{"id":439,"date":"2008-03-02T02:50:59","date_gmt":"2008-03-02T06:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tim.cexx.org\/?p=439"},"modified":"2013-08-02T17:25:31","modified_gmt":"2013-08-02T21:25:31","slug":"anonymizercom-inc-and-trademark-delusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tim.cexx.org\/?p=439","title":{"rendered":"Anonymizer.com Inc. and “Trademark Delusion”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week I got the following nastygram from Anonymizer.com Inc., a company that runs an anonymizing Web proxy<\/a>, alleging trademark infringement.<\/p>\n


\nSubject: \tTrademark infringement
\nFrom: \t\"Jason Van Peeren\" <withheld>
\nDate: \tMon, February 25, 2008 11:43 am
\nTo: \t<withheld><\/p>\n

http:\/\/cexx.org\/anony.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

I noticed that you are currently using our Trademark Term in a fashion that
\ninfringes on our trademark rights. We kindly ask you to cease and desist
\nthe use of Anonymizer and or any variations of this trademark which has been
\nwithstanding since May 1, 1996. In place of the term \"Anonymizer,\" please
\nuse \"anonymous web proxy\".<\/p>\n

We thank you for your cooperation.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

--<\/p>\n

Jason Van Peeren<\/p>\n

Web Marketing Manager<\/p>\n

Anonymizer, Inc.
\nTrusted \/ Proven \/ Secure
\n<\/tt><\/i><\/p>\n

My reply:<\/p>\n


\nFrom: Tim @ cexx <withheld>
\nSent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 10:07 AM
\nTo: Jason Van Peeren
\nSubject: Re: Trademark infringement<\/p>\n

Hi,
\nWe have received this identical letter several years ago, and replied to it.
\nPlease refer to http:\/\/cexx.org\/anonymizer.txt<\/a>
\nThen go away.
\n<\/tt><\/i><\/p>\n

…Yes, the linked reply predates this letter by several years, mainly because I received the exact same letter (right down to the bizarre capitalization of “trademark”) from a different name at the same company that many years before, and already told them to piss off, in the much longer form shown.<\/p>\n

The best part is this ruff, tuff legal shark’s reaction to my reply.<\/p>\n


\nSubject: \tRE: Trademark infringement
\nFrom: \t\"Jason Van Peeren\" <withheld>
\nDate: \tWed, February 27, 2008 2:24 pm
\nTo: \t<withheld><\/p>\n

Thanks for your reply. Sorry to bug you Tim
\n<\/tt><\/i><\/p>\n

Some additional lessons, as long as I’m mistaking this for Tim’s Law Blog:<\/p>\n

1) Use of a(n allegedly) trademarked term in a generic way is ABSOLUTELY NOT trademark infringement. (Infringement would occur if I made shitty pants in my basement and sold them as Levis, but not if I “creamed my Levis” when I saw some new gizmo.) Dilution<\/a> might be closer to the mark, but even that’s stretching the Silly Putty(R) a bit. (Actually, I think the most correct term for this is genericide<\/a>, although I believe in this case use of the term generically predates this company and its use of the term as a service mark).<\/p>\n

2) And actually yes, we’re talking about a service mark here, not a trademark (Anonymizer.com Inc.’s “The Anonymizer” is a service, not a product.)<\/p>\n

3) Oh yes, and if you ever invent, say, the greatest new painkiller since sliced vodka<\/a>, don’t name it The Painkiller.<\/p>\n

Folks, protect your language! Don’t let companies get away with this crap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week I got the following nastygram from Anonymizer.com Inc., a company that runs an anonymizing Web proxy, alleging trademark infringement. Subject: Trademark infringement From: “Jason Van Peeren” <withheld> Date: Mon, February 25, 2008 11:43 am To: <withheld> http:\/\/cexx.org\/anony.htm I noticed that you are currently using our Trademark Term in a fashion that infringes on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim.cexx.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim.cexx.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim.cexx.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim.cexx.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim.cexx.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tim.cexx.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1043,"href":"https:\/\/tim.cexx.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions\/1043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim.cexx.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim.cexx.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim.cexx.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}