|
|
|
Consumer Alert: Texas company's attorney offers to transfer 'domain' name
Publisher's Note: Based upon an offer from the attorney for a company that has registered a domain name with a slight change from our site thereby possibly creating confusion among site visitors, that the company would relinquish its rights to the domain upon documentation of our claim, we are awaiting a response from the attorney to verify that should we do so, his client shall transfer the name to us without further action, with no compensation to be paid by us. In return, we shall offer the assurance that we will not exercise our rights to arbitration regarding the confusion that might be caused by the use of the similar name by his client.
In his letter, the attorney cites his view of trademark law, etc. to validate the claim to the domain.
What he fails to mention is the long history of his client in similar cases.
The rules and laws affecting the Internet are relatively new, and are still evolving. We remain confident that our record of service, news, and the resource that we provide for America's seniors, caregivers, advocacy groups and policy-makers will support our claim.
Also, we are confident that should anyone who might because of a typing error land on his client's site, the differences in terms of content, commitment to the elderly, and the resource we provide will be evident.
Added to this, our excellent placement on all major search engines helps ensure that you will come to the right site. If not, simply retype the domain name, add the 's' to 'senior' making it read 'seniors' and you'll be back with us.
I refer you to our earlier letter about this situation.
________________________________________
This is to alert you that a Texas-based ‘cyber-squatter’ has a site called todaysseniornetwork.com, the latest in its history of using nearly identical names of a number of websites to misdirect Internet users. (Notice the omission of the 's' from seniors.)
This site has no relation with TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com, which has, since its launch in 1999, reflected the highest commitment to America’s Seniors and issues and informational about aging.
The other site, on the other hand, has neither news nor information about seniors, aging issues or policies, but is nothing more than a series of pages with pop-up ads and links to sites unrelated to seniors.
We view this as a misleading registration that is one of the latest of a series of attempts by the company, Texas International Property Associates, to use the names of many reputable companies, products and services to misdirect and confuse the public.
That this is true is witnessed by the vast number of complaints that has been filed against it by companies, products and services in a number of totally unrelated industries, and the many decisions against Texas International Property Associates.
Anyone desiring to see this record may do so by simply going to any search engine and entering “Texas International Property Associates”. In case after case, decisions have been rendered that force Texas International Property Associates to refrain from using names that independent oversight agencies have found to be deliberate attempts to use either the same names or names so similar as to create confusion and misdirection.
The telephone number listed for the ‘contact’ for Texas International Property Associates is a non-working number, but we have identified contacts through which we have notified the perpetrators of our intention to protect the reputation of www.TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com through all the legal resources at our command.
This includes making our many visitors aware that there is no relationship between our site and their pages of advertisements; notifying search engine administration of what we construe as a blatant attempt to capitalize on our name and reputation; and, going to appropriate authorities to gain relief that will protect the name and goals of our site, www.TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com
We shall also contact the Texas Attorney General as well as making policy-makers at the state and Federal level aware of how such actions, in our opinion, require some sort of remedial action through legislation.
Daniel Hines
... ... ...
|
|
|
