lensman - are you going to sue these suckers?
 

I saw this ad on Yahoo, and decided to check it out.


http://www.internetwasher.com/


This shit looks a lot like InternetEraser. The pop-up ads which they use, combined with the domain name, their marketing, and the layout of their site and advertising, combine to create confusing similarities which will end up resulting in your losing customers and money.

You should speak to your lawyer and ask him to evaluate this matter to determine if you have a defendable "tradedress" issue under the Lanham Act based upon their actions and the confusing similarties that exist.

He should know exactly what I am talking about.

Peace
LawPal


:321GFY

Are you talking about:

http://www.interneteraser.com

and

http://www.internetwash.com

?

Don't look similair to me, please elaborate.

These sites look as different as black & white to me.
Did you post the correct urls?

I see no problem

I see several problems

Internet eraser has, under the Lahnam act, an argument that it owns a "tradedress", which essentially means that it can make a claim against someone trying to steal money by creating a confusingly similar product, which they market and sell in a manner which might confuse consumers.


I think the problems are

confusingly similar domain names

confusingly similar advertising

confusingly similar pop-up ads

risk of consumer confusion

if someone buys internetwasher that reduces the potential consumer base for internet eraser, and is essentially stealing customers based on the use of the internet eraser tradedress, and the risk of diluting the market can constitute damages.

Here is the applicable statute:

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/1125.html


At the minimum I would send them a cease and desist letter, and if that did not work I would consider suing them in federal court.

and here I was, thinking that lensman created the first ever internet "cleaning" program?

no case, move on, there's nothing at all to see here. =)

wake the hell up

Lawpal,

I think you are overreacting a bit.
There are hundreds if not thousands of products being sold everyday that are in some way similair to their counterparts.

Maybe this is "confusing" for you, but I am sure a judge will see it all clearly.

I don't think I overreacted at all.

I just posted the topic for conversation because I assumed that a majority of the webmasters who visit this board promote internet eraser, and would want their sponsor to defend the product they are promoting from potential dilution.

I leave it to lensman to decide whether he wants to address the issue.

I hope no-one trademarked the word "Internet" and "eraser" and "washer" are distinctly different words to me.

Confusingly similar product? Duh! You'll have to sue thousands of companies for bringing out confusingly similar products everyday.

Similar pop-up ads? duh!
Risk of consumer confusion? duh!

Ummm, I think there is no case here. He may get a settlement, but it would hardly cover the lawyers fees. However the long term benefits may be payoff enough (if he wins a lawsuit).

I may be completely off base here but I think that Internet Eraser is a bland product that you can have the "actual" developers mark with your name etc. You pay them a bit of money and they make the program "YourEraserProgram" . I'm not sure if this is the same thing Lens is doing but I know there is a company that does this.

MoTives

Lawpal are you for real?

Thanks guys! Now I see it's safe for me to register http://internet-e-raser.com/

Your name isn't very becoming of you. I'd expect someone named "<i>law</i>pal" to have a better idea about this. Going by your interpretation of "tradedress", the original teen paysite could sue every other teensite for creating a "confusingly" similar product?

They're all naked chicks, that are teens. SUE DAMMIT, SUE!!

You seem to misunderstand the statute!

"is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive as to the affiliation, connection, or association of such person with another person, or as to the origin, sponsorship, or approval of his or her goods, services, or commercial activities by another person"

Simply put, would a reasonable person be deceived into thinking internet washer and internet eraser are the same product?
I don't think so.

Obviously, someone will realise that they will essentially do the same thing. Hell, i'm pretty sure Heinz Baked Beans are essentially the same as Golden Circle Baked Beans too! Should they sue?

"false designation of origin + false or misleading description of fact"

Please point out where this occurs.

not deceiving enough.

:glugglug

Another Queenslander.

Oh, good. After reading this post I just remembered why most lawyers make me sick...


Thank you.

Lawpal:

This is a good opportunity to practice defense.

Big time Internet pornographer goes to court to defend his product that wipes porno off a computer. On a very shakey case. Hmmmmm

Lawpal remind me to come take a holiday where you live. Me I live in the real world but have always wanted to go to Dreamland. Now I have an reason, to come and talk some sense into you.

Or was this just a bit of Kiss ass?

:winkwink:

Lawpal how many times did you fail the bar exam?

You must be kidding me...

I'm really starting to think it might be time to kill all the lawyers.

I doubt he has even taken the bar exam. j/k

Every time the barman says "Can you afford that sir" he examines his purse and fails to find any money.

Lawpal, you know so much about the law? Go do what APIC are trying to do, but do it nicely.

lol true

took it once, passed it the first time

thanks for asking

Damn, tough crowd!

Lawpal has some excellent points, we ran across another one that was even worse the other day, they had even stolen some of our graphics.

I'm on the road right now, but when I get back at the office I should have you take a run at them.

Yeah I saw that one too, I can't remember the url now though. I just thought it was your site. It looked exactly the same.

anyone who has a paysite should sue everyone else who does.
come on give me a break.:321GFY

what an ass kisser, mind your own biz dude !

I could see going after someone for stealing advertising material and using it as their own, but not because they have a similar program. That wouldn't hold up in court. There are MANY "internet eraser" type programs. Evidence Eliminator being the most well known. There are also many free programs that do this same stuff.