Gaijin Entertainment Demands Gaijin.com, Which Predates Them And Doesn't Infringe Their Trademark
from the trademark-abuse dept
In the latest example of extreme trademark abuse, video game company Gaijin Entertainment is not just claiming a trademark over "gaijin" but using it to demand the domain name Gaijin.com, which was registered by Brandon Harris back in May of 1995. The legal nastygram that the company sent is quite incredible, suggesting that Harris registered the domain later and is somehow infringing on their mark:It came to our attention that you registered and maintain a website www.gaijin.com (“Infringing Website”) that infringes Gaijin Mark. By maintaining and offering to public your content via the website, i.e., Infringing Website, having the same domain as Gaijin Mark, you create consumer confusion and mistake as to the source, sponsorship and/or affiliation of the Infringing Website and Gaijin, thereby infringing Gaijin Mark.Luckily, Harris has Mike Godwin (yes, that Mike Godwin, so get your Nazi references in early) as a lawyer, and he quickly sent back the following excellent response.
Dear Mr. Goldstein-Gureff,Obviously, they did not retract the claim in time, and thus, the trademark bullying is now public.
Please be advised that my client, Brandon Harris, disputes your trademark-infringement claim in every particular.
That is the most polite way to state how vigorously we dispute your attempt to assert flat ownership of the word “gaijin,” a word so well-established in English that it is an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Currently, I’m advising my client to publicize your demand letter, so that the entire game-consuming public will be made aware of your client’s overreaching trademark assertions. In addition, we will of course continue to make clear that Brandon Harris’s website in no way gives rise to any kind of marketplace confusion of the sort that American trademark law is designed to address.
In the interests of allowing you and your client to gracefully retract your claim, we have chosen to refrain from publicizing your demand until you respond to this message, provided that you respond no later than close-of-business Monday. Since I am currently in DC, Eastern time applies.
–Mike Godwin
P.S. I understand that your clients are possibly Russian nationals. You may wish to explain to them the scope and limitations of the Lanham Act in the United States.
–MG
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Filed Under: brendan harris, domains, gaijin, mike godwin, trademark bullies, udrp
Companies: gaijin entertainment
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I know Wikipedia doesn’t exactly count as the most reputable source of information these days, but…
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Which definition do you use?
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Why?
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Re: Why?
"See? We disputed it vigorously, but we were kind enough to not go public about it without giving them a chance."
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Not True Techdirtian would ever resort to such cheap logical devices.
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What do I win?
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Fortunately, they're in luck due to the explosion of new TLD's: gaijin.asshats is still available.
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Not only anomaly, but no action beyond a letter.
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Re: Not only anomaly, but no action beyond a letter.
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Re: Not only anomaly, but no action beyond a letter.
I propose a new category to go along with week's "funniest" and "most insightful"
it will be called "Wtf troll... just... wtf"
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This is on level with watching an old man demand his child be returned to the bank from a flower in the middle of a busy street.
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Oops - just fed the troll. Never mind, I could do with a bit of sophisticated entertainment, which I certainly won't get from OOTB.
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Gaijin Entertainment, not Gaijin Games
There is another company that would be easy to confuse with this action. Gaijin Games (makers of the excellent BitTrip runner games) are not involved in this action as far as I can tell.
Just want to make sure we all point our angry in the right direction.
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Re: Gaijin Entertainment, not Gaijin Games
+1 for directing Awesome Vibes at Gaijin Games
+1 for directing Angry E-Mails at Gaijin Entertainment
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My favorite would have to be Bit Shifter's "Strange Comfort".
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Of Note...
You'd think people would be more confused with these two, as opposed to some random website that just happens to use http://www.gaijin.com...
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Patents/copyrights are totally messed up and are grinding the technology industry to a halt, and justifying massive spying on individuals. They should be curtailed or sh!tcanned altogether.
I'm clarifying because they tend to get lumped together and are not the same.
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This is the same reason why no one can say "Super Bowl" any more because they fear the NFL will sue them for using those words without paying the licensing fees.
Sorry to get off-topic.
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Domain Seizures
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I'm impressed!
Well done, Mike - I think your educational efforts are starting to pay off!
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Poetic Justice
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well... might as well
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There are so many ways...
If they REALLY wanted the domain name they could have offered to buy it for the ludicrous amount of money they're paying their legal council. They could come up with an agreement to buy the domain if the guy ever stops using it (some sort of right of first refusal if he ever sells the domain). If they were really interested in disambiguation they could have asked for a link on the guy's page ("if you're looking for Gaijin Entertainment...").
Instead they sic the lawyers on a blog that's been around since nearly the dawn of the commercial internet. /facepalm
If they're so worried about such a tarnishing of their mark, why haven't they gone after Gaijin Games yet?
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