Copywrite Cease and Desist order

What is the name of your state? Florida

I would first like to find out what my options are, can i fight this? Is the cost worth it? Do i need to worry? here is some background info:

I am partnered with 3 other people (2 in the UK, and one other person local in florida) in a web hosting service called MadCowHosting.com, i received this Cease and Desist Demand today via fed ex and last thursday via email.

My intention is to try to continue using the name MadCowHosting.com. I am not sure if just putting a discamer on my site saying that we are not a part of "FatCow" would do the trick.

My wife actually came up with the name MadCowHosting.com as the 4 of us were trying to find a name that had to do with the US and UK. She, nor any of us, ad ever seen or heard of "FatCow" (fatcow.com).

Please let me know if we have a chance to work thru and continue using our name of MadCowHosting.

here is a link to the order:
http://www.madcowhosting.com/Cease_and_Desist_Letter_-_03.26.2004.pdf

Thank you for your help and advise

What does the cease and desist latter say? Your PDF link wouldn't open on my PC.

Fatcow Web Hosting does have a trademark registered with the USPTO. The question then is whether or not "Madcow Web Hosting" is "confusingly similar" to "Fatcow Web Hosting." There is no test that will tell you for sure, but I would bet that ICANN would find the two confusingly similar and thereby take the domain name from you.

"I am not sure if just putting a discamer on my site saying that we are not a part of "FatCow" would do the trick."

This will have no effect whatsoever.

"She, nor any of us, ad ever seen or heard of "FatCow""

Doesn't matter. Since Fatcow is a U.S. registered trademark, everyone in the U.S. (or doing business in the U.S.) is automatically "on notice" -- that is, because the mark is registered, you are assumed to know about it. Whether you actually did or not is irrelevant.

"Please let me know if we have a chance to work thru and continue using our name of MadCowHosting."

Because Fatcow has a registered mark, you are most likely going to have a serious uphill battle to retain your name. You should contact a local (U.S.) attorney with experience in trademark disputes to take a look at all of the facts and let you know what you should expect and what, if anything, you can do.

I will have to disagree with Diva.

Unless FatCow would like to get a cease and desist order from tucows.com,paintedcows.com,www.ihatecows.com,www.crazyforcows.com,www.e-cows.com, pigsandcows.com,moocow.com.

Although they are similar, the names are not close enough to consider them uniquely similar.

What this sounds like is a strongarm technique and not a good one at that.

Now, the real question is, do you have the money to fight such a complicated and drawnout process?

Well that is the "is it worth the cost" question i posted

We are only a few months old and changing our name enough to get fatcow off of our backs would not be a ton of work but fatcow.com and madcowhosting.com do not sound close enough to me.

They are an established company that gets 1 million hits per month, that means they have money. We are a new company that had start up costs, that means we wont have as much of it.

Thank you for your help,
Bryan

They are an established company that gets 1 million hits per month, that means they have money.

Click to expand...

That's bullcrap. Hits do not equate money.

I have three websites. One gets 3.5 million 'hits' a month and is totally non-revenue generating. The second gets anywhere from 1 to 2 million a month and the income for that (albeit, all for charity) is only about $50,000 after expenses but the third is getting an average of 2,000 hits a month and generates more than $700,000 a year in revenue.

So, your logic is screwed.

Ultimately, depending on the contents of the letter, you need to make your own decisions about this. Internet law is evolving and still has not settled (nor will it ever probably) on a definate black and white definition or course.

As the examples I cited, similar and uniquely similar are two entirely different things. But based on your statement above, I would consider the fact that you are very ill-equipped to handle even conversing with them on this matter.

Therefore, I would take the letter to a IP attorney and, for a small fee (usually under $200) get their opinion as to your options.

And look up the word copywrite.

oberauerdorf,

you wrote

"Unless FatCow would like to get a cease and desist order from tucows.com,paintedcows.com,www.ihatecows.com,[url]www.crazyforcows.com,www.e-cows.com,[/url] pigsandcows.com,moocow.com.

Although they are similar, the names are not close enough to consider them uniquely similar."

I see what you are getting at, but the problem here is not simply the similarity between the name "Madcow" and "Fatcow" but between "Madcowhosting" and "Fatcow Webhosting." Further, because both companies are providing the same services, the names don't have to be quite as "close" as they would if they were in different fields.

Fatcow doesn't have a trademark on "Fatcow," they have a trademark on "Fatcow Web Hosting." Even if they wouldn't have a case for trademark infringement, I would bet that ICANN would side with them in a domain name dispute.

I hope you are right, but I don't think this is cut-and-dried one way or the other.

P.S. I think "div" is a better abbreviation than "diva!" Diva to me says "full-of-themselves woman" while"div" or"divgradcurl" says vector calculus. I prefer the latter...

How about Duma

And you have a case. I just think that this is a crap letter but then, since we haven't seen the letter, anything is possible.

This poor poster is a neophyte anyway and probably crapping his pants right about now. I mean, equating hits with revenue? I'd love to do that. I'd be a (much) richer man now