19 March 2008 News:

greenjon.com in danger of being seized by toilets.com!

Just to make life even more bizarre, on 10 March 2008, I (greenjon) was sent a letter by Earl J. Braxton of toilets.com.

In that letter he stated that I’m infringing his trademark “Green John,” which I guessed might be a toilet.

(If you’re looking for a green john toilet, try here.)

I spoke with Earl J. Braxton by telephone 19 March, stating my ownership of & continued interest in greenjon.com. He told me to make my case before the courts. The policy for disputes involving use of website names is the ICANN UDNDRP. To forcibly seize my website ALL of the following conditions must be met, as enumerated in Section 4:

If my domain name “is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights”;

AND I “have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name”;

AND my “domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.”

“Bad faith” is defined in four ways in Section 4b and these do not apply to greenjon.com:

i)                This applies to people who register websites solely to resell for profit.

ii)               This applies to people who register websites to prevent someone else from registering it.

iii)              This applies to people who register websites to disrupt a business competitor.

iv)             This applies to people who register websites to intentionally attract business through confusing similarity to another name.

Further, Section 4c provides for the demonstration of my legitimate rights to a greenjon.com: among them are:

ii)               I “(as an individual) have been commonly known by the domain name,” “even if (I) have acquired no trademark or service mark rights”;

iii)              I am “making a legitimate noncommercial or fair use of the domain name, without intent for commercial gain to misleadingly divert consumers or to tarnish the trademark or service mark at issue.”

I have been known as greenjon for about 15 years. I have been registered as greenjon on countless websites, for example: mutantfest.org and spaz.org for over 3 years (click for proof). I have done all my email through greenjon.com since June 2001. Losing greenjon.com would cause me unthinkable harm.

BUT... hopefully I will retain my name and website and you may continue to enjoy:

Human Shields in Iraq