The newest spam hitting my Inbox is coming from a company trying to get me to use them to register trademarks on domains I have registered:
Here is how the email reads:
“Dear Entrepreneur:
“We are contacting you with the purpose of helping you avoid infringement problems with your new trademark or domain name!”
“You might be starting a business, and as a responsible entrepreneur you should know whether the trademark you are using, or intend to use is identical or similar to trademarks already on the market.”
“This is to avoid starting a website, building a business, having stationery printed, generating clients, etc. just to receive, along the way, a cease and desist letter for infringement of a trademark you were not aware of; with all the consequences that this could involve (having to change trademark, pull down signs, destroy products, pay damages etc.).”
“Also, once you have received assurance through a trademark availability search that your trademark is available for use, you should seek to protect it with a registration. This is to prevent others from profiting from your marketing efforts should they introduce trademarks similar to your own, exploiting potential customers to whom you have marketed at great expense.””
“”Furthermore, your domain name could correspond to a trademark already on the market, and therefore could be taken away from you. In fact, accordingly to the ICANN Uniform Domain Name Disputes Resolution Policy, under certain circumstances, a domain name can be transferred to the owner of a similar trademark. It is advisable, therefore, to know, with a trademark availability search, whether your domain name is actually similar to any trademark already on the market before starting a business around it.””
So now trademark services are spamming domainers looking for extra business.
On second thought, the way things are going in the UDRP world, getting a trademark on every valuable domain may not be such a bad idea.
Anyone else getting these messages?
I’ve received some email that have proposed me to buy some domains that I already own… 🙂
Unfuginbeleivable!
and I thought Domainers were the bottom feeders, Lol!
Day by day, more spam……. LOL….
“On second thought, the way things are going in the UDRP world, getting a trademark on every valuable domain may not be such a bad idea.”
…if you want to “upgrade” from dealing with UDRP’s to fighting trademark opposition proceedings.
Thanks for the heads up, Mike. This reminds me of the trademark watch services that approach my clients based on contact information they took from the US TM Office website and offers to watch their marks, which haven’t even issued into registrations. Also reminds me of the .cn scams that occasionally pop up in my clients’ e-mails. The .cn registrar “scares” the client into thinking that they will lose the chance of owning the .cn dn in their trademark name because “someone else” is about to register a .cn dn that is identical to their trademarks only it isn’t true. A search on other .cn registrars shows that the .cn dn is available. What’s the name of the company/law firm behind this?
Karen
APTrademarks.com
http://www.APtrademarks.com
The Marketing Team
2202 Southridge Lane
Sherman, TX 75092
Phone: 903 487 0758
Phone: 1 866 727 6974 (toll-free)
Fax: 1 866 992 2748 (toll-free)
Web Site: http://www.APtrademarks.com
Just as a I suspected. Not lawyers and they tell you at the bottom of their home page. This is one of those companies that goes after my clients for trademark “watch” notices. This domain/tm reg solicitation appears to be an expansion of what they’ve already been doing. Be careful domainers. You are NOT dealing with lawyers! Contact a real trademark lawyer if you want to try to obtain UR and/or international trademark protection on your dns.