[Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Wikimedia Foundation Seeks Declaratory Relief in response to Legal Threats from Internet Brands

[Richard Symonds]

Good luck to everyone concerned from the UK Chapter! James in particular
has been doing some very interesting things in the UK recently, which we're
very grateful for.

As to the trademark infringement, I think it stems not from "Wikivoyage",
but instead from James' alleged use of the phrase "Wiki Travel Guide"...

Richard Symonds
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0992

Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered
Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT.
United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia
movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who
operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).

*Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control
over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*



On 7 September 2012 14:39, Theo10011 <de10011 at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 5:56 PM, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On 6 September 2012 14:48, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > On 6 September 2012 01:46, Kelly Kay <kkay at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> >
> > >> Today the Wikimedia Foundation filed a
> > >> suit<
> >
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/File:WMF_complaint_for_declaratory_judgement_September_2012.pdf
> > >
> >
> > > I urge everyone to read through the PDF. To be clear: IB is attacking
> > > the freedom to fork; WMF is defending the freedom of free content.
> >
> >
> > Internet Brands have themselves put up their suit against James and Ryan:
> >
> >
> >
> http://static.ibsrv.net/ibsite/pdf/2012/2012_9_4_Internet%20Brands%20Files%20To%20Protect%20Its%20Wikitravel%20Trademark%20From%20Deliberate%20Infringement.pdf
> >
> > It does indeed look the same as the copy served on Ryan:
> >
> >
> >
> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Internet_Brands_v_William_Ryan_Holliday.pdf
> >
> > Compare and contrast with the Wikimedia PDF.
> >
> >
> > My blog post, in which I emphasise that this is fundamentally an
> > attack on CC by-sa and the freedom of free content:
> >
> >
> >
> http://davidgerard.co.uk/notes/2012/09/06/internet-brands-sues-people-for-forking-under-cc-by-sa/
> >
> >
> > - d.
> >
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> >
>
> IB's primary complaints stems from alleging Trademark infringement, and
> unfair practices originating from such an infringement along with Civil
> conspiracy.
>
> I'm not sure why its alleging Trademark infringement against a volunteer,
> perhaps through James' affiliation with Wikimedia Canada - which they might
> consider to be an extension of WMF, and it should be pointed out and
> clarified at some point. James' wouldn't be the legal owner of the fork
> either way. In order, for it to have any basis, it would have to be
> directed to the owner of the domain name, which would be WMF. But that's a
> much harder battle, so this seems like intimidation.
>
> The matter of forking and licensing issue aside, the issue of trademark
> infringement seems separate and straightforward. The complaint related to
> the Lanham Act, etc.-
>
> 43. Defendants’ unauthorized use of a mark confusingly similar to
> Internet Brands’ Wikitravel trade name and trademarks for an identical and
> related
> website is likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception as to the
> source,
> business affiliation, connection or association of Defendants and their
> website.
>
> It would be a tall order to make that claim against WMF. It might even come
> down to the "Wiki-" prefix.
>
> Looking at the recent history of Wiki- prefixes (Wikileaks come to mind),
> in addition to it making its way to the general lexicon. Is there a
> sustainable long-term legal strategy when it comes to other party alleging
> trademark or ownership of a "Wiki-" related domain in future? It hasn't
> required much legal attention up till now but this seems to crop up year
> after year.
>
> Regards
> Theo
>
> P.S. Good Luck James. I'm sure you've been told already, this
> complaint doesn't have much merit.
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