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Others that are against EMI's actions

Minnesota Homebased Entrepreneurs Association - Amicus Curiae Brief (PDF)

Entrepreneurs.com - "Keep Entrepreneur Free"

EntrepreneurBooks.com Petition For Cancellation of Entrepreneur Media, Inc.'s wordmark "entrepreneur" as a trademark.

Question And Answer About The Entrepreneur Trademark Battle Click Here

California Small Business Association and California Small Business Roundtable - Amicus Curiae Brief (PDF format)

Antitrust Law & Economics Review, Charles E. Mueller, Editor-in-Chief: " I think it's outrageous that a magazine with the generic word 'entrepreneur' in its title would attempt to prevent [others] from using it. Please put me down as a supporter of your cause and keep me posted on the developments."

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marks

"Keep Entrepreneur Free"

Entrepreneurs continue battle with Entrepreneur Magazine(EMI)

New news on the battle to keep entrepreneur free

Read latest artical in Washington Post about alleging of fraud by Entrepreneur Media:
"the parent company has been in the middle of some lawsuits and allegations about trying to appropriate the word "Entrepreneur", and some lawsuits have followed, including one earlier this month. A lawsuit was filed alleging that it defrauded the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office while wrangling for control of the name "Entrepreneur Expo." Some earlier controversies are here and here."

Read Scott Smith's complaint of fraud by Entrepreneur Media:
Download PDF - part 1
Download PDF - part 2

 

"But the company and its website have seen their fair share of controversies, including allegations of buying traffic for its website using pop-unders."

 

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The attacks by Entrepreneur Magazine on entrepreneurs continues. The latest are EntrepreneursTV.com being forced to change its name and not use the word entrepreneur, (cease and desist letter from EMI (pdf)) and Entrepreneur Clothing being attacked for just applying for a trademark for their clothing. (cease and desist letter from EMI (pdf)). UPDATE: Entrepreneur Clothing has lost their mark (another entrepreneur put out of business)

Entrepreneurs are fighting back. KURT M. MARKVA. has filed a "Petition to Cancel" EMI's marks.(see docs on PTO site) EMI is trying more of its legal trickery to get the petition thrown out before the facts can be heard. EMI's trickery has worked in the past with the PTO when they got their trademarks and to fool Federal court into stopping another entrepreneur from using the word "Entrepreneur".

 

EMI claims: "Diminished Need Of The Marketplace To Use 'Entrepreneur'." see appeals brief page 4 (pdf format)

EMI states: "neither Smith nor others in the marketplace need to use the word 'entrepreneur' to describe their products or services."see appeals brief page 28 (pdf format)

Can you imagine the word "Entrepreneur" being removed from American public use?

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"To Diminish the use of the word 'Entrepreneur' in America, is to diminish the Greatness of America herself!"
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NEW
Question And Answer
About The Entrepreneur Trademark Battle Click Here

A California company is using threats and expensive litigation to prevent others from using the word "entrepreneur". Entrepreneur Media (EMI) has a history of stopping many types of businesses, that help entrepreneurs, from using the word entrepreneur. Attacks include magazines, PR companies, websites, computer games, University newsletters, domain owners... (see History of Attacks)

EMI claims: "… the classification system is essentially arbitrary and infringement can occur between goods and services in different classes. Therefore, we are not limiting our client to any particular class or type of goods or services."
-Henry M. Bissell, Attorney for Entrepreneur Media, Inc. (6/26/98)

EMI claims: "Lack Of Widespread Use Of 'Entrepreneur' By Others" see appeals brief page 4 (pdf format)

EMI claims: domain name with word "entrepreneur" in it infringes on their trademark - "use of domain name www.female-entrepreneur.com is likely to cause confusion and mistake among customers" -from complaint file against Female Entrepreneur Magazine- PDF file.

(June 16, 2004) EMI has filed an Opposition to the trademark "VIRTUAL ENTREPRENEUR" simply for using the word entrepreneur in their name.(read complaint PDF file)

(Oct, 2003) Female Entrepreneur Magazine was forced to change name. Female Entreprenuer Magazine has now closed its doors. (read complaint PDF file)

The problem is a Federal Judge has made a very confusing ruling about the strength and scope of EMI's trademark rights. This ruling makes it unclear who can use the word "entrepreneur". This ruling may put users of the word entrepreneur in danger of unreasonable litigation.

Although there are many companies that use the word entrepreneur in their trade name, EMI seems to selectively attack, usually small companies, and intimidate them into changing their name or giving up their business.

Click here to read a good article written in Forbes about these attacks.

EMI has been very inconsistent in its claims of how the word entrepreneur can be used. Even the courts have put out radically different rulings.

-- A three Judge court of appeals ruled EMI's mark was "weak" on February 11, 2002
-- Subsequently, a lower court ruled, on much the same evidence, that EMI's mark was "strong" on June 24 2003 (an appeal is underway on this ruling)

Currently the biggest case over the word "entrepreneur" is EMI vs. Scott Smith (dba EntrepreneurPR). EMI sued Smith, in a battle that now spans over five years, to prevent him from using the word "entrepreneur" in the name of his PR company. Smith has not given up his fight to use the word "entrepreneur" for himself and for the rest of America. (see Legal Documents)

EMI continues to threaten other companies although they are very inconsistent in their approach. EMI has current threats out to "Female Entrepreneur Magazine" and "EntrepreneurBooks.com" to name a few. Although EMI does not seem to mind the use by "the Entrepreneur's Source", "Entrepreneurs.com", "Minority Business Entrepreneur Magazine" and many others.

Why Take a Stand? -Commentary by Ron P. Wacks from MHEA about case.

Should one company be allowed to take an important word like "Entrepreneur" away from the American people?

Does our trademark law allow this to happen?

Here is a good argument for Cancellation of Entrepreneur Media, Inc.'s wordmark "entrepreneur" as a trademark put together by EntrepreneurBooks.com READ HERE

Why Take a Stand? -Commentary by Ron P. Wacks from MHEA about case.

Would you like to show your support in keeping the word entrepreneur free? Contact us

 
Latest News

Folio Magazine has done two stories on the issue
March 17, 2005 Entrepreneur Flexes Trademark Muscle Again

April 4, 2005 - The Hidden Cost of Protecting Your Mark

Brand Bullies- Entrepreneurs draw legal action over
common words

Part 1- (pdf)

Use of the word 'entrepreneur' can put you in a legal mess - Part 2

Marketing Magazine covers the issue- Jan 17, 2005 - Corporate control freaks are going too far in their quests to lock up exclusive control of everyday language

Also: "Petitions to Cancel" EMI's trademark for the word Entrepreneur, for Internet use, has been filed by a man named KURT M. MARKVA.
This petition has hundreds of pages of documentation of third party and generic use of the word Entepreneur, clearly showing EMI's trademark is unreasonable.
See documents:

New York Times covers story: Entrepreneurs Must Choose Their Words With Care

Also:
EMI has filed an Opposition to the trademark "VIRTUAL ENTREPRENEUR" simply for using the word entrepreneur in their name.
See documents:

 

 

A Word

"When [intellectual property rights] are too easy to get and hold onto, they become a weapon for would-be monopolists and their well-paid lawyers to increase profits rather than a reward for innovation. People get [intellectual property rights] who don't deserve them, and then others wield those [intellectual property rights] in what is close to legalized extortion."
-David Wessel, Deputy Bureau Chief, The Wall Street Journal, Dec 11, 2003

Other IP Battles

Nissan Motor vs. Nissan Computer

Nissan Motor is suing Nissan Computer (named after its founder and current president, Mr. Uzi Nissan) for Trademark Infringement, Trademark Dilution and Cyber-Squatting, seeking 10 Million Dollars in damages. This is after more than 20 years of Mr. Nissan's well-documented prior use of his family name for business purposes in the US.

Help stop this trademark abuse by large corporations.
Digest.com

 

 

 


Disclaimer: All pages within iventure's entrepreneur.network are expressions of the opinions of iventure only, and may in fact contain errors. It is only our desire to provoke interest in our readers, who are in turn encouraged to conduct further research on their own. This site is not related to: Entrepreneur Media, Entrepreneur Magazine, Entrepreneur of the Year, Entrepreneur's Partner, Hispanic Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur.com, Entrepreneurs.com Entrepreneur's Only, The Entrepreneur's Source, Entrepreneur's Notebook or any of the many companies that use the word entrepreneur in there trade name.