Trademark violation and they do not care about cease and desist letters. What now?

As with any successful campaign, my brand began to become popular a few years ago. At that time I filed for and was granted a trademark. The trademark has worked at chasing way most copycats but recently a brand new startup company with a few million in investor money has started using my trademark in advertising campaigns. They have been sent two cease and desist letters. The first one they complied with, but a few months later they started using the trademark name again in their ads. When sent a second letter they basically said they don't care.

Attorney was thrilled and immediately sent me a $5,000 bill just to get started. No thanks.

What other solutions are there? I'd like to find a attorney that would work on a contingency basis. It's a open and shut case, and they have millions and real offices so collecting will be easy. From what I've read there are triple damages with trademark infringement and courts have ruled that attorneys can get up to 45%. The trademark generates several millions a year in revenue so the attorney's 45% could easily reach millions of dollars. Problem is finding an attorney that would be interested in doing this, even if it is millions of dollars most attorneys want money upfront.

Is there anything else I can do?

Some might do it on a no win no fee basis if your case is strong.

If the trademark is worth so much and it generates several million in rev, $5k shouldn't be too much money to protect it? What am I missing?

I think you'll have to make a lot of phone calls to get someone to take a business case on a contingency, even if it is an open and shut case.

Two months ago we had a situation where we needed to sue someone in a business contract law case and we paid a retainer up front which is what it sounds like your guys is asking to do.

I used an attorney we know and have used in the past for business matters but I have not heard of one that would take a business dispute case without some kind of retainer.

Also, my case is much lower than the dollars you are talking and it was a 4,000.00 retainer with expectations that if we go to court that it will be an easy 4K more.

But there may be someone out there that will take it for you as you are asking but I think you'll be burning up some phone lines finding one.

What about thinking of a nice sum that makes you fill happy
and sell them your rights.

then re open a business in a name close to your old business name

I am thinking about all the money your going to use
battling this out might aswell offer them a deal your comfy with

Dont have a go at me just saying...

pixelgrinder said:

If the trademark is worth so much and it generates several million in rev, $5k shouldn't be too much money to protect it? What am I missing?

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millions in revenue is not the same as millions in profit. The profit is reinvested for future growth. While 5k is available, that 5k goes a long way on the internet. And that's 5k to get started, there is no incentive for the attorney to not ask for more. They'll probably ask for much, much more, and drag out the case as long as they can so they can keep asking for more.

redarrow said:

What about thinking of a nice sum that makes you fill happy
and sell them your rights.

then re open a business in a name close to your old business name

I am thinking about all the money your going to use
battling this out might aswell offer them a deal your comfy with

Dont have a go at me just saying...

Click to expand...

Good idea, but unfortunately the trademarked name ranks #1 on every search engine. It would take many years of amazing SEO work to get a new name to rank higher.

Hey pal.
I was surfing http://www.shoemoney.com/ site few days ago and checking some of his blog posts. I came across a video which he tells exactly how he dealt with a situation like yours when someone used his adsense revenue picture. I can't remember the title of the post though....Start from his recent to older posts and you will find it.It was a video of 20+ mins explaining step by step.

Hope it helps

mirrorer said:

Hey pal.
I was surfing http://www.shoemoney.com/ site few days ago and checking some of his blog posts. I came across a video which he tells exactly how he dealt with a situation like yours when someone used his adsense revenue picture. I can't remember the title of the post though....Start from his recent to older posts and you will find it.It was a video of 20+ mins explaining step by step.

Hope it helps

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none of his videos are accessible to me in the US, and it looks like most his videos are 4-9 years old, not sure how much is relevant today. Thank you for trying

https://www.youtube.com/user/shoemoney/videos?shelf_id=2&view=0&sort=dd

mirrorer said:

Hey pal.
I was surfing http://www.shoemoney.com/ site few days ago and checking some of his blog posts. I came across a video which he tells exactly how he dealt with a situation like yours when someone used his adsense revenue picture. I can't remember the title of the post though....Start from his recent to older posts and you will find it.It was a video of 20+ mins explaining step by step.

Hope it helps

Click to expand...

is this it?

http://www.shoemoney.com/2007/11/01...-on-your-trademark-atleast-on-google-adwords/

mirrorer said:

Hey pal.
I was surfing http://www.shoemoney.com/ site few days ago and checking some of his blog posts. I came across a video which he tells exactly how he dealt with a situation like yours when someone used his adsense revenue picture. I can't remember the title of the post though....Start from his recent to older posts and you will find it.It was a video of 20+ mins explaining step by step.

Hope it helps

Click to expand...

Thank you mirrorer! This seems to be exactly what I needed. I will have to wait and see what google says. Wonder why the trademark attorney didn't mention this route?

needcraigslisthelp said:

...Wonder why the trademark attorney didn't mention this route?

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Because you didn't pay him the $5000?

needcraigslisthelp said:

is this it?

http://www.shoemoney.com/2007/11/01...-on-your-trademark-atleast-on-google-adwords/

Click to expand...

No No.It was a video and you're lucky cause it is on my browsing history.
There you go: http://www.shoemoney.com/2015/01/07/affiliate-legal-issues/