So it seems that the naming of my delicious/Boxee TV hack infringes a Trademark…
All Art Media, Inc. 161 Fort Road South Portland, ME 04106 7 September 2009 OUseful.info, The Blog http://www.programmableweb.com/mashup/delicious-tv-for-boxee Attention: Tony Hirst RE: Trademark Infringement Dear Mr. Hirst: [All Art Media, Inc. ] (the “Company”) owns and operates [Delicious TV]. The Company also owns trademarks associated with its business - find a sample at DeliciousTV.com - [registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office with the registration number “U.S. Reg. No. 3,069,320,” (“Trademark”) registered on March 14, 2006. It has come to our attention that your blog and websites, OUseful.info, The Blog and Programmableweb.com, has been using our Trademark or a very similar mark (“Infringing Trademark”) in association with the marketing, sale, distribution or identification of its products and/or services, and is thus trading on the name, goodwill and reputation earned by the Company. It is possible that you were unaware of this conflict and we believe it is in our mutual interest to bring it to your attention and resolve it. Our Trademark provides us with certain proprietary rights, including the right to monitor and restrict the unauthorized use of our Trademark, or confusingly similar trademarks, in association with non-Company products or services. We must exercise this right to protect the value of both our Trademark and of our business. Our Trademark signifies the high quality of products and services offered by the Company and indicates to our customers and to the consuming public that all of our goods and/or services come from a single source. As such, it contributes substantially to the goodwill and value of the Company. Federal law supports our position that confusingly similar trademarks may cause undesirable confusion in the public. This confusion may in this instance cause material and irreparable harm to our Trademark by eroding the distinct association among our Trademark, our products and services, and the Company. Your actions constitute trademark infringement and unfair competition under both state and federal law, including the Lanham Act, (15 U.S.C. §§ 1051-1127). Remedies for such infringement can include payment of actual and treble damages, recovery of profits, reimbursement of attorney’s fees, and may also include injunctions against your further use of the Infringing Trademark and the seizure of infringing materials. We respectfully request that you immediately discontinue any and all use of the Infringing Trademark in association with the marketing, sale, distribution, or identification of your products or services. Please respond to us in writing by email within fourteen (14) calendar days indicating that you will cease and desist from any and all further use of our Trademark, the Infringing Trademark, or any confusingly similar trademark. We hope this issue can be resolved civilly and that we can avoid pursuing any further legal remedies. This letter is not intended to be a full statement of the facts in this matter, nor is it a waiver of our rights and remedies, whether at law or equity, all of which are expressly reserved. Sincerely, Elizabeth Carson President 161 Fort Road South Portland, ME 04106 USA 207-871-8600 betsy@delicioustv.com Executive Producer Delicious TV's Totally Vegetarian 207-871-8600 www.delicioustv.com
Now, as far as the ProgrammablWeb goes, I don’t think I was registered/logged in when I submitted the hack, which means I can’t change any of the details there. But is it my responsiblity to now go round the web trying to clean up all mentions of Deli TV? If you have posted anything about, you know, that hack, please modify it along the lines of, I dunno, “Deli TV”.
Ho hum… Anyway – Deli TV, then? Or the “The DeliBox?”…? Which do you prefer?
OUseful.Info, the blog... 
I like Deli TV, because you could justify the name as a reference to a sub shop — I’ll have the ham, black olives, pickles, swiss cheese and a side of mayo, etc — it’s customization in other words.
Screw ’em. They are strong arming you on a threat that is wobbly as a 2 legged stool.
I got one of these a few years back when I created online web page called “Believe it Or Not” and the Ripley’s folks wrote me almost a carbon copy version of the message you got.
I caved in (I never use “Ripley” in my site) and made it “Amazing Stories”. But a few people emailed and said that lawyers do this all the time- it is easy to intimidate a blogger into submission with an email full of threats. The spend all day googling words and sending out threats.
They have to prove that your use of those words is an infringement on their business, and I fail to see how a demo and code for aggregating video content has anything that would be confused with Vegetarian cooking.
I’m not a lawyer, and might be wrong, but they have to show more of an infringement that common words.
This is not a case they can sustain. You are not setting up a business or advertising a product. You are therefore not violating a trademark.
We’re not a giant faceless corporation. I’ve worked hard for the past five years to brand Delicious TV and I paid to register the trademark. If the situation were reversed, would you not act to protect your brand?
I wish you luck with your business.
Respectfully,
Betsy Carson