Trademark issue

[fokakmeny]

Hello there;
I'm offering a clone script for a famous website. However my webhost received these email and forwarded it to me and they gave me 3 days to close the website or resolve the issue.
I've replaced every word about the website name with "TM" in the message.

Name
Address st1
Address st2
City, State , Zip
U.S.A.

Dear Sir or Madam,
This letter is being written to you on behalf of our client, TM Inc. (TM).
TM is the exclusive owner of all trademark and other intellectual property
rights in and to the TM trademarks (the Trademarks). TM owns trademark
registrations for the Trademarks. TM uses the Trademarks in connection with,
among other things, its search engine services and
services for searching and retrieving information and other resources available
on computer networks, and these marks have become firmly associated with TM in
the minds of the public. Based on the foregoing rights, it is a violation of
federal and state law for others to advertise, utilize, offer for sale, and/or
engage in services in connection with the Trademarks without the express written
permission of TM.

Nonetheless, it has come to our attention that a websited hosted with you is
advertising, using, offering for sale, and/or engaging in services on the
website located at http://www . TM clone script .com in connection with the
Trademarks in an unauthorized manner.

Courts have held that the use of trademarks constitutes trademark infringement.
See, e.g., Kassbaum v. Steppenwolf Productions, Inc., 236 F.3d 487 (9th Cir.
2000); Brookfield Comm., Inc. v. West Coast Entertainment Corp., 174 F.3d 1036
(9th Cir.1999); Google Inc. v. American Blind & Wallpaper Factory, 2005 WL832398
(N.D.Cal.); Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Calvin Designer Label, 985 F. Supp.
1220 (N.D. Cal. 1997); Eli Lilly & Co. v. Natural Answers, Inc., 86 F.Supp.2d
834, 844 (S.D. Ind. 2000), aff\'d 233 F.3d 456 (7th Cir. 2000).

The use of the Trademarks is of utmost concern to TM. TM contends that the
use and exploitation of the Trademarks constitutes trademark infringement, false
advertisement and/or unfair competition in violation of federal and state law.
Consumers who become aware of the website may erroneously believe that the
website is licensed, sponsored, or authorized by TM. TM considers your
conduct to constitute a serious violation of its rights and to be very damaging
to its business and reputation.

In accordance with the provisions the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
Please expeditiously take down or block access to the infringing material and
take appropriate action against the customer to prevent future abuse.

Declaration
I, the undersigned, ! CERTIFY UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY that I am an agent
authorized to act on behalf of the owner of certain intellectual property
rights, said exclusive owners being named:
TM Inc, Address, City, State, zip

I have a good faith belief that the items or materials listed below are not
authorized by the above intellectual property owners, their agents, or the law
and therefore infringe their rights.

I further aver that the information contained in the Notice is accurate.

Trademark: TM

I may be contacted at:
[email protected]

Very truly yours,
Name
Company Name

My webhost is in EU (Servage.net), and I live in Egypt.
What do you think I should do? especially that the TM is in my domain, plus there are 3 other competitors who also offer a clone to this website.
Any solutions?
I received this email yesterday forwarded from my webhost and they said that they'll stop my website in 3 days !

fokakmeny Reviewed by fokakmeny on 3rd May 2012. Trademark issue Hello there; I'm offering a clone script for a famous website. However my webhost received these email and forwarded it to me and they gave me 3 days to close the website or resolve the issue. I've replaced every word about the website name with "TM" in the message. My webhost is in EU (Servage.net), and I live in Egypt. What do you think I should do? especially that the TM is in my domain, plus there are 3 other competitors who also offer a clone to this website. Any solutions? I Rating: 5

[Putin]

I don't see why considering it's a clone, since you will be putting it like "TM.com Clone" it's not affiliating you or the company with eachother. You could ask whether a 'We are not affiliated with TM.com' at your footer would be acceptable, if not, remove anything you say about TM.com (rename the script) and change the design if you've copied there design as well.

Also I may add, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 is a USA law so it shouldn't be a problem but as for the trademark voilation the EU has it's own trademark laws - I recall the EU asking about an agreement between the USA and the EU but I'm not sure whether they have a trademark agreement - since the notice was sent under the DMCA it is most likely the trademark is registered in the EU.

[msk19994]

ijust want to ask u a question
why would u even consider forwarding this message to your host

[fokakmeny]

I don't see why considering it's a clone, since you will be putting it like "TM.com Clone" it's not affiliating you or the company with eachother. You could ask whether a 'We are not affiliated with TM.com' at your footer would be acceptable, if not, remove anything you say about TM.com (rename the script) and change the design if you've copied there design as well.

Also I may add, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 is a USA law so it shouldn't be a problem but as for the trademark voilation the EU has it's own trademark laws - I recall the EU asking about an agreement between the USA and the EU but I'm not sure whether they have a trademark agreement - since the notice was sent under the DMCA it is most likely the trademark is registered in the EU.

Thanks very much for your reply.
I'm not good with legal stuff, that's why I feel a little clumsy
I've replied to them today, and I'll add this section about 'We are not affiliated with TM.com'
If they didn't accept, I'll have to rename everything, but this will make me lose search engines since I depend on them for traffic :\

ijust want to ask u a question
why would u even consider forwarding this message to your host

forwarded from my webhost
FORWARDED

[Cometolearn]

move to offshore NL

[fokakmeny]

move to offshore NL

Any recommended hosts?
I also have a problem with the domain name since I've registered it with the webhosting from servage :/ and I don't know if they'll let me host it some where else or not!

[Cometolearn]

there are loads here chechk in server section and also move ur domain to name.com

[Putin]

there are loads here chechk in server section and also move ur domain to name.com

LOL, name.com = USA company, since it's a DMCA/trademark issue that'd be the worst place to go.

Try a South Korean registrar (try googling for one) or an asian country - Maybe an Iranian domain registrar if such exists.

Don't advise you to go offshore though, they'd close your PayPal account (if that's what you're using) ... try webmoney since that's a Russian payment gateway.

As for server location, Russia or another asian country.

[fokakmeny]

How about changing domain name and renaming everything that's related to them?
Since the domain name already has TM in it, They will claim to ICANN and seize it anyway, right?
But I need to keep the website/script name as TM clone script , is that possible?
that's the whole Idea :/

[Dj Mad]

How about changing domain name and renaming everything that's related to them?
Since the domain name already has TM in it, They will claim to ICANN and seize it anyway, right?
But I need to keep the website/script name as TM clone script , is that possible?
that's the whole Idea :/

that would work perfect