Free Iguana Texture

Check it out:

http://texturesrus.blogspot.com/2007/03/iguana-skin-texture.html

Mr or Mrs 'anonymousfellow' will be hearing from a legal representative regarding using the trademarked name Textures 'R' Us for the website.
I paid £60 to get my store name protected from this type of thing happening and as he/she doesnt allow vistors to post comments I cannot alert people that this website is not affliliated with TRU in SL.

Just for the record We DO allow use for commercial works in SL

The website owner should of at LEAST made that statement obvious. This is a blatant attempt to gain TRUs store name recognition to gain visitors to his/her website and I will be investigating this site holder to get the identification required to seek removal of my stores name that I have held for 3 years now.

LB

Did you also file for trademark in the USA, Brazil, France, Australia, and all the other countries represented in SL?

I would also like to point out that the texture mentioned appears to be nothing more than a default eye candy texture.

that's a subdomain on blogspot.com, not a registered domain name. texturesrus.com is available.

Since they are providing those textures for free, not for profit (and I assume they are from openly available, non-copyrighted sources) I doubt you can do anything. They aren't representing themselves as a company, it's just a blog. But that's my 2 cents, I could be wrong.

Artillo, I'd encourage you to read up a bit on trademark law. If LillyBeth does indeed have a registered trademark on "texturesrus", then no one else can use it legally for anything that might legitimately be mistaken for her brand. The question of whether or not the alleged infringer is making a profit is completely irrelevant. Trademarks exist to protect the public, so that the public will know who is who, not just so that the trademark holder can be the only one who profits off the name. Try starting a up disney.blogspot.com or marvel.blogspot.com, and see how long you last, profit or no profit.

Further, LilyBeth really can't ignore this without consequences now that it's known that she's aware of it. Trademark holders are legally required to defend their marks, lest the marks become "genericized". Failure to defend a trademark can be interpreted as abandonment of it, in which case the holder's exclusive right to it is lost. The survival of LilyBeth's brand name is at stake here.

In discussions like this, I often cite the example of the 10 year old child who was sued by the creator of the Simpsons for distributing his own home-made Bart Simpson T-Shirts. The Simpsons owner of course felt terrible about having to sue a little kid, but had he not taken legal action against that particular infringer, he would have been setting precedent that it's okay for anyone and everyone to make Simpsons merchandise. He would forever after have been powerless to stop anyone else.

I'd say LilyBeth is very much in the right this one, again assuming she does have a registered trademark. Her brand has to do with digital images used for the purpose of texturing 3D models, and so does the blog. There's more than enough there for her to argue that the blog's use of that name is a dilution of her brand presence. That's not only bad for her, but bad for the public. It makes it hard for people to know who is the real Textures R Us, and that's exactly what trademark law is intended to prevent.

I, for one, thought the blog was associated with the SL in world store.
I'm sure others were similarly confused.

How do you know the blog owner knows anything about SL? MANY people do not.



And about trademarks, im not sure how they work online thats always confused me a bit, never got the answers.

But i do know if you are registered as a texture store in the USA, for example, then no one else can operate in the USA with the same name, as a texture store. regardless of if theyre giving the textures for free or for profit. I know of some bands that were registered out of the usa and when they tried to tour/sell cds on US grounds they had to do it under a totally dif name.

but dealing with the internet-- i really dont know.

If the blog owner DOES know of SL, it doesnt mean they know of TRU, and if they do- well thats just sad.





How much is "£60" US money? i jsut got something trademarked and paid 550, however i did it under 2 class types.

Thx Chosen, I knew there musta been more of an explanation

A quick search on the World Intellectual Property Organisation for the trade mark and permutations of the trade mark mentioned above didn’t yield a result.

From a European perspective, to gain international protection you need to first file for trademark protection in your country of origin which protects your trade mark in your country of origin.
Then you can file an application through your office of origin to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) which offers protection of Trademark under the Madrid Protocol (184 states covered, list on their web site http://www.wipo.int/members/en/). To make that application costs 900 euro

Since we`ve strayed onto this topic...

If you find someone in your same class type using your trademarked name.... What are the proper steps to getting them to quit it?

Reason I ask is I have found 2 people using my trade marked name and i have contacted the company who hosted their site with proof it was trademarked and i have no heard back from them and seems no action has been taken. Am i supposed to be hiring a lawyer or something to do this to get someone to listen? Seems like an expensive process..??

In the US, the proper thing to do is send a cease and desist letter via certified mail with return receipt. Demand in no uncertain terms that the infringement cease immediately. If your letter is ignored, the next step is to go to court to seek an injunction. Yes, that will cost money. That's part of what it means to be in business. As with all business practices, do a careful cost benefit analysis to determine if it's worth the expense.

Definitely consult a lawyer who specializes in trademark law.

This is interesting.

Do the rules differ for a company that has registered a trademark for their company name,
that does business exclusively through electronic means?
In the fashion that many of us do as in the the trade of digital content?

Perhaps it is different if it is confined exclusively to a digital platform such as SL?
In contrast to a company that uses the internet to sell a physical product?
I have already sold some of my textures outside of SL on another website, but that is the advantage of my product category.
As opposed to the fact that you cannot take prims out of SL.

Yet perhaps my product is not real enough yet, maybe I need to be printing them out and selling them as designs on canvas or some other alternative.

I know I could have looked these questions up, but I thought I would see if you guys have any thoughts on it first.

Also just a note. the OP's link to the blog is now empty.

Just found this.

http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/contract/cease.htm

Which was a link from this forum here:
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2686775

Here are my thoughts..... Not sure these are all facts lol.


When i registered for my business, there was a question inquiring "Is this a physical entity"..the answer was no, as my business operates online.

Whether you are an online company, or a company with a building and employees in tangible form, you need to register a business and id say also TM your business name.

Of course i am referring to RL operations (both via on and offline)...

As far as SL goes.... I read in resident answers before someone claiming due to the amount of money they made on sl their country required them to register as a business.

If you do have a profitable business in SL i wouldnt think it would do any harm to TM your name (As if i a RL company began using the name you would have to quit if they found out even if you were using it first.... or am i wrong here? ).... I dont think im wrong. Its my understanding t hat "businesses" in sl operating under RL company names (Such as the D E M O clothing store here in sl..) if the RL company found out, they have every right to demand that the "demo" shop in SL change its name.

But as far as 'registering' a business in SL with your RL state, i really dont know..

When i filed for my trademark though..it had a bunch of class types and you could indicate if you were solely selling online or in RL due to the specificness(is that a word?) of all the choices you had. But when i registered as a business i dont recall all the dif choices. And if you are wanting to register a business in sl..is that REALLY "real"??

Im honestly considering trademarking the name i use in SL. i figure if sl shuts down in a month, oh well. But if its still here in 5 years-- and if im still associated with it, id hate for someone in RL to just decide they want the name and i have to do a way with it. Not only that but i have some friends who started a indie, if you will, clothing company thats bringing in some nice extra cash...and Im considering taking my design i do in SL and into the real world under the same name.

but yeah, tms, business registrations, blah blah in regards to SL..pretty confusing.

Thanks!

I`d have to mod it a bit, since no one is using my copyright work but rather trying to operate under a band name I have trademarked.


Is it safe to mod this?

Not at all, at least not in the US. I can't imagine how anyone could consider a business that sells digital merchandise as being any different from a business that sells anything else. Digital goods and services are still goods and services, and your business is still a business, no matter what you sell.



There's really no such thing as a "business inside SL". You are a real person doing real labor to operate your real business. The fact that you choose to use SL as your distribution vehicle really isn't relevant. A trademark is a trademark is a trademark.


There is no contrast.


Just because your product is not tangible doesn't mean it's not real.

Think about other businesses that produce intangible products, and compare them with your own. One example that comes to mind as I write this is HBO. They produce lots of products (original programming, original movies, etc.), but none of them are tangible. They're still a real company though, and the name HBO is a real registered trademark, which nobody else can use. The fact that HBO doesn't make pencils or clock radios or anything else that you can hold in your hands is not relevant in any way, shape, or form. The same is true for your business.

If you really want to get nitpicky, I suppose you could point to the fact that many HBO programs are available on DVD, and DVD's are tangible products. Well, first of all, HBO doesn't actually make DVD's themselves. They simply license their copyrighted and trademarked materials (all of which are intangible) to DVD manufacturers. Even if they did though, it wouldn't change anything.

Second, DVD's did not exist when HBO began. When they first started producing content, their business output was entirely electronic. They were always a real company though.

Your SL business is a real company too. Should you choose to expand your offerings to print-outs or CD's or whatever, that's up to you, but it doesn't change your real/unreal status in any way. SL is simply one distribution channel among the millions of potential channels that are available to you. The fact that you've chosen to distribute through just one or two methods has nothing to do with whether or not you, your business, and your copyrights & trademarks are real.


By all means, look it up. I'm not a lawyer. Get more informed answers from a real expert.


Looks like LilyBeth was able to win this one pretty easily. I figured she would.





I don't see why it wouldn't be safe to mod it. If you want a more relevant form letter to use though, a quick Google search for "trademark infringement cease and desist letter" turns up 220,000 results. The first two links include some good samples. I didn't bother to check the rest of them.

http://www.tannedfeet.com/Trademark_Dispute_Cease_and_Desist_Form_Letter.doc
http://www.keytlaw.com/urls/c&d.htm

Again, I'm not a lawyer though. You'd be wise to consult a trademark specialist before proceeding.

Thanks for all the info, Chosen.

As usual Chosen,

Your comments shed great clarity, thank you!

Phew! Just came back to check this! Im sorry it created such an upset

The gentleman in question has kindly written to me to say he had no idea Textures R Us in SL had been used for nrly 3 years and has removed and deleted the name ( I hope he didnt mean website!)

As I said to him he seems like a nice chap and kind to be offering his own textures for free but I 'did' pay I think it was £60 to register Textures R Us with a online trading name company to avoid this kind of thing happening.

Had i been new it wouldnt of bothered me 'as much' but after 3 yrs its important TRUs name isnt confused with other entities.

Thanks for the response

Its resolved.

LB

Yes its an International Trade Name registration I remember I had to pay extra for that and I went for that option 'because' its an online venture and not some RL store in one country.

You got a trademark geared toward online stores?

Or is this going over my head? (Typical lol)

its geared towards any online venture be in ebay store...website store...anything that would involve interaction or sales from people from most * not all* countries in the world.
Theres quite a few online places that you can register your name with.

It gets a bit messy with some they insist you become a LTD Co and sent your accounts in etc I just found one that suited what I wanted which was a simple business name protection for online or world wide (almost) use.

As I say the gentlemans kindly replied. This is just how easy it is for 2 ppl to think of the same name. He didnt do it intentionaly there nothing clever about it really just a play on words from Toys R Us.

But I claimed it 2.8 yrs ago

Hi,

I'm starting to think what you bought is not a trademark at all. Can I suggest you double check that it is an official trademark and if it's not then you run out and get one quickly.

Hmm, could you provide us with a link?

I`m interested in reading about this.




Yeah, I am finding it 'odd' it is a trademark geared toward online things..It sounds more like some type of online business registration.

A trade mark is a trade mark is a trademark............online or off. It just... is. Or so I thought anyway.

And like I said early, I just TM`d my business name and it was well beyond the costs LB said she purchased hers for.

So whatever this is, and this has NOTHING to do with "proving someone wrong" or what not, im in all sincerity curious about what exactly this process she took was as if it is legit it may be something I want to look in to.