Will registering my name fix this issue?

[anonymous_user]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

I need some advice:

First off, a twitter user is using our brand name as their username. This user is not intending on misleading or confusing any of our potential customers; they are though ruining our reputation by lowering our sense of professionalism due to the content posted on their page. Since our company is built solely on our reputation, all our potential clients thoroughly research our company via search engines such as Google. Potential clients come across this twitter page (since it’s listed on the first page under related keywords) and assume the twitter user is somehow affiliated with our company. This results in these users avoiding our company altogether which is affecting our business by stalling its growth potential.

Our name is currently not legally registered but we have been utilizing the rights to this name since early 2008 and prior to the creation of this twitter account. Since many companies and corporations utilize twitter for business and marketing purposes, I believe there is no doubt that many customers leave this page believing this user is affiliated with our company. We are sure every single person who's interested in our services hits this twitter page at some point. Now, this user isn't posting anything related to our company. They simply post about their own personal life but we have been asked on numerous occasions if this user was the owner of the company. We decided we needed to take some kind of action.

We have kindly contacted twitter and exchanged several emails back and forth. They concluded the conversation by stating the following:

"Our team has investigated the reported account and determined that it is not in violation of our Terms of Service or Rules. As a result, it will not be suspended at this time. We also cannot remove this person's account from search results.

As a policy, Twitter does not intervene in disputes involving our users, who are solely responsible for the content that they create. We encourage you to contact the user directly by @reply, direct message, or any of the other contact information provided via the user’s “Bio” or URL to resolve this dispute.

Should you be unable to resolve your issue with the user directly, our policy is to respect and give effect to valid court orders as a third-party, including court orders for a user to cease using a Twitter name. However, please note that in the event that Twitter is made party to a suit, Twitter will defend its rights vigorously and seek fees and costs associated with such defense.”

(^^ I was really surprised about this as I never threatened to sue them)

I don't really want the account, I just want it removed from the search results. I contacted Google and they told me the webmaster must take action.

So now for my question:

Since my name isn't registered, I wanted to get some advice before shelling out the money to do so. If I get my brand name registered, by law, is twitter required to take action on the account or should I take some other route?

Thanks in advance.

 

[justalayman]

If your brand name is so important to you, why wouldn't you register it? Your argument and your actions are contradictory.

 

[FlyingRon]

As far as the law goes, unless your mark is "famous" you'll have a hard time arguing dilution when the use is not otherwise confusing with yours.

As for Twitter, who knows. There's no statutory guidance for them to follow (unlike copyright disputes), so they obviously are taking the "we're merely the common carrier" argument to try to avoid liability at all by not doing anything to moderate.

 

[anonymous_user]

If your brand name is so important to you, why wouldn't you register it? Your argument and your actions are contradictory.

Thanks for the response. It is indeed important to me but it's fairly expensive. I don't want to shell out the money then get flat out rejected again by Twitter. But I guess I will go through with this if it's my only option.

 

[anonymous_user]

As far as the law goes, unless your mark is "famous" you'll have a hard time arguing dilution when the use is not otherwise confusing with yours.

As for Twitter, who knows. There's no statutory guidance for them to follow (unlike copyright disputes), so they obviously are taking the "we're merely the common carrier" argument to try to avoid liability at all by not doing anything to moderate.

Thanks for the response. You're exactly right. My mark is not famous either, unfortunately. I guess there is really nothing I can do.