Trademarked Usernames

Do you take any action if a user registers with a trademarked username? Like "Wal-Mart" or "Microsoft"?

Is there anything that can be done about it by those companies?

 

Nope, and I doubt they could do anything either.

 

Add one to that! FullMetalBabe™

xDD joke joke, uhh, I don't mind, I don't think it's that much of a problem.

 

Depends on what name it is. If its obviously a "Fun-account" it gets deleted, but when its an active user with something not-so-super-special like "cokefreak" then i let him be.
i heard often of admins which had problems because of such little things.

 

I haven't had this happen to me yet, but I don't think I'd take action against them unless they turned out to be advertising or trolling.

 

I do not really like it but I do not dissallow it if there is an real user behind it thats not breaking any rules.

 

Nope, what's the worst that they can do, contact you with a cease and decist? They've got enough legal issues that they're not worried about that. Unless you started a "Wal-Mart" community and named yourself "Wal-Mart" I doubt that they'd be worried.

 

I use "Joy Of Pepsi" in some places, and haven't even had a second glance anywhere. In fact, I always spark that oh-so-fun age-old debate. Usually very entertaining.

Unless someone is trying to pose as the copyrighted name that they're using, I don't mind, even if they have a signature and avatar with the name/product. Until a company approaches me, I'm not worrying about it.

 

It's not illegal for the most part.

 

Well, that's not ambiguous. In fact, it is illegal. A trademarked name is trademarked for a reason - a legal reason. I'm not saying you should do anything about it on your forum, but on mine, it's not allowed. I deal with an industry full of trademarked names and copyrighted materials. If someone joined my forum using the user name Armstrong CEO or Pergo or Mr. Schluter, they very well better be who they claim to be or it's trouble.

I can't afford to fight any battles in court or have legal claims that might jeopardize my community website. I also don't want to risk credibility with my peers and the leaders of the flooring industry. My best defense is to be strict about legal issues. I have made some mistakes and maybe am still making some, but I will be proactive in protecting my website from harm and will continue to learn more and take appropriate action. It's my only business now and I can't afford to lose it.

Jim

 

Never had an issue with it, although I'm sure if it ever became an issue, I'd be receiving an angry letter from the copyright holder demanding action.

 

I think Jim's situation is much different than a lot of us. While it is technically illegal to do it under any conditions, you'd stand out more on, say, a professional Flooring community than an off-topic forum made for general BS, or even most gaming communities.

The follow-up question: Has anyone actually received a reprimand for a trademarked name someone on their site, including usernames?

 

How do you identify the users that have a right to use the trademarks, Jim? Do you take a company email address as sufficient proof, do you ask the company to provide you with some kind of statement that they're acting as an official spokesman, etc.?

 

I've been in the industry for 35+ years and active on flooring related forums for about 10. That alone doesn't give me any specific knowledge that a particular member isn't who they say they are, but it adds to the bank of information I need to make an educated guess.

Other tools I use are IP addresses, email domains, writing style and the statements they write in reply to the welcome messages I send out automatically that instruct members how they may gain access to the private, pro only forums. Or whether they don't ask for access (what pro doesn't want to see what other pros are saying?). In most cases, a real industry representative will have an IP address that is tied to the region the company offices are located; uses a company supplied email address and is someone who makes fewer spelling and grammatical errors (that's not always the case though).

The kicker is that flooring forums have a bad reputation over the years and I have had more industry luminaries ask me about anonymity prior to registering or sent me messages afterward asking if they can have access to the pro forum and not have to be inundated with questions and comments directed at them. They aren't familiar with using forums, vBulletin specifically and don't understand they can be as anonymous and invisible as they want.

I've had a couple of members who are way down on the totem pole tell me their bosses keep asking for printed copies of pages that refer to their products or their competitor's. The sad fact is, the flooring industry has been a long time in crawling out of the technology cave when it comes to computers and the Internet. It's been my self-appointed job to help the industry see the value in it and to bring the different and often adversarial segments together for better cooperation. There have been small successes. I like my job.

Jim

 

I've never taken any action with situations like this. One one of my forum's it is very common but we allow it. IMO it isn't a big deal, unless of course the trademark owner wants it removed. This has never happened, but if the issue arose it'd be very simple to remove it.

Changing these names or prohibiting them just creates more work to deal with, IMO.

 

I hear this type of reply a lot in the gun forums in reference to Obama and how he has more to worry about with the economy than grabing firearms. I usually remind people of the 1934 National Firearms Act that did more harm to our Second Amendment Rights than anything else but yet was passed during the worst economic time in U.S. history.


Anyhow more to the topic at hand, Ford was sueing a forum over their members taking pictures of their own cars while at the same time asking congress for money to keep the doors open. This is just one of many examples of BS law suits filed againt websites/forums by the Big 3 despite their serious economic issues. So don't think for a minute these large corperations have better things to do.


Now me personally, I don't give these accounts a second thought since their mostly a joke. And just as you stated, they will serve you a cease and decist letter if they feel like it. Then you just change or delete the account.

 

It's up to the person who owns the mark to report it to you, you don't need to do their work for them. If they send you a letter saying you're in breach, then you probably are, but who at Coke or Pepsi are going to mind somebody using their name on a thousand forums?

I think it would be dodgy if somebody was posing as a company and giving advice as if it was them. I always check to make sure they are who they say they are when I get somebody using my forums for providing advice to their own customers.

 

i dont think i have come across this issue before, although i dont think i would mind if someone did do as long as they arent spamming or advertising....none of my forums are really that big, so i guess there is little chance anyone important would look at them anyway.

 

Well I don't help the matter do I? :lol:

Mopar1973Man...

My logo has both the mopar M and Cummins C....

.

:uhh:

 

I let people take trademarked names, but if the owner actually wants me to remove it, I'll do.