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Posted By: Paul

Wonkaticket,


I am sorry that someone who is not aware of the scope of his legal rights is using his financial resources in an attempt to intimidate you. First of all, the threat you received to use the legal process to harm you financially regardless of the merits of the underlying case is highly improper. I'm not sure if the person who sent it to you is an attorney or not, but if he is, he has violated the rules of professional conduct and can be disciplined by his state bar. If he is not an attorney, the consequences are less serious, unless you could prove damages, which seems unlikely here.

His claim that you have misused his "logo" seems frivolous. I haven't seen your post, so I can't really comment on the specifics. But the courts are very clear that you can use the logo or other trademark of anyone for the specific purpose of making fun of them. You can't use it to redirect business from the trademark owner to yourself, or to represent yourself as being the trademark owner, but it seems unlikely that that is what you have done on a public chatroom. Of course, if you wrote something that is false and damaging (libelous) that would be different.