More on TRADEMARK infringement
(Click on image to enlarge)
Recently I seem to be the only credible blog in the world to cover Stan Vaughan’s crusade against the unlawful use by FIDE of trademarks that do NOT belong to FIDE. Probably because most other non-American bloggers think it is just a JOKE. But I, being born in Canada and knowing reasonably well how American law works, REALIZE that Stan Vaughan’s WORLD CHESS FEDERATION has a VERY good case and probably a winning position! And it is likely going to cost FIDE a lot more than anyone imagines…unless FIDE comes to some kind of agreement with Stan Vaughan and the WCF.
As described in earlier blog posts (HERE AND HERE) , Stan Vaughan’s WCF owns the world wide rights to the title and use of the term ‘World Chess Championship”. Stan has NOT given FIDE nor anyone else the rights to use this term, and as a result the number of embarrassing incidents of others using Stan’s trademark is beginning to multiply…
Carlsen caught between FIDE and the WCF. As a result, until this despute gets settled, Carlsen can NOT call himself ‘The World Champion’ but must instead call himself the ‘FIDE World Champion’
—————————————————–
Earlier today Stan sent me this latest update/email. Remember that just last week Amazon decided to side with Stan’s WCF and banned the sale of all books/equipment that used the unauthorized term ‘The World Championship’. This means that not even the USCF can sell any such products in the ‘states!
——————————–
”Note below another company banned from selling FIDE clocks here in USA on Amazon over false claim of being official chess clocks of World Chess Federation. Previously DGT, FIDE, Chess Central and House of Staunton received bans.
To: [email protected]
Subject: trademark infringement of World Chess Federation, Inc trademark
Date: Sun, 25 May 2014 12:40:52 +0100
Dear Sir/Madam
I would firstly like to apologize for any property rights violation, as it was never my intention to violate any policy.
I have reviewed my inventory of the items which violate your rights and have found a mistake in our inventory upload file.
Some of our inventory items were listed with incorrect Amazon Asins(Product Codes) which correspond to yours. I have mixed up the Asins with other completely unrelated products I sell.
I do not hold any stock of, or sell, nor have I ever sold any of the items referred to.
I have taken immediate action and corrected the error and these items will be removed from our inventory and not listed again.
I would truly appreciate You letting me know if anything else ever slips through the net, so that it can be rectified immediately.
Should you require anything further please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best Regards
Oli
——————————————
Dear Kevin,
As you noticed the distribution of the DGT clock models 2010 and XL have been targeted by Mr. Vaughan.
We have informed Mr. Vaughan immediately after his first mail to us that DGT does not use itself, and does not promote the use of, the wording “World Chess Federation” anywhere in branding our products, in the design of our packaging.
We could not even find the wording “World Chess Federation” in the manuals that go with the DGT 2010 and the DGT XL clocks.
These clocks are promoted as “official FIDE chess clock” or with variations on that title. This is based on consecutive agreements between FIDE and DGT if which the first was signed in 1993.
After the e-mail of Mr. Vaughan all USA based retailers of DGT clocks have been asked to check that they refer to the DGT 2010 and DGT XL clock as “FIDE approved”, or “Official FIDE clocks” and avoid the use the wording Mr. Vaughan objects to.
This does not imply that DGT is of the opinion that Mr. Vaughan is correct in his claims, but is should be clear that DGT regards it as trivial.
As far as DGT is concerned we have shown we did not infringe and the mail informing US retailers who might have used the common language name for FIDE, asking them to change it wherever it occurs, complies with his request, the rest is to be argued between FIDE and Mr. Vaughan.
It would be appreciated if Mr. Vaughan would stop creating collateral damage in this conflict.
The business of DGT is to service the chess community by developing and producing high quality digital chess equipment.
Kind regards,
Albert Vasse
DGT C.E.O.