Xmarks' name being stolen!

[Squeaky McMurdo]

I just got an email this morning that Foxmarks is changing it's name to Xmarks.

Maybe we could all contact them to tell them they're stealing our name.


I didn't know where to put this, sorry.

[McMurdo]

Moved to Off Topic
XMarkstheScot.com is the name of this site they are not "stealing" our name, they have one that is similar thats it, nothing more. Move along these aren't the Droids you're looking for.

[McClef]

Xmarks is too short a name in itself to infringe copyright because it is part of a common phrase. As long as they are not purporting to be us there should be no problem.

If you do a google using "xmarks" you will find all kinds of entities but we top the list!

[Squeaky McMurdo]

I know. And I replied back to the email of theirs with friendly banter about it ( hey, did you know there's an online kilt community called Xmarks the Scot? We call ourselves Xmarkers. We even have a tartan....maybe you guys should wear it at work. *giggle*) ...... but then they tried to tell me that we can't call our tartan the Xmarks tartan or make t-shirts or other products that only say Xmarks because they own that name. They even had a problem with us calling ourselves Xmarkers.

I would have just dropped it if it wasn't for the nasty "We bought this name so if there's an online community using it they're toast" e-mail.


So is our tartan officially called the "X Marks the Scot" tartan?

[McMurdo]

This is from the STA

Name of Tartan: X Marks the Scot
Alternative name:
ITI number: 6679 Date: 2005 July
Category: American Corporate
Designer / Source: Newsome, Matthew

[Leprechaun 91]

I am certain that we are all often quite defensive of our online community. We use "XMarks" as an abbreviation. That is all. (Why is the word Abbreviation so long????)

Anyway, I think it will be okay for them to use the name. The forum never trademarked XMarks. It may even help boost awareness of the forum. How cool would it be if we gain new members because they saw our name on the search list when they Google XMarks?

Just my $.02

[thescot]

I say we fall in, mount up, and storm their corporte HQ. We can steal their cattle and women.

[timseh]

I say we fall in, mount up, and storm their corporte HQ. We can steal their cattle and women.

Just remember... It's 'ravish' then pillage, then burn. Make sure you do them in that order.

[The Wizard of BC]

The original name "X Marks the Scot" is owned by CaberDancer Graphic Design Inc.

These folks are friends of Hank and allowed him to use the X Marks the Scot name as long as he added the .com.

We here are members of an on-line forum who's full and correct name is "XMarkstheScot.com".

This is the only name Hank owns.

Officially we are not "X Marks",
Not "X Marks the Scot",
Not even "The Rabble in Blue".

The official name of the Google app is "X Marks the Spot". They bought the name and can defend it however they wish.



Then again I think the idea of storming the corporate headquarters is a great idea. We need a quest. A Battle Cry. We have Pipers, we have weapons, we are a rabble.

Hey, it's Google. It's full of computer geeks. We could overrun it and still have time for a kilt night.

We take the women and the cattle. We plunder the entire place (I have dibs on the keyboard that is sitting on the third desk from the left.)
We than paint the entire building blue with a huge white X on it so they know who did this and as a warning to all who may think to do something like this in the future.


OH NO, I hope they don't have any French Dudes with outrageous accents.

[BEEDEE]

From the US Patent and Trademark Office, Foxmarks applied for a trademark on Dec 16, 2008 for use as

Providing a website that gives users the ability to synchronize, back up, and access Internet bookmarks and passwords; providing a website that displays information, statistics, user reviews, popularity rankings, and related sites for websites and topics of interest

It could be argued that we have prior use rights since we used Xmaks before that date.

Brian