Hells Angels sue woman over domain names!

[VisualArtistFrankBonilla]

A woman who lives about 45 minutes from Fresno is being sued by the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club over 20 domain names:

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/1205853.html



Frank

 

[Blake]

Pot and Kettle....Pot and Kettle

 

[-Adam-]

Interesting read but I'm not sure I would actually side with Hells Angels on this one at all. I mean ha-mc seems just too common place to me.

 

[exsedo]

Nice post. It seems the intent to profit from someones common law trademark was publicised by the seller. Big mistake!

 

[yilduz]

Well, Myers (whichever one it is) tried to profit from their name and apparently had no other reason to own the domains (as far as I could tell from that one article - one thing I've learned is never make a judgment based on one article). If that's the case, Hell's Angels obviously have the right to do what they did. They have the right (and responsibility) to defend their brand just as much as anyone else.

Myers = fail.

 

[VisualArtistFrankBonilla]

Dumb

Interesting read but I'm not sure I would actually side with Hells Angels on this one at all. I mean ha-mc seems just too common place to me.

Anyone could legally own ha-mc , but when you list it on Ebay.com, and list information referring to the Hells Angels , well then you blew it!

 

[philski]

I just did a search of the US Patent and trademark office and i cant see any trademark on there part at all. Are they even registered as an association or a public listed company?

"do i have time to register it,,,,"lol

 

[Seabass]

I think they knew what they were registering.

C'mon folks this is 2009 not 2003.

 

[-Adam-]

Anyone could legally own ha-mc , but when you list it on Ebay.com, and list information referring to the Hells Angels , well then you blew it!

True it's a valid argument. I re-read the article and missed her referencing it the first time.

 

[verbster]

The Hell's Angels filing a lawsuit for some domain names. How times have changed.

 

[verbster]

Duplicate Post.

 

[verbster]

duplicate post.

 

[Dave_Z]

Related reading:

http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/law/2009/02/hells-angels-trademark-protected.html

If Hells Angels are indeed able to demonstrate trademark rights, the rest can
be arguably easy. But if their suit includes holding Go Daddy liable for that, I
seriously doubt they'd win unless they chance upon a sympathetic judge.

 

[yilduz]

Related reading:

http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/law/2009/02/hells-angels-trademark-protected.html

If Hells Angels are indeed able to demonstrate trademark rights, the rest can
be arguably easy. But if their suit includes holding Go Daddy liable for that, I
seriously doubt they'd win unless they chance upon a sympathetic judge.

Well, I'm still not 100% sure we've seen the whole story. The first article said Myers tried to sell the domains on Godaddy when eBay took them down. Maybe Godaddy refused to comply with them and that's why Godaddy is a part of this.

I think we need more information before we can decide if Godaddy is in the wrong for this.

 

[Dave_Z]

Maybe Godaddy refused to comply with them and that's why Godaddy is a part of this.

I just read in DomainNameWire that Go Daddy finally complied, so I guess they
are off the hook...for now.

 

[labrocca]

Would anyone here really want to deal with ticking off Hells Angels? Yeah they have gone the legal route but I am surprised they didn't just ride over there for a friendly chat.

Terry Myers said he is willing to give up ownership to all the domain names and turn them over to the Hells Angels. He said he called Clapp with the offer but never heard back.

I would be nervous over this. Just doesn't feel good to have the 81's after you.