- Original Poster
- #1
Hello everyone,
My name is Loredan and I run a few websites . A few weeks back I launched a new business directory where people can submit their businesses for free or featured for a small amount of money.
This morning I received a letter from a solicitor acting on behalf of another similar website, telling me that I should take the website down as the name of my directory it is pretty similar with their name (it is not identical) and this may cause loss of their business.
Having nothing to hide I will write the text of the letter in here hoping that someone will be able to give me a little advice on this matter.
Dear Sir,
[Moderated]
We act for the above company.
Our clients are the proprietors and franchisors of the online directory and bulletin system known by the title "[Moderated]", running their own site from their base in Solihull, West Midlands and selling franchises in their system to other users by reference to a particular city or town. They have traded as such since July 2005.
One example of their promotional material is their website [Moderated] which gives site links to all of the towns currently covered by our clients franchise, and there are numerous links within those sites to the opportunity for visitors to run "[Moderated]" in their own town, by redirecting to the site "[Moderated]", where details of what is involved in subscribing to the system, the returns that a succesful user might generate, and what a subscription will cost are set out in full. That site can be found in its own right as a sponsored link under the title "Fastest Growing Franchise" via Google search against "the best of".
In particular, apart from the right to use a city or town name under "thebestof", their franchisees have purchased a system founded upon marketing and technical support, and in particular the right to a skeleton website designed by our clients by reference to the central model. The local franchisees websites are all derivatives of our clients central address, in the form [Moderated]/(name of city).So far as London is concerned, our clients presence there takes the form of eight subdivisions of Greater London, with franchise of our clients central model currently existing in 28 boroughs within those subdivisions.
Our client retain the right to place central advertising content upon all such sites, but otherwise the franchisees are free to populate the site with whatever material they wish. Indeed, the obtaining of paid local advertisements is the heart of a franchisee's ability to generate profits via use of subscription to "thebestof"
The composition of the derivative websites is in the form of a home page with a title and photographs of the franchisee's choice across the top, with a series of tabs below this for site navigation, namely Local Home, Business Directory, Events, News, Local Info and Advertise.
Our clients attention was recently drawn to the presence of what appeared to be a rival site, [Moderated].co.uk, the ownership of and responsability for which has been traced to you.
The home page of your site begins with a logo in the top left "The Best Of London" and a central title "TheBestOfLondon.co.uk - Your London Local Directory". It is evident that the site is of fairly recent origin. It bears a "hits" counter in the right hand column with a start date of 29 March 2007. Of the 32 boroughs listed, only eight have entries so far, the most for any individual borough being 4 in Bexley and 3 in Barking & Dagenham.
However, given that there is active promotion of featured listings and the facility of a generic email address, and a concluding comment "we know that what we offer here is the best advertising package on the net" , it is clear that the site is live and accessible via searches manner. Indeed, it is actually attracting from people looking for our clients franchisees site and it is thereby causing them some difficulty.
This is the key to our client's concern. The fact that you have chosen to call this site "thebestoflondon.co.uk" comes over as an attempt - far more likely to have been deliberate and inadvertent - on your part to pass off your business as being officially linked to our clients franchising operation. By reference to the respective elements of passing of:-
1. You are making a misrepresentation in the course of your trade, namely that you are connected with our clients business franchise in "thebestof"
2. The misrepresentation is being made to prospective customers
3. It is resonably foreseeable that this will injure the business or goodwill of our clients, whether by wrongfully diverting advertising income from any existing or future franchisee of our clients, or by giving the impression that our clients have approved the association of your website with their national operation.
4. Your activities are causing actual damage as described or will probably do so unless restrained.
For the present, we have been asked to make formal request on behalf of our clients that:
1. You take the website down forthwith, and in any event no later than Friday 20 April, and do not reinstate it in any form until you have changed its name from "bestoflondon" and removed all references to "best of london" and "thebestoflondon.co.uk" and anything similar from the site contents
2. You will forthwith cease to make any commercial use of the trading styles "Best of London", "thebestoflondon.co.uk" or any other such trading style that may reasonably be considered confusingly similar with that of our clients.
For the avoidance of doubt this letter is not to be taken as any attempt to force you out of business. It is simply a formal communication to the effect that you must not seek to obtain trade, either now or at any future date, by wrongfully taking advantage of another business trading style and goodwill, and that if you were to do so you will be liable to court action involving claims for damages and costs. Should you cooperate with this request by the stated deadline, it may be that no formal claim for loss and damage would follow. For the moment and pending your response, the position of our clients remains reserved.
Your faithfully
(solicitor's name)
So this is the letter I received this morning.
If anyone can give me a little advice this would be more than helpful as I would like to write a response letter but not being solicitor I would like to know a bit about the legal environment.
Thank you for your time
My name is Loredan and I run a few websites . A few weeks back I launched a new business directory where people can submit their businesses for free or featured for a small amount of money.
This morning I received a letter from a solicitor acting on behalf of another similar website, telling me that I should take the website down as the name of my directory it is pretty similar with their name (it is not identical) and this may cause loss of their business.
Having nothing to hide I will write the text of the letter in here hoping that someone will be able to give me a little advice on this matter.
Dear Sir,
[Moderated]
We act for the above company.
Our clients are the proprietors and franchisors of the online directory and bulletin system known by the title "[Moderated]", running their own site from their base in Solihull, West Midlands and selling franchises in their system to other users by reference to a particular city or town. They have traded as such since July 2005.
One example of their promotional material is their website [Moderated] which gives site links to all of the towns currently covered by our clients franchise, and there are numerous links within those sites to the opportunity for visitors to run "[Moderated]" in their own town, by redirecting to the site "[Moderated]", where details of what is involved in subscribing to the system, the returns that a succesful user might generate, and what a subscription will cost are set out in full. That site can be found in its own right as a sponsored link under the title "Fastest Growing Franchise" via Google search against "the best of".
In particular, apart from the right to use a city or town name under "thebestof", their franchisees have purchased a system founded upon marketing and technical support, and in particular the right to a skeleton website designed by our clients by reference to the central model. The local franchisees websites are all derivatives of our clients central address, in the form [Moderated]/(name of city).So far as London is concerned, our clients presence there takes the form of eight subdivisions of Greater London, with franchise of our clients central model currently existing in 28 boroughs within those subdivisions.
Our client retain the right to place central advertising content upon all such sites, but otherwise the franchisees are free to populate the site with whatever material they wish. Indeed, the obtaining of paid local advertisements is the heart of a franchisee's ability to generate profits via use of subscription to "thebestof"
The composition of the derivative websites is in the form of a home page with a title and photographs of the franchisee's choice across the top, with a series of tabs below this for site navigation, namely Local Home, Business Directory, Events, News, Local Info and Advertise.
Our clients attention was recently drawn to the presence of what appeared to be a rival site, [Moderated].co.uk, the ownership of and responsability for which has been traced to you.
The home page of your site begins with a logo in the top left "The Best Of London" and a central title "TheBestOfLondon.co.uk - Your London Local Directory". It is evident that the site is of fairly recent origin. It bears a "hits" counter in the right hand column with a start date of 29 March 2007. Of the 32 boroughs listed, only eight have entries so far, the most for any individual borough being 4 in Bexley and 3 in Barking & Dagenham.
However, given that there is active promotion of featured listings and the facility of a generic email address, and a concluding comment "we know that what we offer here is the best advertising package on the net" , it is clear that the site is live and accessible via searches manner. Indeed, it is actually attracting from people looking for our clients franchisees site and it is thereby causing them some difficulty.
This is the key to our client's concern. The fact that you have chosen to call this site "thebestoflondon.co.uk" comes over as an attempt - far more likely to have been deliberate and inadvertent - on your part to pass off your business as being officially linked to our clients franchising operation. By reference to the respective elements of passing of:-
1. You are making a misrepresentation in the course of your trade, namely that you are connected with our clients business franchise in "thebestof"
2. The misrepresentation is being made to prospective customers
3. It is resonably foreseeable that this will injure the business or goodwill of our clients, whether by wrongfully diverting advertising income from any existing or future franchisee of our clients, or by giving the impression that our clients have approved the association of your website with their national operation.
4. Your activities are causing actual damage as described or will probably do so unless restrained.
For the present, we have been asked to make formal request on behalf of our clients that:
1. You take the website down forthwith, and in any event no later than Friday 20 April, and do not reinstate it in any form until you have changed its name from "bestoflondon" and removed all references to "best of london" and "thebestoflondon.co.uk" and anything similar from the site contents
2. You will forthwith cease to make any commercial use of the trading styles "Best of London", "thebestoflondon.co.uk" or any other such trading style that may reasonably be considered confusingly similar with that of our clients.
For the avoidance of doubt this letter is not to be taken as any attempt to force you out of business. It is simply a formal communication to the effect that you must not seek to obtain trade, either now or at any future date, by wrongfully taking advantage of another business trading style and goodwill, and that if you were to do so you will be liable to court action involving claims for damages and costs. Should you cooperate with this request by the stated deadline, it may be that no formal claim for loss and damage would follow. For the moment and pending your response, the position of our clients remains reserved.
Your faithfully
(solicitor's name)
So this is the letter I received this morning.
If anyone can give me a little advice this would be more than helpful as I would like to write a response letter but not being solicitor I would like to know a bit about the legal environment.
Thank you for your time
