Instagram send me Trademark Infringement.. Help :(

Domains
1

Hi,

I’m new here and i hope to get help from someone who is actually expert to help me with my issue. It sounds very weird and strong and i do know insagram is very BIG and no one can miss with them.

Today i was checking my email and i got ticket from my Shopify with the following email

Trademark Infringement Notice
To Whom It May Concern:
We write on behalf of Instagram, Inc. regarding the hosting and use of
the domain name XXinstagramXX, which contains the famous
INSTAGRAM trademark. The registrant has used your services to host
**Example** : XXinstagramXX.com.
Trademark: Instagram
Country: United States
Registered: May 22, 2012
Application or Registration No.: 4146057
Word, Design, or Word & Design: Word
Owner Name and Address:
Facebook, Inc. (Delaware Corporation)
1601 Willow Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
United States of America
Unauthorized use of the Instagram mark, such as XXinstagramXX, will
inevitably cause confusion as to whether the domain and underlying use
are authorized, endorsed, or sponsored by Instagram when, in fact, they
are not. Instagram has an obligation to its users and the public to police
against the registration and use of domain names that may cause such
consumer confusion.
I have a good faith belief that use of the trademarks in the domain as
described above are not authorized by the trademark owner or its agent,
nor is such use otherwise permissible under law. I have reviewed Section
15 U.S.C. 1115(b)(4)-(5) and have a good faith belief that the use of the
trademark does not constitute a fair use.
We have reached out to the registrant with no response or
compliance. We request that you review any use of the domain name to
insure that it complies with your terms of service. If it violates your
policies, Instagram asks that you immediately suspend hosting of the
domain name.
I represent, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this
notification is true and correct, and that I am authorized to act on behalf
of the trademark owner, Instagram, Inc.
Please let us know if you need any additional information.

My store do social media marketing for the the people in the UAE only and my domain name it does have instgram name but with 2 more letters in the end. The reason why i made it like that is because in our language it means my instagram.

Shopify would like from me to send them back with A B C D and a reason that i did not make any infringement. Ive worked hard to market my website at google and paid alot of $$$ to get traffic to it.

Can someone please advice me what to send or how to act in this matter? I dont want to lose the name because its well knowing in the UAE :frowning:

You’re help is much appreciate it guys!

2

I’m not an expert on this, but it looks pretty cut and dry if your domain or host exists anywhere where US based trademarks are enforced. You named your site Instagram. You just simply can’t do that.

2 Likes
3

100% correct.

4

again i am not a legal expert but i cannot see how they can enforce that. You simply have that in your url. There is no reason you couldn’t have www.againstagramophone.com if you were particularly against music players of that type.

In the UK you can call your company the same as another company as long as it isn’t doing the same thing. I could be called ‘Pepsi window cleaners’ if i wanted to.

You should contact an expert in copyright/trademark law as only they will know the true answer. Then either stick to your guns or offer to sell them the domain name for a lot of money :wink:

5

As said, you need to get proper legal advice on legal matters.

From our point of view as detached observers, you tried to gain an advantage by riding on the coattails of a big, successful company, and you’ve been caught. So my (worthless) advice would be to cut your losses, redirect the name to a new one, and learn from your mistakes.

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