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Home > Kessler International v. Citizen Media Law Project

Kessler International v. Citizen Media Law Project [1]

Submitted by DMLP Staff on Fri, 04/13/2012 - 14:29

Summary

Threat Type: 

Correspondence

Date: 

03/14/2012

Location: 

Massachusetts

Verdict or Settlement Amount: 

N/A

Legal Claims: 

Trademark Infringement
Trademark Dilution
Kessler International ("Kessler") is a forensic accounting and brand protection company, and claims ownership in the USPTO-registered trademark FRAUDBUSTER, in multiple fields related to forensic accounting news and services.  On March 14, 2012, Kessler sent a a cease and desist letter... read full description
Parties

Party Receiving Legal Threat: 

Citizen Media Law Project

Type of Party: 

Organization

Type of Party: 

Organization

Location of Party: 

  • New York

Location of Party: 

  • Massachusetts
Description

Kessler International ("Kessler") is a forensic accounting and brand protection company, and claims ownership in the USPTO-registered trademark FRAUDBUSTER, in multiple fields related to forensic accounting news and services.

 On March 14, 2012, Kessler sent a a cease and desist letter [2] to the Citizen Media Law Project ("CMLP," the project that operates this threats database), claiming that the CMLP is committing trademark infringement and dilution by hosting a user who selected the username "fraudbuster." The letter demands that the CMLP remove the word "fraudbuster" from the website and pay Kessler for any profits attributable to use of the word "fraudbuster."

On March 21, 2012, the Cyberlaw Clinic [3] at Harvard Law School responded [4] on behalf of the CMLP. The CMLP noted that the word only appears twice on the CMLP website, and is used solely for its non-trademark meaning. The CMLP asserts that trademark law does not prohibit the expressive selection of a username in this context, and also notes several other instances where the public has used the term "fraudbuster" for purposes other than to identify Kessler's services.

Details

Web Site(s) Involved: 

http://www.citmedialaw.org/ [5]

Content Type: 

  • Text

Publication Medium: 

Blog
Forum

Subject Area: 

  • Trademark
Court Information & Documents

Jurisdiction: 

  • Massachusetts

Source of Law: 

  • United States

Relevant Documents: 

PDF icon 2012-03-14-Kessler Cease and Desist.pdf [6]
PDF icon 2012-03-21-CMLP Response.pdf [7]

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Source URL (modified on 08/20/2014 - 11:12pm): https://www.dmlp.org/threats/kessler-international-v-citizen-media-law-project

Links
[1] https://www.dmlp.org/threats/kessler-international-v-citizen-media-law-project
[2] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2012-03-14-Kessler%20Cease%20and%20Desist.pdf
[3] http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/teaching/cyberlawclinic
[4] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2012-03-21-CMLP Response.pdf
[5] https://www.dmlp.org/
[6] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2012-03-14-Kessler%20Cease%20and%20Desist.pdf
[7] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2012-03-21-CMLP%20Response.pdf