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SisterWives.com sends cease and desist to ModernPolygamy.com

That's nuts! They shouldn't have been allowed to trademark the words 'sister wives' at all, they're common place language. It's like trademarking the term 'wife'.
At least this shows that you must be decent enough competition for them to care.
 
Did sisterwives.com start before or after the sister wives tv show? Did they copy that name themselves?
 
FollowingHim said:
Did sisterwives.com start before or after the sister wives tv show? Did they copy that name themselves?
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They bought the domain from someone else a long time ago, but I forget when. In the trademark filing they are claiming 2008 as initial use and the TV show began in 2010. There was significant use in media before 2008.

As I recall, and I could be wrong, they saw the value in the domain after that and purchased it.
 
The Revolting Man said:
Maybe just don’t capitalize the first letters? Their every reference to the phrase is capitalized. I don’t see how they could trademark the term.
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The only time it is capitalized anywhere on the site is when it's used in a title or heading where every word is capitalized. For example "What Is A Sister Wife?". Or, of course, where it's clear we are talking about the TV show or documentaries with that in the title.

We've consulted a trademark attorney two different times regarding this, and both times were told we weren't even close to infringing, they should never have been issued the trademark in the first place, and that we may want to start cancellation proceedings for the trademark if they persisted.

I didn't think it was necessary to have the trademark declared invalid at the time, as I figured we could both exist in the niche, but I'm thinking that's what we're going to end up doing.
 
ModernPolygamy said:
The only time it is capitalized anywhere on the site is when it's used in a title or heading where every word is capitalized. For example "What Is A Sister Wife?". Or, of course, where it's clear we are talking about the TV show or documentaries with that in the title.

We've consulted a trademark attorney two different times regarding this, and both times were told we weren't even close to infringing, they should never have been issued the trademark in the first place, and that we may want to start cancellation proceedings for the trademark if they persisted.

I didn't think it was necessary to have the trademark declared invalid at the time, as I figured we could both exist in the niche, but I'm thinking that's what we're going to end up doing.
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It's quite likely the letter is simply a bluff intended to induce fear.
 
You might like to get your trademark lawyer to send them a brief note that in the event of any legal action being taken against you, you'll be forced to pursue trademark cancellation, and in his opinion they'll lose their trademark entirely if this happens, so it's probably better for everyone if they just leave you alone.
 
FollowingHim said:
You might like to get your trademark lawyer to send them a brief note that in the event of any legal action being taken against you, you'll be forced to pursue trademark cancellation, and in his opinion they'll lose their trademark entirely if this happens, so it's probably better for everyone if they just leave you alone.
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The issue was broached in our response, which follows:

As you well know, the text you quoted refers to a TV show on the TLC network. It has nothing to do with your client and anyone that bothered to read the sentence, even a few words prior, would know that.

Every single reference to the term "sister wife" or "sister wives" (which is multiple wives in a polygamous relationship) is in reference to people that are commonly called that or specifically named TV shows. It is not ever, not even once, in reference to your client's site, which was named to take advantage of the recognition of a commonly used term.

This is clearly demonstrated by the TLC show Sister Wives, which premiered in 2010 and by the Israeli documentary Sister Wife which was released in the year 2000 as well as many other uses in media and historical use of the term in the polygamous community.

We want nothing to do with your client. They have a horrible reputation in the community and we have nothing to gain by being associated with them in any way. The last thing we want is to be confused with them, as I think is clearly demonstrated in our business practices.

We have, on two separate occasions, consulted with a trademark attorney in regard to your client's frivolous complaints. Both times, we were told that we were in no way infringing and that your client should never have been issued a trademark. We were advised that we could start a cancellation proceeding if we wanted to pursue it. We chose not to, though that may be something we need to reconsider.

However, If you find anything that actually could be construed as confusing by a logical and coherent individual, we would absolutely be glad to remove or correct it as we do not desire any confusion between our brands any more than your client does. Use in a legally allowed descriptive or definitional sense will not be removed.

Any further attempt, as your client has already done, to disrupt or damage our business with unfounded claims to 3rd parties will result in legal action against your client for damages.

If I could be of any further help in this matter, please let me know.

Thank you,
 
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