This is absolute horse manure. And I know. I’m an intellectual property attorney. Really. I’ve handled dozens of trademark lawsuits, both in US and abroad. Here’s all the site had to do (and all GW Legal had to insist upon) . . . add a disclaimer that the site is not affiliated with, sponsored by or related to GW, the owner of the mark. While the GW legal group is facially correct that they have to take steps to stop infringing activity or risk losing the mark, their letter cleverly only tells half of the legal story (and deceptively omits the most telling portions).
The hallmark of trademark infringement is confusion (because there is no profit here in the site’s use, that line of inquiry is irrelevant). Without confusion, there is no infringement. Confusion means that people in the relevant market place (i.e., minis gamers) would mistakenly believe that the site was affiliated with GW (which no one did) or that GW sponsors the site (which no one thought). This is a prime example of lawyers running amok without any guidance from the brand manager on customer base effects.
And I know. I write the sorts of letters GW wrote for a living. And, unlike GW, I counsel my clients to handle the situations differently. This is a disaster created by GW and it’s their own doing. They didn’t “have” to handle it this way (and their lawyers’ explanation is patently misleading).
No se cuanta validez puede tener en España, pero parece que asegurarse de que la gente no confunde tu sitio web con uno oficial de GW es importante.
