I have a business question...

[WillParkinson]

The other day I was working on the website and decided to check our old address. Well, it turns out that www.hearthandhomegifts.com had been registered. I didn't really have a problem with that until I found out that this guy is local to us and we're worried that him using that name will cause confusion for our customers. Here is a copy of the letter that I wrote him:

Good morning,

My name is Will Bowden, one of the co-owners of Hearth & Home Gifts in Milwaukee, WI.

We have had the name Hearth & Home Gifts registered with the city of Milwaukee and on our Wisconsin Resale Permit since 11/24/98. We use this name both online and at flea markets and craft shows. We were also the registered holder of www.hearthandhomegifts.com until we shortened it to www.hh-gifts.com last year.

We're sure you will agree that the names will likely cause confusion for both your customers and ours and we would like to avoid this confusion, if possible. I look forward to hearing from you.

Will Bowden
Hearth & Home Gifts

I would appreciate your thoughts on this.

[matcom]

1. if your company is established and his is not

he will greatly benefit from using that name.

if i understand correctly, you let the domain lapse?

nothing you can do at all. its his now and he is free to use it however he wants.

actually, if he is smart (not to be mean here) he WILL piggy back off your success.

its a nasty world in the shadows of domains and online stores

[WillParkinson]

2. That may be true...

However if he's using Hearth & Home Gifts as his business name then he may be infringing on our name.

[matcom]

3. are you copyrighted? trademarked?

if not, its a VERY tough case. i had something similar with my business name. was basically told that if you have big $$ and all kinds of court time, it MIGHT be worth it. otherwise, let it be.

i notice from his site that he has essentially added a .com to the communal name. i am no lawyer but i THINK an offical name with .com is valid (i could be corrected though).

its too bad you gave the domain name up though. you had an opportunity to mirror your official site there if nothing else and provide another avenue for traffic.

not to mention the newly found competition.

[testing123]

4. What State is he in?

If he has his business in a different State then it's going to be hard to get him to change it.

He probably liked your website and copied it. I would be pissed off at him and myself for giving up that web domain name. He might have snatched it up right after you dropped it and copied your idea.

I had someone from the orient ask me for samples of my artwork one time and when I sent them a sample they copied my design and changed one line on it and called it their own.

[matcom]

5. they are both in Wisconsin I believe

he probably did just what you said (snatched it up as soon as it was available)

not much you can do except out perform him and watch his prices compared to yours i am afraid

[testing123]

8. I would suggest putting down

On the website that "We are the original owner of ..... and we have been in business since ..... and we are no way associated with ....". That way people will get the hint that someone ripped the name off and that will turn them away from the other website.

If they are located in the same state that you are in then you have grounds legally to get them to change the name but they will still keep the copycat store and website.

They will probably drop their prices by several dollars just to take the business away and I'm sure they look at the website everyday to copy what's selling and all of the ideas.:mad:

[radwriter0555]

6. I'd appreciate some GNOME rescue work on your site please.

And your letter is very good by the way. The response will be the tell.

And let's work on getting some classic, afforable gnomes, shall we? I'd be happy to consult as to what gnomes you should get, because it's a very, very specific thing.

[WillParkinson]

7. GNOME WAY!

<Grin>

[testing123]

9. I hate unoriginal rip off jerks

:mad: