Intellectual property

[schwichy]

are you around pinkandpurple?

Can you give any advice in regard to weblaw (we have a trademark and considering cease and desist)? Or point me in the right direction. Many thanks.
Have changed name for this FWIW.

I might be able to help. is it to do with a registered trademark?

Ah.. Yes and thanks for finding me. Yes and I have been reading it might be:

Metatags and Trade Mark Infringement, just found this kink but no chance to read it all yet lawdit UK law, UK website/business (but .com domain)

kink - lol
link

Yes it is to do with a registered trademark

The article summarises the situation quite well.
I'm sure you are aware but the relevant law is the Trade Marks Act

www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1994/Ukpga_19940026_en_1.htm

Infringement of reg TM:

(1) A person infringes a registered trade mark if he uses in the course of trade a sign which is identical with the trade mark in relation to goods or services which are identical with those for which it is registered.
(2) A person infringes a registered trade mark if he uses in the course of trade a sign where because?
(a) the sign is identical with the trade mark and is used in relation to goods or services similar to those for which the trade mark is registered, or
(b) the sign is similar to the trade mark and is used in relation to goods or services identical with or similar to those for which the trade mark is registered,
there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public, which includes the likelihood of association with the trade mark.
(3) A person infringes a registered trade mark if he uses in the course of trade a sign which?
(a) is identical with or similar to the trade mark, and
(b) is used in relation to goods or services which are not similar to those for which the trade mark is registered,
where the trade mark has a reputation in the United Kingdom and the use of the sign, being without due cause, takes unfair advantage of, or is detrimental to, the distinctive character or the repute of the trade mark.

So you need to decide which ones of these the use falls into. Only a limited number of these categories have been considered by the courts in relation to metatags (which is what i presume you're referring to here).

Thanks

Also when you get to their web page it has our name/logo which we have been using for years and now have approval as a RTM. This wasn't the reason for doing so, but they have started to do it in the last 3 months.

So they should remove the logo from the banner. However, it is all the other techi bits, meta tages and urls www.bobwbesite.html / ourRTMname/
etc.....

They have before copied body text from our site which they have now removed (removal was with no prompting from us but it shows they have found us and know who we are, I have screen grabs and web archives), but are using our RTM within their site to link to other internal pages. They are selling the same things, but broader product range and both of us are in the same business but we offer a better service financially and we are specialised. My concern is that they are good at what they are doing and have been doing it for a while and obviously use loopholes. I will just have to find out more. It is very time consuming and takes away even more time you should be spending on your own business. I don't want to make things worse IYKWIM and will have to consider which ones the courts will find to be the more problematic/best to resove.

I will have to have a good read and hopefully take some legal advice before I jump in.

Hard to give more information on here, but thank you for your help.

If you have a RTM your rights you should be in a good position.

It's worth checking out if you can get free advice from a trade mark attorney:

www.cipa.org.uk/pages/advice-clinics

Otherwise they might charge £100-£300 an hour (exc VAT!) for advice.

Note trade mark attorneys are different from patent attorneys.

Feel free to CAT me if you would like to discuss, although I am not an expert on TMs.