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Hey guys,
We were just tipped off about a site www.citiboiz.net which could be attempting to infringe on our trademark. The WHOIS is blocked, unfortunately, although they do post a 2257 address (without a name). Does anyone know how to get the WHOIS info on a site that was registered through proxy? Any suggestions? When I turn this over to legal, I'd like to have as much info as possible. Thanks!
I have no clue, but I went and checked out their site and noticed they had a CCBill affiliate program. I am sure CCBill would not want to be a part of something that so obviously violates your trademark. Maybe you can contact their legal department and get info. Good luck.
Wow. Talk about "confusingly similar" ! Some people are just dumbasses, I guess.
This is a GoDaddy domain, and from what I understand from someone who was on the opposite end of this situation, GoDaddy will cave at the drop of a hat, without even a subpoena, so if your attorney writes a short letter (or perhaps even calls), they supposedly will release the info. I think they do impose a waiting period of a few days while they notify whomever that they will be making the info available, but my understanding is they won't allow change to the WHOIS info during the waiting period.
Hi Steve;
Forward a copy of your trademark info to the potential infringer as a cease and desist and copy Godaddy and billing agent (CCBILL).
The company that privately purchased the domain is at this address and phone number listed as the administrative contact.
Administrative Contact:
Private, Registration CITIBOIZ.NET@domainsbyproxy.com
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599 Fax -- (480) 624-2599
Also they have no 2257 statement and if they are doing business in the USA, they are in violation. USA Billing companies don't like that!
Best of luck Doll!
I'm a dipshit - NM
"Domains by Proxy" is GoDaddy's privacy service. The phone number and address is the one maintained by GoDaddy, not for the individual owning the domain. If you send a letter with intent to take legal action to GoDaddy, they will release the privacy info.Quote:
Originally Posted by lisa
Just curious
would your trademark be of any value if the domain owner actually resides in another country where your trademark is not registered?
DEVELISH
Chip, Lisa & Tropixxx,
Thanks for your input. It'll come in handy! This guy has two other "citiboi" domains, www.citiboidvds.com and www.urcitiboi.com, and I did manage to find out that his name is Brian Parker and he is associated with Elite Escorts, in Cleveland. My bf sent him an email yesterday (he's the one who alerted me in the first place, after seeing something on xTube advertising his site) and here's an excerpt from the guy's reply:
"While I can appreciate your input, yes I am aware that there is another
citiboyz, but there site is totally different than what I am doing....and
besides that, the citiboiz is just name of the site, not my studio.....So
while I'm minding my business maybe you should do the same."
So there.
You know, I don't have any problem with someone using the name, or a close variation on the name, if it's not a gay porn site. But I think this just crosses the line.
Ok I may be a bit dumb in this area. I understand what he's doing is trying to profit by the name, but do you own the trade mark for all variations of the name citiboyz? Or does it matter? Does it only need to be close? Who decides what close is? If someone registered citiguys would they be in violation?
well this is sort of interesting.
Steve, you might have already noticed this, but both the citiboydvds.com and urcitiboi.com domains claim to be registered to different companies in England... but the contact address for one of them is "elitecleveland.com" which is the Cleveland escort site... which, in turn, is registered to:
Fathers, Robert robert@fathers.co.uk
Datech limited
Cossington Grange
Middle Road
Cossington, Somerset TA7 8LH
United Kingdom
01278722718
which also owns singlescrowd.com.
However... "elitecleveland.net" (which has the same phone number as elitecleveland.com) claims to be owned by a Cleveland resident:
Howard, Juan elite@wtfwebdesign.com
11900 Edgewater DR. Suite 1306
Lakewood, OH 44107
US
1 216-255-4094
I don't mean to be a total dick here but I searched the USPTO and I don't see citiboyz as a registered trademark anywhere
am I mistaken?
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?...tate=igedf.1.1
We have a trademark application pending, but there's a 2 year backlog. :-(Quote:
Originally Posted by Squirt
Well, imagine you were Microsoft and someone started selling software under a name like, say.. Mycrosoft. Even though you might not have that variation trademarked, wouldn't you be concerned? Sure you would. It might not bother you if they were selling fabric softener, though. I don't know what my legal standing is regarding my situation. That's for lawyers to handle. But it does appear as if someone is purposely using a close variation of my brand, in the same business as I'm in, knowing that it's a close variation and doesn't care that I might see something wrong with that. So that's why I posted... because I'm not as savvy as the rest of you when it comes to all this 'investigative' stuff. I'll do what I need to do to protect my brand, as you would. I don't know how far I'll need to go, or even if I'll be successful, but I have to at least try.Quote:
Originally Posted by rdynow
If you have a name that's confusingly similar as an established mark, and you are marketing a product in the same trade classification, then it's definitely infringing.
It doesn't matter if the spelling is slightly different, it's clear that this guy is trading off of the success of the Citiboyz name because he is marketing in the same classification. And, he's a dumbass, because he admitted in the email Steve posted that he knows there's another Citiboyz, so now it's willful infringement :)