HOME VESTORS ATTORNEY SENT ME A CERTIFIED LETTER

[Nasar Elarabi]

Today the mail lady came to give me a certified letter. I signed for it and opened it immediately. It was a letter from Homevestor's attorney. The attorney stated that I was in violation of Unauthorized use of Intellectual property. Apparently on my site. I am not allowed to use "We buy ugly houses" as a meta tag on my site. Yes you read that correctly a Meta tag on my site. Has this happened to any one before?

[Account Closed]

Originally posted by @Duncan Taylor:

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

Originally posted by @Jon Holdman:

Here's at least one lawsuit Homevestors won:
‘We Buy Ugly Houses’ franchisor wins domain name dispute
Here's the official site for trademarks in the US:

Trademarks Home

You can run a search here if you wish to see if this phrase is a truly a registered trademark. Trademarks are a legitimate piece of intellectual property and they have real value. Companies spend significant money on "branding" to promote their trademarks. Many lawsuits have been fought and won over someone using someone else' trademark inappropriately. Trademark owners are required to vigioursly defend their trademarks or else they can lose control of them. Regardless of whether you think this is right or not, it is the law. Using someone's trademark without their permission is almost certain to result in legal action agaist you and if you fight that you will lose.

That trademark search is amazing. HomeVestors trademarked 'em all. I/we buy ugly houses, I love ugly houses, I heart ugly houses, We buy the good bad and the ugly.....they already got there.

Somebody took my whole paragraphs of marketing copy and used it word for word in their ads and letters. I just assumed there was nothing I could do about it. Makes me wonder if I should trade mark some of it.

You couldn't trademark your paragraphs nor your entire marketing copy. However, if you could prove your first use date preceded theirs, you could assert your copyrights. You do not have to declare a copyright, it is implied and enforceable in the US.

Of course. I should know the difference between trademark and copyright. I told one guy who lifted my copy exactly that it was copyrighted and to stop using it. He pulled it from my website or maybe from my craigslist ads (which link to my website). I mean, the bullet points, the paragraphs, exact same punctuation. At first he pulled it down. But he put it back and and all he did was change it from 2nd person to 3rd person. Today I found two other investors using the material. Oh well.

There's a six word tag I use that might be worth trademarking though. Almost as good as We Buy Ugly Houses, but with a twist. :)