2004-09-23

Possible legal troubles? (Part 2)

I received an e-mail on September 1 (sent to <company>@<mydomain.net>) that said:

<my name>,

Thank you for responding to our letter. Unfortunately, I have shown our Legal Department your response and they still claim it is in violation of the trademark and tradename laws and ask that you change it. 

<e-mailer's name> for <Supervisor's name>
Business Conduct & Rules

It was therefore no surprise when I received the following letter (again, the only things changed are in angle brackets):

September 16, 2004

<our names and address>

RE: E-mail Address

Dear <our names>:

On August 13, the Corporation sent you correspondence advising that your email address (<company>@<mydomain.net>) was at odds with the Rules of Conduct for <company's affiliates>.

As of the date of this letter, the Corporation has not received your written assurance that the email address has been changed. Nor have we received your promise that you will comply with the Rules of Conduct. In our previous correspondence, we indicated that the use of this email address is in violation of the Rule of Conduct as our mark (or a version of it) is being used without our permission and in a manner that will cause confusion in the market place.

We once again our requesting your written assurance with in the next 20 days that you understand and will comply with the Rules of Conduct and our request. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

<signature>
<name>, Supervisor
Business Conduct & Rules Administration Department
Office Phone <phone>
Fax <phone>
Email <e-mail address>
File <xxx>

I decided to avoid arguing about the part where I was being asked to follow the rules of one of their affiliates, or that since a complete copy of the Rules of Conduct are not available to me, I will not write or sign anything stating that I will abide by them.  I'll save that for Part 3, if it comes to that. Instead, I sent this letter:

September 23, 2004

<name>, Supervisor
Business Conduct & Rules Administration Department
<address>

Re: E-mail Address (File <xxx>)

Dear Mr. <name>:

I am writing in response to your second letter of concern over the trademarks held by <company> Corporation and the e-mail address <company>@<mydomain.net>. I'm afraid I do not understand why your concern continues. As I explained in my last letter (a copy of which is included for your convenience), the e-mail address was only given to <company> Corporation and is not used by anyone but <company> Corporation, including myself. The e-mail account itself does not exist, and never has.

I will repeat this, because apparently I was not clear enough the first time. The e-mail account <company>@<mydomain.net> does not exist. If its continued presence in your database is offensive to you or whatever rules you have created with regards to your trademarks, you are free and encouraged to delete it from your database. That will destroy it, because the only place that address has any meaning is in your database. It does not exist anywhere else.

Once again, for clarity, the e-mail account <company>@<mydomain.net> does not exist.

A written confirmation of receipt of this letter is requested as the only further correspondence on this matter.

Thank you,

<signature>
<name>

enc:copy of original correspondence
copy of my previous correspondence

To be continued? I hope not.

Possible legal troubles?

I own my own domain and maintain my own mail server. Since setting it up, I made it a habit to, when asked for an e-mail from any web site, use that company's name as the to address. Since any e-mail sent to my domain goes to me, as far as my mail server is concerned, I could use anything. Using the company's name is beneficial to me for two reasons. One, I know immediately who is sending me the e-mail. Two, if said company ever has their e-mail list stolen, or if they ever sell it to someone else, I can block that e-mail address, and I know with whom I need to update my contact info with a new address (or with whom I will never do business again). Either way, my correspondence with anyone else is unaffected.

Anyway, occasionally a company will get a little nervous seeing their name used as a personal e-mail address. My wife had one sewing website ask her to change her address, and she just made up a new one to avoid confrontations. Me, I'm a little more stubborn.

I received this letter in the mail about a month ago. For the moment, I am obscuring their name, because I'm not looking for trouble. But I thought this was worth chronicling, in case it turns ugly. This is the text of the letter, with all spelling and gramatical mistakes as they appear in print (with the exception of content in angle brackets).

August 13, 2004

Dear <our names>:

The Corporation has recently learned that your e-mail address is <company>@<mydomain.net>. The purpose of this correspondence is to ask for your cooperation as it relates to changing your e-mail address.

To begin, <company> Corporation nor any of our affiliates or Sister Companies will not allow the use of any of its trade names (company names), trademarks (product names), designs, or symbols by any person, including a <company>-affiliated <list of affiliates> without our permission. We, along with our affiliates and Sister Companies, will not give authorization for use of our trade names, trademarks, designs or symbols in a manner that is likely to cause confusion as to it's source. It is important to understand that we take strong measures to protect our marks from being used without our permission or used in a fashion that is likely to cause confusion. We believe your e-mail address can and will cause confusion in the market place. In view of this, we are asking that you change your e-mail address.

We would respectfully request your written assurance with in the next 20 days that you understand and will comply with the Rules of Conduct and our request. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

<signature>

<name>, Supervisor
Business Conduct & Rules Administration Department
Office Phone <phone>
Fax <phone>
Email <e-mail>

I sent the following reply, along with a copy of their original letter, to the address that was printed on their letterhead (no return address was typed, just the phone numbers and e-mail address):

August 19, 2004

<Supervisor's name and address>

Re: E-mail Address (File <xxx>)

Dear Mr. <name>:

I am writing in response to your letter of concern over the trademarks held by <company> Corporation and my e-mail address, <company>@<mydomain.net>.  I understand the concern of your corporation and the need to protect its trademarks and their use in the marketplace.  As such, some explanation is in order.

The domain <mydomain.net> is a personal domain, owned, administered, and operated by me personally.  The Mail Exchanger for this domain is configured such that e-mail sent to any and all addresses at <mydomain.net> is delivered to me personally.  As such, the account name "<company>" does not actually exist.

Additionally, the correspondence address <company>@<mydomain.net> has been provided to one and only one business, namely <company> Corporation.  Therefore, correspondence to this address can only come from <company>.  E-mail sent by me or anyone else from my domain does not contain the address <company>@<mydomain.net>.  This cannot cause confusion in the marketplace, nor can it cause confusion as to the source of any message.  In fact, my purpose for providing that address to <company> for correspondence was specifically for the purpose of removing any ambiguity as to a message’s source.

I believe you will find that I am respecting your trademark in this instance.  Since no actual account exists, since only <company> has been provided this correspondence address, and since no e-mail is sent by me with the <company> name, that there is no violation of your property or potential for confusion in any forum, public or private.  As requested, you have my written assurance that I will continue to respect the trademark of <company> Corporation, as I have hitherto done.

A written confirmation of receipt of this letter is requested.

Sincerely,

<my name and signature>

enc: copy of original correspondence

2004-09-20

Chez Brulé

Chez Brulé, the blog of a dear friend.
She has moved to a LiveJournal account.

2004-09-01

My first Blog

I have absolutely no idea what I am going to put here. It may be random links to things I find interesting, it may be important thoughts (I have them sometimes), or it may be completely lifeless. But I guess now I join the ranks of zillions who "have a blog".