Harassment - your view please!

[Mr. Wilson]

Ok, yes Angela...I do have a question.


Why have you dragged this drama here and now drawn my scrutiny?

For all that I've heard and read, it appears you chose to join this board as a smear campaign against a long time member.


What else should I draw as a conclusion?

 

[nor_daens]

Holey Moley

Laughing with the:

TheNewSharkster
"This thread is giving me a guilty pleasure. Fun to watch people fight it out in a public forum "

tap, tap, tap

I always enjoy a good tarbaby contest. The more information the better. Like a few others I'm pretty sure I will not be buying any T-Shirts from either party. I do find the reaction of a few people very revealing also. LOL it's all good.

 

[Scott Lee]

Dave...Just delete the whole thread, and if it gets started again, bring down the ban hammer! JMO :thumbup:

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Ok, yes Angela...I do have a question.


Why have you dragged this drama here and now drawn my scrutiny?

For all that I've heard and read, it appears you chose to join this board as a smear campaign against a long time member.


What else should I draw as a conclusion?

 

[Pinocchio]

????????????

If I were a judge which I'm not an a case like this was brought before me. I think my decision would be This.......I would allow one to retain the names an have a net thrown over the other. Judgement Rendered........:thumbup:
Pinocchio (part-time night court Judge an Executioner........)

 

[dave sutton]

THIS THREAD IS CRAZY

I MAY BE WRONG HERE BUT IF JAKE CONTACTED MYSPACE AND FACEBOOK AND GOT THEM TO DELETE HER LOGO CLAIMING TO HAVE A COPYRIGHT WHEN HE KNEW HE DIDNT...

that IMO is messing with her buisness. turns out he was denied then he is 1000% in the wrong. so she posted here about pool related site on azbilliards. she isnt wrong. as for the smear campaign on a long time member. its not all on her. he didnt have the right to lie and get her stuff removed

possible shady buisness practices from a forum member that is pool related does belong here. if not move it to NPR

now the fbi thing is on another level.

 

[9balllvr]

I admitted I researched trademark law to be sure the words I was putting together would be safe from copyright and even searched them for trademark. It wasn't until after I had my website up and running that I found the other painting website, not including the word room. The name PoolRoomPaintings came natural - not to mistake it with Swimming... LOL but serious!

I did however know about PoolTees before I created my site PoolRoomTees - but again the reason behind it was to keep the name as close to my other website as possible.

Name change for me is out of the question.... And I don't expect PoolTees to change their name. All I ask is that he not contact any of my business associates in the future. This huge web world is big enough for both of us. I'm not going anywhere.

it is interesting to me that you would take the time to research trademark law, but not do an extensive search on the net to determine if there was another business with the same or similar name that could potentially cause confusion to YOUR potential customers/business. you asked about harassment in your initial post and what other people think - in my opinion, you are doing the same as the other person has with his attacks. you are not a long time member of the forums and it appears as though you purposely came here to vent about someone that does provide a similar product as your company does that is a member. whether "legally" you are correct because of the trademark searches or not, you are no better than he at this point and quite frankly, such a petty battle in the forums does nothing but make someone like me not want to buy from either of you.

neither of you need to change your names, just invest this energy into your businesses and grow up.

 

[ShootingRazbone]

Are you serious?

Vendetta?

Stalker?

Obsession?

Really?

Wow.

LOL...this thread has officially entered the twilight zone. Somebody post a picture of a little dog dumping on something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyfxebGz5M8

Now That Is Funny! Classic!

 

[Bigtruck]

New Business

Keep an eye out for my new business coming soon......PoolHallTees.com

No shirts though, just and assortment of things from the pool hall that have the letter "T" in them.

It will be the nuTs~ IMO

Ray

 

[Quesports]

T?

Keep an eye out for my new business coming soon......PoolHallTees.com

No shirts though, just and assortment of things from the pool hall that have the letter "T" in them.

It will be the nuTs~ IMO

Ray

Maybe it should be PoolHallTease.com

Maybe the whole thread is just about T's

Dan

 

[Cuebacca]

Keep an eye out for my new business coming soon......PoolHallTees.com

No shirts though, just and assortment of things from the pool hall that have the letter "T" in them.

It will be the nuTs~ IMO

Ray

OMG!!! :shocked2: :shocked2: :shocked2: I am SO going to sue you, Ray!!! :nono: :grin-square: :rotflmao1:

I am starting a new venture selling art and t-shirts. Please visit PoolHallPaintings.com and PoolHallTees.com to see my work.

 

[pooltableproCP]

Very unfortunate...in the process of trying to do damage to each other, these two have done much more damage to themselves. You don't b.s. someone's supplier, and in turn, you don't put someone's business in the street. Unsavory characters, both of them

 

[watchez]

Are you serious?

Vendetta?

Stalker?

Obsession?

Really?

Wow.

LOL...this thread has officially entered the twilight zone. Somebody post a picture of a little dog dumping on something.

Post of the Day.

 

[watchez]

Keep an eye out for my new business coming soon......PoolHallTees.com

No shirts though, just and assortment of things from the pool hall that have the letter "T" in them.

It will be the nuTs~ IMO

Ray

Phew Ray - you made me nervous. I have a new business - www.poolteesroom.com

Oddly enough, I was just contacted yesterday by Jake at Pooltees.com. So this thread stood out for me. What strikes me as strange is that the "personal information" he refers to is all available on his own website. It's not hard to find. That causes me to question his above response to Andrea.

Personally, I think there are a lot of teams, players and poolrooms in the billiard industry. Probably more than enough to support more than one T-Shirt manufacturer. No one company can corral that market. My observation is that the best way to trump your competition is to put out a better product, i.e. more creative designs, better quality shirts, better pricing, BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE, etc. etc.

Trying to get them shut down is not good business, and the resulting law suit will only hurt everybody. Does anyone have any idea how many poolrooms share the same name? And how many bars? Need I explain my point here. What is obvious to me is that Andrea is NOT using the same name as Jake's company, or the same logo. I hope that we can all tell the difference between PoolTees and PoolRoomTees. At least those of us who have gone beyond the first grade. I loved the first grade, all four years!

A pool room once opened here called Hard Rack Cafe and Billiards. They received a letter giving them 30 days to comply to the name change or face legal action. I would think that Hard Rock Cafe is big enough to know what is or is not the law.

So Jay I have to respectfully disagree with your analogy - do you think I could open a Dave & Busters in a city where there wasn't one located yet? Would it be Ok if the logo was not the same?

Or how about McDowell's?

“Look…me and the McDonald’s people got this little misunderstanding. See, they’re McDonald’s…I’m McDowell’s. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds.”

 

[Richardson]

It probably doesnt mean much to either of you.
But neither ever have any chance of me buying anything.

cant believe i wasted 10 mins reading all this crap.

 

[JB Cases]

As one who HAS spent $50,000 defending his trademark in Federal court this is a drawn out process with a lot of headache.

Personally I am completely in AWE of Jake doing what he does and his shirts are among my very favorites. As Randy Jackson would say it "Jesus Safes is da bomb yo!!!!"

If I were going to do a new business then I probably would not want to name it something that is very similar to another business UNLESS my intention were to draw off of that business' goodwill.

A little primer for those of you who are confused about what a trademark is. A trademark is established when a person uses it to advertise and sell goods. It does not need to be registered. First use establishes a trademark. PoolTees is actually an international trademark since the shirts have been sold worldwide.

Registering a tradmark provides the benefits that it establishes an official record and one can then use a registered trademark to have US Customs impound infringing products before they enter the United States. Of course you still have to PAY for this "service".

Regardless of what one THINKS is cut and dried when it comes to trademark litigation there is actually NOTHING cut and dried and disputes of this nature are a great source of income for trademark attorneys.

Now, here is my take on this,

Angela, you are wrong to create a name that is confusingly similar to an existing one. It is entirely concievable that a customer who is looking for PoolTees would land on your site and think that they are right and purchase from you depriving PoolTees of revenue that would have been theirs, and vice-versa. However PoolTees beat you to it with the name and so you should have moved on and created a different one.

I am sure that if I made a website that was CueSightCues.com or PoolDogSticks.com or whatever other SIMILAR names one can come up with that I would be hearing from the people behind the existing websites for CueSight and PoolDawg and I would probably lose in court.

You have admitted that you researched the name, were aware of PoolTees, and then deliberately chose one that sounds a lot like something already on the market. Judge Judy would question your motives in a not nice way.

As for the allegations of stalking, and other whatnot? You brought this to our attention on AZ and so far your posts have seemed far more "crazy" than Jake's. Now I don't know you and I do know Jake so I am a little biased. I also know how crazy a person can get over defending what is theirs, reference the above statement about spending $50,000 to defend (and win) my trademark. So I can see how this all probably pisses you off. But this thread makes you look like the cyberstalker to me.

My suggestion is for you to simply change the name. You don't need it. There are a million other combinations you could choose that would all work. This is the only one however that works to SOUND like one already in existence. So avoid the conflict and do the right thing. Win on the basis of your art and design and not because you can cause confusion in the marketplace.

Lastly,

It's "See Dick Stroke - See Dick Choke - See Dick Broke - Don't be a Dick!" That was the orginal T-Shirt design. I am pretty sure that this was a t-shirt sold by The Billiard Library. It was one of my favorites but I threw it away because every time I wore it I lost money. I don't like your version of it. You would have had to see the artwork that was done on the original to appreciate it.

Were you the one who was on here a while ago asking for t-shirt designs/slogans???

 

[gunzby]

Don't take my word for it....get an attorney

The only reason I can call this cyber stalking or harassment is because he is pursuing this on his own on your site as well as MySpace and Facebook and not a legal representative of his or his company.

I don't see how he can possibly have an infringement case, but I have seen stranger things. My best advice to you is that if you want this to stop, or pursue other things against this person to get an attorney.

 

[JB Cases]

He could have a case if a mark is confusingly similar. Would you think that I would have much of a chance if I created a website called cocacoladrink.com to sell a cola beverage that isn't coke. Or Cocaflavorcola.com?

This kind of thing plays out all the time. Raybock instead of Reebok. Valentino Rudy instead of Rudi Valentino.

This all seems so innocent, just the addition of the word "room" in between pool and tees. And even if it is innocent it's not without consequence since that means that there are now two destinations with the words pool and tees as part of their business name.

Maybe I should make a business and call it RunOutTees.com Or HustlinTees.com Or maybe AZeebilliards.com to siphon off forum visitors.

The reason we have trademarks is to separate businesses from each other. It's why another coffee chain can't be called JavaStarbucks.

PoolRoomTees.com - cool - looks like Jake started up a business doing T-Shirts just for pool rooms - aw shit it's just another t-shirt place.

Like I said there is no slam dunk in these situations. A judge could rule either way depending of the argument the lawyers make. If it were me I wouldn't stand for it and I would pursue it.

Jake if you need help legally then contact me - I have someone who has had success in this area who can advise you well.

 

[ShootingArts]

Domain names can be exactly the same

Domain names can be exactly the same except the extension and many of them are. Try typing a simple domain name and all of the possible extensions, dot net, dot com, dot on and on. Someone had to change one that was their name because the name was already being used by a porn site, one was dot net and one was dot com.

There is a catfish restaurant franchise called Catfish Charlies. One of their Franchisees got annoyed and dropped the franchise. They simply closed the "C" in Charlies making it an "O" and put an apostrophe and became Catfish O'harlies!! Same sign! I don't know if O'harlies has multiple outlets or franchised but it appears that they franchised too. Charlie took them to court and lost.

Jake has some more work to do or possibly these folks should be coming after him if they were first. Poolshirts.net and Poolshirt.com aside from being almost identical to each other could be typed in when someone really wanted pooltees. Of course pooltees could be typed in when someone really wanted one of these businesses. Perhaps Angela should go to war with poolroomproducts, they could be confused.

Of course there are thousands of businesses and domains with similar names. Depending on how silly they want to get they can all go to war. Years ago a young lady opened a cafe. Her nickname was Sony. Quite reasonably she named it Sony's Cafe. This was a tiny little low end cafe and nobody could conceivably believe the electronics giant had chosen this manner to enter into the restaurant business. However they came down on her like the hounds of hell and made her change the name of the business. As a result they got millions of dollars of international bad publicity when the print and television media picked it up and did interviews with a pretty young girl squashed by the giant corporation. All things being equal, I still don't buy Sony because of them being such silly nits and that was a decade or so ago. Wonder how much that "win" has cost Sony in initial bad publicity and from people who remember that silly deal?

Hu

 

[Sweet Marissa]

I admitted I researched trademark law to be sure the words I was putting together would be safe from copyright and even searched them for trademark. It wasn't until after I had my website up and running that I found the other painting website, not including the word room. The name PoolRoomPaintings came natural - not to mistake it with Swimming... LOL but serious!

BUSTED.

In an earlier post, you stated that you knew about PoolPaintings.com before purchasing your own PoolRoomPaintings domain. I tried to find it, but saw you altered the post (#34).

Why should I change my name? I want people to find me... When I chose the name for my art website, PoolRoomPaintings.com, I did the trademark research as to not to infringe on other websites. Now deciding to create T'Shirt designs so my customers would be able to find me with ease, PoolRoomTees was the only choice I considered.

No mention of Arthur Robins' website. Luckily JCIN quoted it in post #35:

: Why should I change my name? I want people to find me... When I chose the name for my art website, PoolRoomPaintings.com, I did the trademark research as to not to infringe on Arthur Robins (a great pool artist) art website PoolPaintings.com Now deciding to create T'Shirt designs so my customers would be able to find me with ease, PoolRoomTees was the only choice I considered.

 

[Craig Fales]

He could have a case if a mark is confusingly similar. Would you think that I would have much of a chance if I created a website called cocacoladrink.com to sell a cola beverage that isn't coke. Or Cocaflavorcola.com?

This kind of thing plays out all the time. Raybock instead of Reebok. Valentino Rudy instead of Rudi Valentino.

This all seems so innocent, just the addition of the word "room" in between pool and tees. And even if it is innocent it's not without consequence since that means that there are now two destinations with the words pool and tees as part of their business name.

Maybe I should make a business and call it RunOutTees.com Or HustlinTees.com Or maybe AZeebilliards.com to siphon off forum visitors.

The reason we have trademarks is to separate businesses from each other. It's why another coffee chain can't be called JavaStarbucks.

PoolRoomTees.com - cool - looks like Jake started up a business doing T-Shirts just for pool rooms - aw shit it's just another t-shirt place.

Like I said there is no slam dunk in these situations. A judge could rule either way depending of the argument the lawyers make. If it were me I wouldn't stand for it and I would pursue it.

Jake if you need help legally then contact me - I have someone who has had success in this area who can advise you well.

You forgot the ExBreaker cue. LOLz