just an fyi http://izulaknife.com/

amon said:
The concern for me was not the content of the site, not the links to retailers none of that. Anyone can do that with anything as long as it is not slanderous, which this is not.

The concern for me was that the url contains a registered trademark belonging to Esee and their parent company, which to someone doing a Izula google search could be confusing. I thought Esee should know. If it was my trademark I would try to stop it if nothing more than to have complete control over my registered trademark, which is why we trademark things to begin with. Trademarking is a tool used to protect names and identies of certain product. I am well versed in what trademarks are used for and how they are used, as I said earlier my family business owns over 30 of them.
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I've seen this with several different companies. I don't think the trademark applies to domain names. Smith and Wesson and Fenix are two that come to mind.
 
Heaven forbid he happen to add a section about talon holes. He's liable to be found in a ditch someplace....:rolleyes:
This gets my vote for most "much ado about nothing thread of the month".
 
KEmSAT-Survival said:
Heaven forbid he happen to add a section about talon holes. He's liable to be found in a ditch someplace....:rolleyes:
This gets my vote for most "much ado about nothing thread of the month".
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Forgive me if I've misunderstood you but the OP was just looking out for Jeff, Mike and gang by mentioning this. No need to belittle his concern. Comments like that are the main reason a lot of people today have stopped giving a damn about anyone or anything that doesn't concern them. Why can't we just appreciate the fact that he cared enough to mention it at all.

If more people started giving a damn again maybe we wouldn't be facing the global sh*tstorm we're in, and somehow I feel this is just a taste of the crap to come.

Peace!
 
No, no, you didn't misunderstand.
There's a difference between a serious threat to someone's intellectual property and a fansite that just happens to bear a name.
There was no need to mention the site. It is harmless.

It would have been different if it would been something along the lines of those SanRenMu knives ripping off ESEE designs like they have the other makers. Stuff like that deserves the ire of makers and customers because, it's thievery.

But, if everyone becomes an armchair investigator and calls out every person who maks an honest attempt at a fansite (yes, I understand his web address is izulaknife.com, Jeff and Mike have every right to have an issue with that) that will do nothing but discourage people from purchasing the products of that company, or from making sites dedicated to their favorite knife.

Should the guy have asked ESEE if it was okay by them to make a site called "izulaknife.com"? It would have been the courteous thing to do, but there's no sense in putting the guy up on the forum and suggesting Jeff and Mike take legal action against him...especially when I'm quite sure they have better things to do. I'd be willing to bet that if Jeff and Mike sent the guy a mail saying: "Hey, pal, it would be a big favor to us if you changed your site addy because we might make a site with a similar name someday and we don't want any confusion. We love that you love our knife but...yadda yadda..." the guy would probably be more than happy to take it down or change it.

Lawyers aren't always the first and only answer. No sense in going all litigous over an innocent dedication to a person's favorite knife.
 
NaturalMystic said:
Forgive me if I've misunderstood you but the OP was just looking out for Jeff, Mike and gang by mentioning this. No need to belittle his concern. Comments like that are the main reason a lot of people today have stopped giving a damn about anyone or anything that doesn't concern them. Why can't we just appreciate the fact that he cared enough to mention it at all.

If more people started giving a damn again maybe we wouldn't be facing the global sh*tstorm we're in, and somehow I feel this is just a taste of the crap to come.

Peace!
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And maybe people should stop preparing for the end of the world and actually put their efforts into making the world better. The end of the world has been "just around the corner" in peoples imaginations for a thousand plus years. The world is no worse than it's ever been. In fact compared to some times we have it great.
 
KEmSAT-Survival said:
Should the guy have asked ESEE if it was okay by them to make a site called "izulaknife.com"? It would have been the courteous thing to do, but there's no sense in putting the guy up on the forum and suggesting Jeff and Mike take legal action against him...especially when I'm quite sure they have better things to do.
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I don't necessarily think its a bad idea to let Jeff and Mike know that some third party is using their trademark and tradenames, as it is my understanding that if holder of a TM or TN fails to take actions to protect their names and marks from 3rd party commercial use, they could lose or dilute their legal rights in the trademarks and tradenames. This is something that should at least be passed by IP Counsel.

BTW, I believe that Toys R Us has an attorney on retainer that works full time investigating the improper use of their TM's and TN's.
 
KEmSAT-Survival said:
No, no, you didn't misunderstand.
There's a difference between a serious threat to someone's intellectual property and a fansite that just happens to bear a name.
There was no need to mention the site. It is harmless.

It would have been different if it would been something along the lines of those SanRenMu knives ripping off ESEE designs like they have the other makers. Stuff like that deserves the ire of makers and customers because, it's thievery.

But, if everyone becomes an armchair investigator and calls out every person who maks an honest attempt at a fansite (yes, I understand his web address is izulaknife.com, Jeff and Mike have every right to have an issue with that) that will do nothing but discourage people from purchasing the products of that company, or from making sites dedicated to their favorite knife.

Should the guy have asked ESEE if it was okay by them to make a site called "izulaknife.com"? It would have been the courteous thing to do, but there's no sense in putting the guy up on the forum and suggesting Jeff and Mike take legal action against him...especially when I'm quite sure they have better things to do. I'd be willing to bet that if Jeff and Mike sent the guy a mail saying: "Hey, pal, it would be a big favor to us if you changed your site addy because we might make a site with a similar name someday and we don't want any confusion. We love that you love our knife but...yadda yadda..." the guy would probably be more than happy to take it down or change it.

Lawyers aren't always the first and only answer. No sense in going all litigous over an innocent dedication to a person's favorite knife.
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So you say I am wrong, yet your next post you then say that "(yes, I understand his web address is izulaknife.com, Jeff and Mike have every right to have an issue with that)" Well which is it? You can't think both are right. If you actually read my first post, I suggested "might" want to send him an email or have your lawyers send a cease and desist.

All I wanted to do was to bring it to their attention that someone is using their trademark. Next time something like this comes up I'll just email them instead of posting here. Some people clearly have no clue what trademarks are and how trademarks work in the real world.

Thank you NaturalMystic for the kind words, that was pretty much all my intention was. :thumbup:
 
I dont see this as being a big deal really. If its a fan site then he has given ESEE free advertisement. If its a site meant to redirect traffic to their amazon affiliate or whatever, then thats a good thing for ESEE because they sale more knives. Taking it down wouldnt do them a bit of good unless they plan on using that url in the future.

With that being said, i do think the OP did the right thing by bringing it to the attention of ESEE. This site is most likely helping them, even if only a little bit...but they still have the right to know.
 
amon said:
The concern for me was not the content of the site, not the links to retailers none of that. Anyone can do that with anything as long as it is not slanderous, which this is not.

The concern for me was that the url contains a registered trademark belonging to Esee and their parent company, which to someone doing a Izula google search could be confusing. I thought Esee should know. If it was my trademark I would try to stop it if nothing more than to have complete control over my registered trademark, which is why we trademark things to begin with. Trademarking is a tool used to protect names and identies of certain product. I am well versed in what trademarks are used for and how they are used, as I said earlier my family business owns over 30 of them.
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Yes, and Mike and Jeff should be concerned because part of maintaining a trademark is defending the mark from unauthorized use. If the mark is not defended, the owner could loose the use of it in a future potentially more important legal battle. (Put bluntly: If you don't defend the mark rigorously, a court can declare the mark invalid when you try to defend it in the future. That's the way trademark law operates.) For the trademark to be properly used by a third party, the web site should have a statement somewhere (visible) along the lines of "WXyz is a trademark owned by Abcd, and is used by permission."

I belong to a 501(c)3 volunteer organization that has had to defend it's mark many times over the years for just this reason. (One of our volunteers is a trademark lawyer, fortunately...)
 
KEmSAT-Survival said:
No, no, you didn't misunderstand.
There's a difference between a serious threat to someone's intellectual property and a fansite that just happens to bear a name.
There was no need to mention the site. It is harmless....
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I'm in agreement there that isn't necessarily a reason to start threatening lawsuits, I was just saying that the OP was acting out of concern about the use of the trademarked name in his website's URL since the guy who put up the site (apparently) has no official affiliation with the company.

Shotgun said:
And maybe people should stop preparing for the end of the world and actually put their efforts into making the world better. The end of the world has been "just around the corner" in peoples imaginations for a thousand plus years. The world is no worse than it's ever been. In fact compared to some times we have it great.
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Agreed, though I never mentioned anything about the end of the world per say, just that it seems we're not out of the crap yet. Housing sales and the economy seem to be stalling again, from what I've heard US home foreclosures are still out of control, etc etc. The impression I have is that there's too much (corporate) greed and it's just getting worse. I'm beginning to wonder how much truth there is to all the conspiracy theorists talking about the New World Order, the Rothschild, Rockerfeller families intent on global economic control yada yada yada. But this is way off topic so I'll end this there!

amon said:
...Thank you NaturalMystic for the kind words, that was pretty much all my intention was. :thumbup:
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No problem bud, I think I understood where you were coming from, you were just giving a heads up, nothing more or less.

Have a great weekend all!
 
The Izula is a wildly popular knife and name. We see no harm in this site even though we don't know who did it. I just wished they would get it right and update it to remove RAT Cutlery since we no longer use that name. It could be a couple of things: 1) someone is just a big fan and wants to promote how popular and good the little Izula is or 2) they want to make hay off of the Izula knfie for their own reasons. Either way, we have no beef with them at this point. If they start using the site for some other reason then we might talk to them since it is our resgistered trademark. Otherwise, let it run ;)
 
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