Toomster
06-23-2005, 03:37 PM
http://www.iwsti.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27448
Quote:
Counsel to Fugi Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha t/a Fugi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Subaru of America provided us with a notice stating that our use of the Subaru, WRX, IMPREZA and STI marks infringes upon their intellectual property rights (copyright/trademark).
They have told us that "Such use is clearly designed to, and is likely to, confuse consumers into believing mistakenly that your company is authorized, licensed or approved by our clients to manufacture and sell such goods and use of our clients' IMPREZA, WRX and/or STI marks in connection with the sale of such goods. Additionally, such uses are likely to tarnish our clients' business reputations and to dilute the distinctive quality of our clients' famous IMPREZA, WRX and STi marks, all of which became famous long prior to when you commenced your diluting and tarnishing uses thereof."
"In addition, your registration of the domain name http://www.imprezawrxsti.com violates the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, Section 43(d) of the Lanham Act. The domain is confusingly similar to our clients' marks and was registered long after our clients' marks became famous and distinctive. We infer that you registered the domain name to benefit from our clients' fame and consumer recognition of our clients' mark. Remedies for your acts include not only a transfer of the domain name to our clients, but also the payment of statutory damages, which can reach $100,000, and a payment of our clients' costs and attorneys' fees."
"Accordingly, we hereby demand that you take the following steps to rectify this problem:
(1) You must immediately and permanently cease use of the WRX, SUBARU, IMPREZA and STi marks, logos, and lettering and/or any confusingly similar variation(s) and/or colorable imitation(s) thereof (including but not limited to "imprezawrxsti"), including in connection with the offering and/or provision of any services and/or the sale and/or offering for sale of any goods;
(2) You must also immediately cease and/or not commence use (as the case may be) of the Six-Star Cluster Design and any confusingly similar variation(s) and/or colorable imitation(s) thereof;
(3) You may not use any phrases that create the false and misleading impression that our clients currently approve of or stand behind your goods and/or services.
(4) You must cease use of the domain name http://www.imprezawrxsti.com and/or any confusingly similar variaton(s) and/or colorable imitation(s) thereof;"
In accordance with this letter, we will no longer be using the domain name http://www.imprezawrxsti.com or the name ImprezaWRXSTi.com. Any and all t-shirts or other merchandise will no longer be available for sale from cafepress and we would urge anyone that purchased such items to return them to cafepress for a full refund.
The new website address for the forums will be http://www.iwsti.com which we feel does not infringe upon Fuji Heavy Industries' intellectual property rights in any way. We certainly feel that if "nasioc, clubwrx, or i-club" are acceptable that there should be absolutely no problem with "iwsti."
The logo now clearly states that this forum is "An Unofficial Enthusiast Community" in an effort to clear up any "confusion" (of which there really was none) that we are in any way affiliated with Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru, Subaru of America, or Subaru Technica International.
We will also be posting a large disclaimer on the top of every page stating once again that we are in no way affiliated with Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru, Subaru of America (SOA), or Subaru Technica International (STi).
I would like to thank everyone in advance for their understanding and would ask you kindly to update your bookmarks / favorites to reflect the new domain name change.
Kevin will be posting soon regarding the IWSTI.com Challenge. The Challenge WILL continue, however we will need to have new apparel made and a date at which that will be possible is unknown at this time.
Quote:
Counsel to Fugi Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha t/a Fugi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Subaru of America provided us with a notice stating that our use of the Subaru, WRX, IMPREZA and STI marks infringes upon their intellectual property rights (copyright/trademark).
They have told us that "Such use is clearly designed to, and is likely to, confuse consumers into believing mistakenly that your company is authorized, licensed or approved by our clients to manufacture and sell such goods and use of our clients' IMPREZA, WRX and/or STI marks in connection with the sale of such goods. Additionally, such uses are likely to tarnish our clients' business reputations and to dilute the distinctive quality of our clients' famous IMPREZA, WRX and STi marks, all of which became famous long prior to when you commenced your diluting and tarnishing uses thereof."
"In addition, your registration of the domain name http://www.imprezawrxsti.com violates the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, Section 43(d) of the Lanham Act. The domain is confusingly similar to our clients' marks and was registered long after our clients' marks became famous and distinctive. We infer that you registered the domain name to benefit from our clients' fame and consumer recognition of our clients' mark. Remedies for your acts include not only a transfer of the domain name to our clients, but also the payment of statutory damages, which can reach $100,000, and a payment of our clients' costs and attorneys' fees."
"Accordingly, we hereby demand that you take the following steps to rectify this problem:
(1) You must immediately and permanently cease use of the WRX, SUBARU, IMPREZA and STi marks, logos, and lettering and/or any confusingly similar variation(s) and/or colorable imitation(s) thereof (including but not limited to "imprezawrxsti"), including in connection with the offering and/or provision of any services and/or the sale and/or offering for sale of any goods;
(2) You must also immediately cease and/or not commence use (as the case may be) of the Six-Star Cluster Design and any confusingly similar variation(s) and/or colorable imitation(s) thereof;
(3) You may not use any phrases that create the false and misleading impression that our clients currently approve of or stand behind your goods and/or services.
(4) You must cease use of the domain name http://www.imprezawrxsti.com and/or any confusingly similar variaton(s) and/or colorable imitation(s) thereof;"
In accordance with this letter, we will no longer be using the domain name http://www.imprezawrxsti.com or the name ImprezaWRXSTi.com. Any and all t-shirts or other merchandise will no longer be available for sale from cafepress and we would urge anyone that purchased such items to return them to cafepress for a full refund.
The new website address for the forums will be http://www.iwsti.com which we feel does not infringe upon Fuji Heavy Industries' intellectual property rights in any way. We certainly feel that if "nasioc, clubwrx, or i-club" are acceptable that there should be absolutely no problem with "iwsti."
The logo now clearly states that this forum is "An Unofficial Enthusiast Community" in an effort to clear up any "confusion" (of which there really was none) that we are in any way affiliated with Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru, Subaru of America, or Subaru Technica International.
We will also be posting a large disclaimer on the top of every page stating once again that we are in no way affiliated with Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru, Subaru of America (SOA), or Subaru Technica International (STi).
I would like to thank everyone in advance for their understanding and would ask you kindly to update your bookmarks / favorites to reflect the new domain name change.
Kevin will be posting soon regarding the IWSTI.com Challenge. The Challenge WILL continue, however we will need to have new apparel made and a date at which that will be possible is unknown at this time.