RE: Shopping Carts under a Company breaking the law???

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http://forums.oscommerce.com/viewtopic.php?p=116111#116111
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[quote="chieffan"]Don't things that become so popular and common loose their patents and become puplic sector?  

I think this happened with Xerox when they first made copiers and people used the term Xerox so freely that it lost its meaning as the company.  I think this has also happened with some pharmaceutical companies.[/quote]

This is not patents you are speaking of, it is [U.S.] trademarks.  Trademarks (such as Xerox, Kleenex, etc) have been lost when they enter into common language, yes.

In fact, trademark holders have a duty to enforce their own Trademark rights, not doing so means they lose their trademark.  If you can show a company knew about your infringement/dillution, yet did not legally act to protect their trademark upon learning of it, they'll lose their trademark (companies often make the mistake of waiting until it has grown into a noticeable threat before acting.  but showing they knew years before means they didn't protect their trademark).

There's 2 famous cases of companies that have done everything they can to protect their trademarks.  The biggest monger is Matel (or whoever) for their trademark on "Barbie" - they are VERY agressive.  In fact, there's stories of parents naming newborns "Barbie" and recieving cease & decist letters.  The 2nd big trademakr monger is eBay.  I've run several auciton sites, got a letter on most of them.  I also own the domain name xBay.com and have had continual exchanges with eBay's lawyers.  You can name your product/company "eBay" (or "xBay") as long as it doesn't dillute or confuse or compete with eBay.com's services/products/etc noted in their TM filing.  That is to say, I can use xBay.com for anything in the world, *except* to run an auction site at (I can, however, link to an auction site).  And it is also to say you may produce a widget named "eBay" and be legally safe (although, the law doesn't matter when you deal with companies of relativley-infinite pocket depth).

Anyways, enough rambling about TM's.  Just to let you know, TONS of companies file patents as a business.  In fact, the process of filing patents in order to profit is probably patented.  The U.S. Patent Office is a complete joke (and should be done away with).  They award patents way to often to all sorts of things that have a long history of 'prior art' and/or are 'logical next steps [with technology]' (2 things that disqualify a patent application).

There was a big company backed by millions ready to do battle with the major couriers of the world (FedEx, etc.) because they had a U.S. patent that covered calculating shipping expenses with a computer.  They got nowhere..  in fact some of the couriers said they'd be satsified to admit defeat and move their "shipping charges calculating computers" to another country and communicate with them over a network.

Anyways, if you get a letter just ignore it.  IF they actually filed suit, you can defend yourself and it'll cost them money.  You DO need to watch out, if they win they will take file to recover legal expenses as well.  Not to worry though, the first people prosecuted by this company would create a media frenzy and some good people would probably back/assist/aid you.  Theyr'e not gonna take a smalltime business to court, not worth it.  The letters would be a scare tactic and paying their licensing is how they want to make money.  If your a big fishy, and potentially worth a legal battle, they might come after you.  Too big and they probably won't (i.e.  Amazon).

Don't sweat it.  I've been there, done it.  In my youth and the prime of the web, I got form letters from legal departments everywhere.  All ended up in my garbage without seeking counsel (p.s.  emailing you isn't valid.  and if they do, and you know it is coming, do NOT sign for a registered letter.  Simply tell the courier it is refused and to return to sender.  If you haven't read their cease & desist letter, it was not properly served).

Howard Stern Show, eBay, Playboy, pretty much all the movie studios - these are a few legal departments I've had to deal with.  I'm perpetually broke and don't really even have a lawyer at my disposal.  Just ignore it all and don't sweat it.  I'm a small-fish, ignored it all (where appropriate) and have never got into actualy legal trouble.  If you're doing something wrong, and you know it, then sweat it - running an eCommerce site is a.okay - hell, run it on a CDN server if you're too worried about it (although they could throw use the U.S. customer angle at you).

To let you know, eBay has sent thousands of letters out - probably tens of thousands.  In their entire history, they have only ever ONCE filed suit against another U.S. company (it was BidBay.com, once a popular auction site that not only played on an existing trademark to confuse consumers, but also was an almost identical clone of the color/logo/layout/etc of eBay).  BidBay made millions and went on for years ignoring eBay.  eBay eventually filed suit, the thing dragged for a bit while they decided what states jurisdiction it would fall under, then they dropped suit and settled with BidBay (i.e.  BidBay payed some damages and moved to another domain).

Anyways, the U.S. patent office is a joke.  It's hard to believe that patent clerks of the world were once great minds, such as Albert Einstein, and now they are apparently mindless.  Don't sweat it or halt your plans for an eCommerce site.  Also, I wouldn't donate to that site for their cause either.

Oh, by the way, take this all with a grain of salt (as you should any legal advice you read online) as I am not a lawyer, and I am not even an American.  Actually, in retrospect "ignore any letters from lawyers" is probably bad advice.  Ignore them IF you are confident it is merely a scare tactic and you are confident they don't have a legal leg to stand on.

Sorry for the rant.  peace.