14 replies to this topic

[JohnJohnsonIII]

I have been doing freedive photography under the name One Breath Photography for some time. Today my google alert sent me email saying that someone in the UK now has a site named www.onebreathphotography.co.uk. This is a bit disconcerting because for years I have operated under this name and have a number of well-known images associated with this name(e.g. cover of Alert Diver from last month). I am unaware of what copyright law applies, but I have been working under a business license with this name for several years now in Hawaii. Does anyone know what recourse I have? Thank you in advance!

--John Johnson
One Breath Photography
www.onebreathphotography.com

[liquidguru]

I have been doing freedive photography under the name One Breath Photography for some time. Today my google alert sent me email saying that someone in the UK now has a site named www.onebreathphotography.co.uk. This is a bit disconcerting because for years I have operated under this name and have a number of well-known images associated with this name(e.g. cover of Alert Diver from last month). I am unaware of what copyright law applies, but I have been working under a business license with this name for several years now in Hawaii. Does anyone know what recourse I have? Thank you in advance!

--John Johnson
One Breath Photography
www.onebreathphotography.com

i found the following with a google search:-

Link 1

Link 2

It seems that unless he is a competitor and tries to use the website to take business away from you, there might not be very much you can do.

I had someone who registered liquidguru.net and sold 'health' goods. I wasn't bothered as I had the top domain, the .com

Edited by liquidguru, 29 July 2011 - 08:00 PM.

[decosnapper]

Copyright protects the expression of ideas - creative endeavours like your free diver pictures - rather than a business or trading name, so I'm not sure copyright law would apply.

Good luck.

[Cerianthus]

so what happens if you call your company after a fruit, say "apple".....I am sure they will (and have) reacted if there is the remotest link.

Edited by Cerianthus, 30 July 2011 - 12:03 AM.

[decosnapper]

so what happens if you call your company after a fruit, say "apple".....I am sure they will (and have) reacted if there is the remotest link.

Here's a definintion of a trademark:-

"A trade mark is a sign which can distinguish your goods and services from those of your competitors (you may refer to your trade mark as your "brand"). It can be for example words, logos or a combination of both."

Taken from Intelletcual Property Office - UK

So in the case of fruit names, Apple (both the Beatles publishing company and the computer manufacturer) may well be reaching for their lawyers, but probably not referring to copyright law in their letter.

[Paul Kay]

I know that you can register a trademark or have a limited company with a specific name (I do this by owning several non-trading ltd companies with my trading names) to create some protection (in the UK at least) but even doing this cannot entirely stop other using a similar name as far as I am aware, especially if they are trading as an individual and the name is subtly different. On a worldwide basis it would be extremely difficult to enforce a trademark unless it was registered in all countries in which it needed to be and you were prepared to take the required action to enforce it wherever needed. However you could register your name in the UK to help protect you but be aware that this would only give you limited protection and, more importantly, enforcement might not be easy nor even cheap from a long distance. Additionally it may not be possible to prevent a .co.uk website as this may be viewed as representing a very separated business from one in Hawaii - this could be queried with the relevant domain name authorities I suppose. Copyright law doesn't apply.

[John Bantin]

You are not alone.

The BBC uses bbc.co.uk whereas bbc.com for years was used by a company in British Columbia. I guess eventually the BBC in Britain stumped up the money to buy the site.

divermag.com is the site of the Canadian Diver Mag, not divermag.co.uk or divernet.com, which is the sites of Diver Mag in the UK and not in any way otherwise connected.

Edited by John Bantin, 30 July 2011 - 11:26 AM.

[manatee19]

You are not alone.

The BBC uses bbc.co.uk whereas bbc.com for years was used by a company in British Columbia. I guess eventually the BBC in Britain stumped up the money to buy the site.

divermag.com is the site of the Canadian Diver Mag, not divermag.co.uk or divernet.com, which is the sites of Diver Mag in the UK and not in any way otherwise connected.

I beg your pardon loyal subject of Her Majesty.... Diver Magazine in Canada and Diver Mag in the UK are connected indeed... they both talk about scuba and other frivolous pursuing...:-)... and they have the same Head of State !

Michel... a.k.a. as one of the Canuck mag contributors

[John Bantin]

I beg your pardon loyal subject of Her Majesty.... Diver Magazine in Canada and Diver Mag in the UK are connected indeed... they both talk about scuba and other frivolous pursuing...:-)... and they have the same Head of State !

Michel... a.k.a. as one of the Canuck mag contributors

Qui?

[jkane]

Hi John -

It looks like the site is being changed to www.freedivegallery.com in response to the conflict.

Problem solved?

Jerry

[CamDiver]

I can't see that you have any leg to stand on if the company decided not to change their domain, very lenient on their behalf I think.

The first thing you should have done is register that domain, it costs hardly anything and with that watermark on an image is a great aspect for SEO and marketing. Also for a limited cost you should also protect your online presence with buying the .org and .net versions of the domain which are the next two most popular extensions, .biz is also now emerging too.

Maybe now that the company is changing you should make an offer on that domain. Eventually this will happen again if the domain does become available and next time the owner may not be as lenient as the current ones.

Cheers,
Mark.

[scorpio_fish]

There seems to be a bit of confusion. There are three issues at work here.

1. Claiming a URL.

2. Business Name

3. Copyright

I can create a company name International Brotherhood of Monsters. I can get any URL remotely connected to it or not like www.ibm.com.uk or even what that says www.padi.com.uk if for my IBM business. I would not be violating any laws, although internet laws and rules are ever evolving in regard to URL claims.

If my International Brotherhood logo looked like the IBM logo or if I produced anything that could confuse the public or consumers about which was which. I would also have a tough time ever copyrighting anything with my version of IBM, as there might already be a slew of similarly copyrighted material. You may be able to get away with a McFoxxy's hamburger stand in Prague, but you better not have golden arches out front.

[divengolf]

John,

This is an old thread, but first look at getting a US trademark registration for your company name. If that is possible, then you can use that registration to register in many foreign countries. There is some called the Madrid protocol which allows you to file one application and then use that application to apply for TM protection in a number of countries of your choosing.

This may or may not solve your immediate problem. but may protect you down the road.

Unfortunately international TM protection isn't a cheap proposition. You have to decide if it's worth the $$$.

We spend $20K +/year protecting our trademarks and we're just a small manufacturing company doing business internationally.

I'm not an attorney. but this doesn't sound like a copyright issue to me.

[Paul Kay]

John,

This is an old thread, but first look at getting a US trademark registration for your company name. If that is possible, then you can use that registration to register in many foreign countries. There is some called the Madrid protocol which allows you to file one application and then use that application to apply for TM protection in a number of countries of your choosing.

This may or may not solve your immediate problem. but may protect you down the road.

Unfortunately international TM protection isn't a cheap proposition. You have to decide if it's worth the $$$.

We spend $20K +/year protecting our trademarks and we're just a small manufacturing company doing business internationally.

I'm not an attorney. but this doesn't sound like a copyright issue to me.

Sadly the Madrid protocol is not foolproof!!!

This isn't about copyright - there is no artistic merit is a trading name so it cannot be copyrighted.

[John Bantin]

For years www.bbc.com was owned by a company in British Columbia, much to the chagrin of www.bbc.co.uk