some time.

One important thing to remember is that your use of that fairly unique
term predating his gives you clear trademark owner ship -- no I did
not say 'registered trademark' -- that is a legal process and one you
might want to explore, and is needed to pursue any legal remedies.
I agree with Tish, I doubt you will need to, if you have a pleasant
discussion with him -- I would angle for him helping you with his
name recognition if he has that.

We have had some discussion of the legalities of registering here,
check the archives.

Rich

Tuesday, June 27, 2006, 5:36:39 PM, you wrote:
CDG>    ** Be a Good Dobee and help the group, you must be counted to post .
CDG>    ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.


CDG> Two years ago I started a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) consulting 
CDG> business named "GISmatters".  When I set things up in June of 2004, I did 
CDG> exhaustive research to make sure I wasn't in conflict with anything out 
CDG> there - at the time, all variations of "gis.*matter.*", and even other 
CDG> GIS-related text ending in "matters" - were non-existent.

CDG> It was just brought to my attention that for about a year now, a 
CDG> high-profile employee of ESRI, the dominant GIS software producer, has been 
CDG>   running a blog called "GIS Matters", with a web address of 
CDG> gismatters.blogspot.com.  This guy (David Maguire), has authored some books 
CDG> on GIS and is fairly widely known.

CDG> Not looking for legal advice from you all - not even sure I could or would 
CDG> want to pursue this as a legal matter - but wondering what advice any of 
CDG> you might have (perhaps from personal experience) on whether and how to 
CDG> communicate with the blogger, what to ask for, etc.  It's unfortunate that 
CDG> I didn't discover it sooner - he's not likely to be eager to simply abandon 
CDG> the identity after a year of blogging.  And for all I know I shouldn't even 
CDG> expect him to...

CDG> I'm not even sure this presents a real problem for me... who knows, maybe 
CDG> it's an opportunity?  I'm hoping that some feedback might help me to 
CDG> clarify what steps to take from here, if any, to address what feels like a 
CDG> potentially confusing and/or damaging incursion into my business identity.

CDG> Thanks in advance,

CDG> Chris




-- 
Best regards,
 Rich                            mailto:rich at on-the-net.com




Google

More information about the Hidden-discuss mailing list