Hi,
First of all, I search the forum, and was not able to find anything that relates to this issue. My apologies if this topic already exists.
Now back to my issue...
I have a personal blog, where I wrote a review about a company. This was, of course, a negative review, but very accurate description, according to my experiences with this company.
So the other day, I got an email from their "Compliance Office" threatening me with legal actions of trademark infringement and defamation.
This company has their name trademark registered, but trademark description on USPTO is only for the logo and colouring. I replied to the compliance officer, and informed that I have removed the logo from the review. But he still insists that trademark is violated as I am clearly using company name on that blog post.
So my question(s) is;
Can trademark registration be used to prohibit usage of company name (reg. trademark) in a review?
For me this does not make any sense, as this would make a company able to prohibit usage of any trademark registered word in any sense of that word? And this would in return be in conflict with freedom of speech? Or am I wrong?
Can company prohibit usage of its name or registered trademark in textual context, just because it is registered trademark. This was not attempt to mimic or fake company's products in any way, especially not commercial usage. But as a review of a company on a personal blog.
To clarify personal blog: this is in no way commercial blog, and was used just to inform public of my experience with this company. I understand that bad publicity is not something any company wants, but to stop it by claiming trademark infringement, is not something I can accept.
I have of course removed the content, until I research the issue, if they are well within their right to claim this, or not. If it turns out to be outside the scope of their trademark registration, I am planning on returning the content back online, and writing a new review.
Any legal advice would be appreciated.
Some more info:
Trademark is US and International registered.
Personal blog is in Danish language.
Thank you very much.
Dahin


