Cease and desist info

[ickyrica]

Quick question for you guys.

I am not very active on social media. I have 2 social media accounts, one I use infrequently and the other I hardly ever use. The one I hardly ever touch is Facebook. My only contact on FB is the wife, for media sharing basically.

A clothing company reached out to her because she is my contact and asked her if she could get ahold of me and let me know they wanted to talk with me. Apparently they want to get me to change my name, and mentioned something about a cease and desist statement. I looked them up, same name as my profile. I'm not selling anything and all my shit is private, can't be seen by anyone.

Does this situation really matter? Can a cease and desist order happen in this case? I don't know that much about it, figured I would drop a question on here. I find it highly unlikely that it would be enforceable.

Would something like this be a money maker? Say, for X amount of cash I'll change it? Is that illegal to ask that? Seems like it wouldn't be but I'm not 100% versed on this part of trademark, copyright infringement laws. Fuck, I'm really green regarding this type of law in general.

Thanks guys

 

[BigBaldBeardGuy]

Quick question for you guys.

I am not very active on social media. I have 2 social media accounts, one I use infrequently and the other I hardly ever use. The one I hardly ever touch is Facebook. My only contact on FB is the wife, for media sharing basically.

A clothing company reached out to her because she is my contact and asked her if she could get ahold of me and let me know they wanted to talk with me. Apparently they want to get me to change my name, and mentioned something about a cease and desist statement. I looked them up, same name as my profile. I'm not selling anything and all my shit is private, can't be seen by anyone.

Does this situation really matter? Can a cease and desist order happen in this case? I don't know that much about it, figured I would drop a question on here. I find it highly unlikely that it would be enforceable.

Would something like this be a money maker? Say, for X amount of cash I'll change it? Is that illegal to ask that? Seems like it wouldn't be but I'm not 100% versed on this part of trademark, copyright infringement laws. Fuck, I'm really green regarding this type of law in general.

Thanks guys

Sounds like a scam to me. I would just totally ignore it. To get a true cease and desist order they would have to file proceedings in the jurisdiction for which you reside. That means a lawyer licensed to practice there. All with cost associated with it. Most companies won’t go to that expense over a social media presence that doesn’t even effect their operations.

In a scam scenario, the person that contacted your wife is likely hoping that you drop the account or change it so they can swoop in and claim it. They are then willing to use that name in a way where they can then force a sale to the clothing company.

I’d say 99% chance you ignore it and it’ll go away.

 

[LeoTC]

Sounds like a scam to me. I would just totally ignore it. To get a true cease and desist order they would have to file proceedings in the jurisdiction for which you reside. That means a lawyer licensed to practice there. All with cost associated with it. Most companies won’t go to that expense over a social media presence that doesn’t even effect their operations.

In a scam scenario, the person that contacted your wife is likely hoping that you drop the account or change it so they can swoop in and claim it. They are then willing to use that name in a way where they can then force a sale to the clothing company.

I’d say 99% chance you ignore it and it’ll go away.

Yep.

Shit like this happens to Amazon sellers all the time too. Pretty much always a scam or just someone trying to scare you off for their own benefit.

 

[DrinkFlintWater]

Tell them for 100K and a years worth of protein powder, changes may be considered. Stand your ground icky, play hardball.

 

[ickyrica]

Tell them for 100K and a years worth of protein powder, changes may be considered. Stand your ground icky, play hardball.

I was just going to ask for some melon drop videos and a few tattooed butthole pics. I like your idea better.

 

[Glocker]

For lack of a better term a c&d letter is nothing more than a bully letter asking you to comply with some action or you may be sued. Anyone can send anyone a c&d letter. It carries zero legal authority or consequences. Seems plausible its a scam as others have stated but if it isn't and it ends up being legit I would never accept any "legal" correspondence electronically from anyone ever. If this is legit let the plaintiff and their counsel jump thru the hoops with subpoenas and so forth to identify you and contact you the proper way. Given the facts you provided I would think they dont have much of case here to be successful in court and even if they were the most they could ask for is damages (subject to your specific state law) and the damages you have thus far created for them is what? Ignore the letter. I am not an attorney but have sued and been sued a number of times over the years plus i watched a lot of perry mason growing up.

 

[ickyrica]

plus i watched a lot of perry mason growing up.

lol

The only real issue I can think of is my profile pic. It's a child reading the necronomicon. Not something they want associated with their name I'm sure.

Fuck em.

I'm going to look up their estimated yearly GP and go from there

 

[ickyrica]

I'm going to look up their estimated yearly GP and go from there

10.6 million last year. 100k seems reasonable

 

[LeoTC]

Ask for that extra .4 for Anaboliclab?

 

[ickyrica]

Ask for that extra .4 for Anaboliclab?

I'd donate again if it happens

 

[flenser]

Odds are, if you ask for money you will need legal protection. It's an old trick of Microsoft. They ask politely for some domain name, and if you offer to sell, you are attacked by lawyers.

 

[MindlessWork]

Seems companies these days are even going after profile pics on social media...smh. Oh the greed!

However if a copyrighted image is used as an avatar the rights holder might still issue a c&d to the person using it on the other hand.

To me keeping avatars simple on social media is the best way to keep the corporate trolls away.

 

[ickyrica]

To me keeping avatars simple on social media is the best way to keep the corporate trolls away.

Your profile pic keeps women away, stop bringing down my threads real estate value. piss off, muppet.

Odds are, if you ask for money you will need legal protection. It's an old trick of Microsoft. They ask politely for some domain name, and if you offer to sell, you are attacked by lawyers.

This is not what I wanted to hear. Wondering if I suggest that an offer could persuade me to change it would be a better angle than a direct question for compensation?

 

[fodsod]

You don't own your profile on FB. FB has all the rights and the control.

If the company that contacted your wife had legal claim to the name they'd contact FB directly to challenge the profile's name legally. Ignore the contact or push them back to FB.

 

[T-Bagger]

You don't own your profile on FB. FB has all the rights and the control.

If the company that contacted your wife had legal claim to the name they'd contact FB directly to challenge the profile's name legally. Ignore the contact or push them back to FB.

That’s interesting.

 

[fodsod]

That’s interesting.

Anyone that thinks they own any profile or page on a social media format is in for a big surprise. The company can delete your page or profile at will. It's their space, they own it. Happens every day.

I've dealt with IP and trade mark issues off and on over the years. Unless you have legally obtained ownership of a name, symbol or domain then you don't "own it" or have a legal right to it.

Youtube channels, FB pages and accounts of all other social media sites get frozen or deleted all the time by the companies that own them. FB deleted one of the main groups for Crossfit just the other day with no explanation originally. The group had over a million subscribers and it was just gone because FB decided it was in violation of some policy. If Crossfit "owned" the page then FB couldn't delete it.

CrossFit storms off Facebook and Instagram, citing long list of grievances

 

[ickyrica]

 

[T-Bagger]

View attachment 113136

Lol, total scam.

 

[ickyrica]

Lol, total scam.

Tits and butthole request coming up I think...

 

[T-Bagger]

Tits and butthole request coming up I think...

Bobs & vagene