--- Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 14:05:12 -0400 From: Dave Linabury <davelat_private> To: <declanat_private> This is just silly Declan. I am being legally threatened over the name of my weblog. Davezilla.com, a parody/humor site run by me since 1995, is being threatened by Toho Co. Ltd., for being too similar to Godzilla [they own all Godzilla movies, toys, etc.]. The letter I received via Fed Express from their lawyers on Saturday is on my site here: http://www.davezilla.com/index.php?p=1292 I have also added a text copy at the bottom of this email, if you're interested. The silly thing is, it reads like a form letter and it's quite obvious they've never visited my site. I have no mentions [until posting their letter] or images of Godzilla anywhere on my site. Google has 29,000 links to my site but no Godzilla on there. Color me gone, Davezilla ---------------------------------- davelat_private http://www.davezilla.com/ http://www.antibloggies.com/ http://www.davezilla.com/fucked/ http://homepage.mac.com/davezilla/ ---------------------------------- ORIGINAL LETTER: re: DAVEZILLA.COM Dear Mr. Linabury: We represent Toho Co., Ltd ("Toho") in intellectual property matters. Toho is the owner of all rights in and to the trademark and service mark GODZILLA and the GODZILLA characters. In addition, the name "GODZILLA" and the likeness of Toho's GODZILLA character are federally registered trademarks belonging to Toho. Copies of Toho's U.S. Registrations for GODZILLA and the GODZILLA character image are enclosed. [Omitted long, dull paragraph about the history of Toho...] It has come to our attention that you have incorporated the "ZILLA" portion of our client's GODZILLA marks in the name of your "DAVEZILLA.COM" domain name, and that you have included a "reptile-like" character as well as a "monster-like" character, which you refer to as "GODZILLA", on your website accessible through "DAVEZILLA.COM." Please be advised that your use of the GODZILLA mark constitutes a trademark infringement and confuses consumers and the public into believing that your "GODZILLA" character originates from Toho, which it does not. Moreover, your use of the "ZILLA" formative along with imagery associated with GODZILLA is likely to cause the users of your site to believe that the "DAVEZILLA.COM" website is either associated with, authorized by, or sponsored by our client, and demonstrates an attempt by you to trade on the goodwill built up by our client. As such, we request that you remove the objectionable imagery and reference to GODZILLA from your website to eliminate any likelihood of confusion and possibility of an inaccurate affiliation with Toho and GODZILLA. We look forward to receiving your prompt reply, with a statement of your intentions, no later than August 16, 2002. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation. Very truly yours, SEYFARTH SHAW Jill A. Jacobs ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan CNET Radio 9:40 am ET weekdays: http://cnet.com/broadband/0-7227152.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon Aug 12 2002 - 14:27:22 PDT