They have been pushing for a lawyers opinion on this, so here is one. http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/what-does-it-mean-to-disclaim-a-word-in-a-trademar-359289.html
" A disclaimer means no rights are claimed to the word disclaimed except in the way the applicant uses it." (emphasis added)
If they continue to police this they will end up in court. The have won their trademarks but they have LOST the term. And they need to just focus on making their bears and leave everyone else alone.
This is posted on their Blog: "To Berta: Anything you pay your lawyers to say to us is irrelevant. If you are going to share what your lawyers say, why not forward on what they have said to you. We want to see that your lawyer(s) gave you permission to use our marks. Clearly, they haven't given you permission."
ReplyDeleteI posted the next answer (snippets from email conversation with my Lawyer) to what they were asking me for but it was removed in a wink:
ThReAdTeDs® has left a new comment on the post "It is finished.":
I asked my Lawyer: "...is it possible for you to call the lawyer M.Bell assigned to this case? I understand that the TM office only decides on registration of a mark, but if anything is not clear, it should be possible for you, as a Lawyer, to ask? "
My Lawyers answer: " The good news is that I don't have to call the lawyer at the trademark office because this is not unclear.
Despite the disclaimer, there is an outstanding trademark for "Thread Bears". However, that does not mean that you cannot use the phrase to describe your bears since you are not using the phrase as a trademark."
Do they really think that I have a lawyer who would write whatever I would tell her/him what to say! I can hardly believe that anyone would even believe that would be possible!!!
.. unless .. SUE had a lawyer who was actually SO unethical as to write what SUE want her to say rather than to write what is legal & lawful...... Because that is exactly what she is accusing me of.
I wrote to Sue private:
Sue, You keep asking on your Blog about what my Lawyer said, each time you remove the answer, because you don`t want your readers to see the truth??
You have provoked me several times to ask a Lawyer about the meaning of your disclaimer. I did, and now you don`t believe the Lawyer??
Take my Lawyers C&D letter to your Lawyer, and let your Lawyer explain to you your own disclaimer.
Or call my Lawyer, so she can explain it to you personal. Why would you disclaim thread bears because it is the product in one trademark, and this same product in not your product in another trademark, for the same goods... in the same class... weird..
Yes, you won both marks: Thread Bears® and Thread Teds by Thread Bears®, but at the same time you lost official, and by the law, the exclusive right for the descriptive words "thread bears".
Sue`s answer to me:
The only thing we will allow you to post on our blog is a complete letter from your lawyer giving you permission to use our trademark. That is all I will allow.
What your lawyer was paid to say to us doesn't matter. It only matters what they told you.
Anything else you have to say, don't bother. I won't allow it. You lost; It's finished. We're moving on.
that is really funny. thanks for sharing Berta. It is the same thing we have said all along, that there is a difference between using the Thread Bears trademark and describing a bear made out of thread as a thread bear.
ReplyDeleteHere you can find the letter from my Lawyer they asked for. It is legal for us to describe our bears as thread bears!
ReplyDeletehttp://hesenl.home.xs4all.nl/LegalRights.pdf
If you like Debbie, please post the link on your Blog for everyone to see..that it is legal to use thread bears and that Sue Aucoin does not have the right to have auctions (eBay/Etsy) and websites removed for the use of the product name "thread bears" !!