GFY Lawyers, I NEED HELP! Trademark C&D Letter!
 

One of my mainstream companies has the term "Realtor" in it. I have not been marketing it too much but received this letter today from the NAR (National Association of Realtors).

[Start Letter]

RE: Improper Use of the REALTOR Marks - xxxxxrealtors.com

Dear Mr. Brenner:

Your Internet domain name, xxxrealtors.com, has been identified by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS as one in which the membership marks of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS (National Association) are used as a part of the domain name. The domain name came to our attention as a result of our monitoring of the Internet for use of the REALTOR membership marks. Upon review, we noted that you had also used the membership mark in the name of your company.

Mr. Brenner, perhaps you did not realize that the terms REALTOR, REALTORS, and REALTOR-ASSOCIATE, as well as the REALTOR block "R" logo, are all federally registered collective membership marks owned by the National Association. Collective membership marks are a type of trademark, which, rather than indicating the source of a product or service, identify the user of the membership mark as a member of a particular group, in this case the National Association.

The National Association and its constituent state and local associations (approximately 1500 in the United States) also use the REALTOR marks to identify products and services provided by the various levels (local, state and national) of the REALTOR organization. Because members of the National Association and the public associate the REALTOR marks with participation in the REALTOR organization, the National Association has established a comprehensive program to monitor the proper use of its marks.

The National Association must maintain a careful watch over products and services that utilize the REALTOR marks in their marketing to real estate professionals. There is a serious risk of confusion regarding the sponsorship, endorsement or participation of the National Association in connection with such products. Because of this risk, the National Association does not license third parties to use its marks in connection with the names of the products and services of those third parties.

To eliminate this potential source of conflict, we would appreciate your cooperation in revising your site, your domain name and the name of your company to eliminate the use of the membership marks. Many times this is as simple as substituting an appropriate job title for the term being used, for example, real estate broker can often be used without making any other changes to the text. If you would like to read more about trademarks and the rights of trademark owners, there are a number of sites on the Internet, which address this topic.

We are attempting to track our efforts in connection with the Internet and request that you acknowledge your understanding of this request for your cooperation and provide us with your estimate of when we can expect to see your site updated. Our e-mail address is [email protected]. Thank you for your help and we look forward to receiving your reply.

XXXXXX, Trademark Administrator
Legal Affairs Department
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS
430 N. Michigan
Chicago, IL 60611-4087

[end letter]

Can I put into the footer of my site, "This site is in no way affiliated with the NAR or Realtors"? I invested thousands in this company and this would REALLY bite ass if I had to shut it down. :mad:

sounds like you are fucked :(

I suggest you contact John Berryhill asap. He's one of the best.

Good luck.

I've heard those guys are notoriously diligent about protecting their mark. Good luck.

your fucked you cant use REALTOR in a company name.

Just got off the phone with my lawyers and they pretty much told me that I'm shit out of luck. They are researching it and going to call me back for possible remedies. :(

Fucking trademarks. :321GFY

I have to blame my ignorance for this one.

did you spend a lot of money/time developing your site? or are you just mad about the domain?

He really needs to redesign his site

About $5K in development and filing paperwork. :(

That really sucks. Some research would have told you not to touch the 'realtor' brand. Sorry to hear this. :(

Just got a call back from my lawyers and was told to forward the C&D to them. Apparently they have a good friend that works as a patent attorney in D.C. and there are some possible remedies.

I might not be totally fucked.

You are fucked if you are trying to use the Realtor trademark.

Change the name to realty or something similar and move on.

highonacid, why not xxxrealestate.com ?

yea, you would be better off with Nike, Sony or Microsoft in your name... NAR has a whole dept who's only job is to protect the trademark...

Re·al·tor Audio pronunciation of "realtor" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (rl-tr, -tôr)

A service mark used for a real-estate agent affiliated with the National Association of Realtors. This service mark often occurs in print in lowercase and in the plural as well: ?The economic aftershocks are already rippling through the area's non-defense businesses, from realtors to pizzerias? (New York Times).

Basically, it's not a real word, but a made up service mark word. So you are really on thin ice.

The fast answer is, no they can not take it.
Service Mark or trademark is not the text in order but a likeness to such can be infringement.
Get an attorney.

Heh. Did NOT know that. Well, fuck 'em -- NAKEDREALTORS!


J-

I got a better one.
PSPPLAYBOY
Both are trademarked keywords :1orglaugh

Here is an interesting read about intellectual property law being utilised as a tool for censorship.

http://www.web.net/~misha/trademark.html

Read up...

High On Acid your hitting on a subject I have capitalised on for years.

Hmmm -- Very interesting...

MILFREALTORS!


J-

That association enforces its trademark extremely vigorously.

They have immense legal resources and unlimited money behind them.

Don't even try to play games with them - you will lose.

Cooperate and be cool to avoid any further legal action.

I actually earn a lot of dough in this area, hit me up on ICQ if you want some assistance here. Basically, you're totalyl fucking OK.

Plain and simple.

It's corporate opression that is expediting censorship on the internet these days.

I believe that it is wrong to break the expression of people and there thoughts in the light of corporate tyranny offline and online.

Black and White Trademark Law and Copyright Law are forces leading to censorship these days preventing the expression of people to voice opinions and even provide satirical parady..

Or like myself...

Take advantage of construed Trademark terms in combination in this age of Branding.

Lets face it...
PSP is a trademark of Sony but already thousands of websites have sprung up with the very term PSP within the domain.
For example I own PSPDivas.com, there are also PSPFREE, or FreePSP.COM

But on a more complex note I own PSPPLAYBOY.COM.
Now who is to say which is really the owner of such?

Its a catch 22.
In one way SOny can say they Own PSP, Well Playboy owns Playboy.
But together...

Is this just a term that is illegal? A befuddled context with no claim other than the obscineity of it containing two different Trademarked terms together??

Who would really own it?

Me.

How about IntelHustler.com?

How about VividSega?

you cock is small. I like you.

I love it when I bring up somthing...

Everyone gets strangely quiet...

This is the kinda shit that might make some of you realise hw valueable it is to see the truth about the abuse of Trademark Law and the internet.

It is true that the courts have set deciding factor's and precedence but a real fight regarding such has yet to be done.
Truth is...
A trademark does not apply to a text combination ( Though courts have hastily decided that is so, it is not right ) but to a mark or drawing.

Read the fine print of these laws.The courts have no right to decide that domains, words and keywords are Trademark or Service mark protected.
TradeMarks and ServiceMarks are Illustrated marks, Drawn Marks...

Not just text for if it were true...
A news Paper would not be permitted to comment on products or services without liscense.

It seems like that would be a word that would have become generic by now.

Gotta love the NAR.

I believe a few IP lawyers discussed this a while back at dnforum (legal section). Might want to search for that.

Yep cut your losses and chalk it up as experience

i wouldnt go back and forth

I would hire a real attorney first, and contact them about your idea. But I think that in the long run, they will make you take it down. Unless you started this company BEFORE they made the registrations for the words.

Good luck.

PS. I may be sending some work your way.

Exactly what I thought when I chose to embark on this business venture.

From communications with my lawyers...I don't have enough money to fight this and not nearly enough time to win. I can keep my site up for about a year while legal proceedings go on but eventually I will lose and any business I gained during that year would be lost. Also, the NAR can get me for lost revenue (legal fees and etc).

My lawyers told me that it would be financially wise to write it off as a business expense and move on. I think I'm going to heed their advice. Seems those people [NAR] have some seriously deep pockets and will fight to the bitter end to protect their brand. :mad:

Fucking A! This sucks!

sell/lease it right now to a person in a country that does not follow u.s. trademark laws.

Theres no way you will lose the name..

I know a guy who will buy it off you for 10 grand, and lease it back to you for a 50 year contract for $10,500

Not a bad idea, Smokey. Only problem is that I sell a tangible good that is produced and shipped from the continential U.S. Even if I hosted the site off-shore I still have the company registered in the U.S. which is still in the Realtor Gestapo Trademark Commando Unit's reach. :mad:

Highonacid: It sounds to me like it would cost you more $$ in lawyer/legal fees than the $5000 you put into this project....