The Jeff Pulver Blog: Bellster gets noticed by BellSouth...time to go offshore?

« Lost in Translation -- Norwegian Style | Main | Bellster: One Week Later »

January 29, 2005

Bellster gets noticed by BellSouth...time to go offshore?

I just got word that the legal team from Bellsouth Intellectual Property Management Corp has sent a fax where they write that they "...formally demand that you immediately discontinue all use of the name Bellster."

Guess they also read the Bellster story on Thursday in the Wall Street Journal.

Their demands include that: "we have discontinued all use of Bell as part of any claimed trademark, service mark, source indicator, corporate name or domain name immediately." and "...destroy all tangible material on which this infringing usage appears."

Tangible?

Guess this means that they would like to see Bellster become just: ster? Do they expect that all blogs and news stories that have appeared with the term "Bellster" will just disappear off the web?

I wonder if it is now time to move Bellster offshore...maybe to Iceland? Then Bellster can become: Bellster.Is. :-)

Share this post:

Posted by jeff on January 29, 2005 12:29 PM | Permalink

Additional resources: Watch PrimeTime TV Shows | Watch the Jeff Pulver Show | Jeff's Qik Videos

Comments

I wonder if anyone's told Bell Canada about this. They've been using that name for over a hundred years. BellSouth and their legal team should've said something, like, 99 years ago, no?

Posted by: Jim Van Meggelen at January 31, 2005 09:40 PM

Jeff,

Bellisimo!

Posted by: jrines at January 31, 2005 05:49 PM

Did Bellsouth get some kind of special right to use the bell name? What about SW Bell, etc. that used the Bell name post ATT Breakup. What right do they have to the word bell?

Posted by: joe at January 31, 2005 12:32 PM

Oh for the love of... yet more proof that the bully in the sandbox never does grow up. "Your toys are shinier than my toys... so I will break them."

To BellSouth and your lawyers:
GROW UP.

Posted by: Fred at January 31, 2005 10:35 AM

It is not the same, and remember the adult search engine that won against Google?

I would push forward with the name, register "Bellster" as a trademark, and use a physical bell in a logo and reasoning that does not even remotely relate to BellSouth's business.

Legal fees defending it do NOT need to be expensive if you keep it simple and follow a few basic rules. You can even try to get donations to help cover any legal fees - if your cause appears to be worth it.

Posted by: Galahad at January 31, 2005 10:29 AM

How about Ballister- I'm not sure they have 'balance' trademarked yet, but then again, the worst consecutively rated isp may come up with something..

Being in a b.s. market [bellsouth, truth in marketing], I known their fear, but they just need to accept that they are now only a dumb pipe. The war was over before the first shot was fired.

Posted by: frank at January 31, 2005 09:34 AM

How lame is that. I'd stick with Bellster and talk to your lawyers as to whether or not they have a case.

Posted by: Rachel at January 30, 2005 10:59 PM

Not time to move off shore but probably a good idea to try and pick a name that doesn't cause an immediate conflict. Personally, I think that at new and progressive phone system like ????ster should not be linked in name to the old, archiac system that is associated with the word Bell. (not, that is not infringement since I am refering to the system run by BellSouth and others.) Give it a new, action oriented name. Jeff, I hope your goals are not to get into a battle with the phone systems. Don't give them an easy reason to get the courts involved.

Posted by: Robert at January 30, 2005 09:53 PM

Eritrea, more like. Bellst.er :D

Posted by: Ralesk Ne’vennoyx at January 29, 2005 02:11 PM