Are you kids really questioning the AOLsucks pages?

Not too hard to figure out.

:smokin

I'm questioning the trademark issue Fletch. Do you know the answer, or not?

Same reason fuckgeneralmotors.com is up.

There is a difference between Freedom of Speech or Press, and profiting off someones trademark.

The same thing Larry Flynt fought for.

Parody and Satire.

Its not too hard to figure out.

:smokin

oh yeah.. turning sexyrussianplaymates.com into a kids site will get you into LESS legal hassles not more..lol

aolsucks.com isn't competing commercially is it now..

It's sad to see a huge company try to mess with the small guy over something that won't hurt them at all.

I'd put a disclaimer on your site that lets people know that you have nothing to do with the Playboy corp and ignore it.

If you don't want to ignore it, issue a "I'm a victim of a big bad corp" press release and make them look like the greedy bastards they appear to be.

That was my question. Also wasn't aware that they had to be "commercially competing." So, I should be able to make a Playboy Tribute site, correct?

hmm... I know Mary Ball. Better to let it go; Playboy's reach as a company seems bigger than McDonald's in some ways.

Dear Playboy - Smoke a cock.



seriously, like they gonna come to russia for you.

yeah, sell em the name for as much as you can get

time is money,
their time,
their lawyer's time,
the p.a.'s time etc
it all adds up

then go register

www.HughHeffnerHasAsmallMutantPenis.com

How about promoting (in future) playboycash as partnerprogramm on that site?
IMHO it would be a legal use of the playmate TM because you would be promoting them.

if you want to win the case and kick their asses just make a personal page about russia and your playmates... friends etc..

make it non adult and have some fun....

make the most ugly site ever :thumbsup

Playmate is not generic when it comes to adult related businesses.

If he opened up a site for russian kindergartners to discuss the ins and outs of a good game of hide and go seek or duck duck goose this wouldn't be an issue.

But no...he opened up a site with adult content.

I think you can use it in your keywords but not your *Title* at least that's what they told me on the phone. I had a .to domain and Tonic wouldn't give them my info...so I got an email from Tonic and called Playboy's lawyer... I just told him no problem I'll remove it.

Seems you are in a nasty situation........
its not fair that these assholes are allowed to just flex their muscles and everyone must cower in fear of them, but it does seem you will get your ass kicked as they probably have the best lawyer in the world working for them....

Godd Luck with whatever you decide to do but I would seriously think about it if I were you.......

:thumbsup

thanks agian to all of you for the great thoughts...

the wife says gofuckyourself playboy.
but i dont want to pay the bills to fight.

thanks
softcore

The best way to look at things like this is to ask yourself, is there really any profit in fighting Playboy?

To me, the answer is simple...No.

I had basically the same situation several years ago with Victorias Secret. My wife had a site called "Victorias Secret Hideaway". It took me until a surfer sent an email asking for a catalog before I saw the similarity. Shortly after that, a Victorias Secret lawyer contacted me. I told him I was sorry and gave up the domain.

As long as you have not used the domain, all you have to do is give it up. If you start using it, Playboy will say the damage is done. I have a friend that was sued by Ford for the same thing. The problem is, he was redirecting the domain to an adult site. It ended up costing him almost $40k just to settle the lawsuit.

Frog,

I just get tired of all the inane remarks about fighting trademarks. So yep, I smarted off. I cleaned it up before I posted it tho. :winkwink:

How MANY times has The Hun been in here over the last two years with the same thing and he took the domain/s without working up a sweat. One was in Russia. Now the man has money, but does he have as much as Hef and that corporation?! :Graucho

In so much as not getting blood out of a turnip as someone put it, true alot of cases go unpaid... think abit deeper... when you go for a loan and they pull up that your wages are garnished... Guess what you get from the bank?

0


I'm not sure if it is all over in each state and country but the courts can have X amount automatically taken from your check as well. Just like child support.

Softcore didn't think. Thats all. No one should fault him. Turning it over is the best thing, BUT, he CAN ask them to use it to promote their program. Many companies allow that and they even pay the domain reg costs. I think Lightspeed did it just a couple weeks ago for a Tawnee site. Just a thought.

Try to hold them up for more than you paid and Bang they have you on cybersquatting. Your time isn't allowable to be compensated for.

I'm registering www.mcplaymates.com today. I'll be doing shoots of hot models eating big mucs and quarter tonders. ha ha

You will be hard pushed to find any active domain name ending with playmates so I guess that sums it up.

gayplaymates.com is for sale - wonder why

Because AOL would lose if they sued. 1st amendment...freedom of expression. The guys running AOLsucks.com are not competing with AOL.

See http://www.lawspider.com/frameforum2.shtml for an explanation.