{"id":2199,"date":"2010-11-12T08:36:55","date_gmt":"2010-11-12T16:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/?p=2199"},"modified":"2010-11-12T08:36:55","modified_gmt":"2010-11-12T16:36:55","slug":"hard-rock-cafe-international-claims-copyright-infringement-against-hard-rock-nights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/hard-rock-cafe-international-claims-copyright-infringement-against-hard-rock-nights\/","title":{"rendered":"Hard Rock Caf\u00e9 International claims copyright infringement against Hard Rock Nights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Does the Hard Rock Cafe have a claim against using the term Hard Rock, a accepted genre of music? Is the Hard Rock Cafe going to issue cease and desist letters to everyone using the term Hard Rock? Seems to me the Hard Rock Cafe probably has some business plans for the brand Hard Rock Nights and hopes to scare HardRockNights.com to give up the domain.<\/p>\n

The last thing I expected when I checked my email this afternoon was a cease & desist letter from\u00a0Hard Rock Caf\u00e9 International claiming that the name Hard Rock Nights is a trademark & copyright infringement of \u201cHard Rock\u201d. Yet all it takes is a quick Google search to find hundreds of businesses and website with the words \u201cHard Rock\u201d in the title that have absolutely no connection to\u00a0Hard Rock Caf\u00e9 International. I guess everyone in the world with a business or website with the words \u201cHard Rock\u201d in the title are now subject to a lawsuit from\u00a0Hard Rock Caf\u00e9 International; below is the complaint from\u00a0Hard Rock Caf\u00e9 International.<\/em><\/p>\n

Re: Infringement of Hard Rock\u2019s Federally Registered Trademarks in\u00a0hardrocknights.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Dear Domain Owner:<\/p>\n

This notice has been delivered to you on behalf of\u00a0Hard Rock Cafe International\u00a0(USA), Inc. (\u201cHard Rock\u201d). It has come to our attention that you registered the domain name hardrocknights.com (\u2018Domain Name\u2019) that is identical to the famous HARD ROCK\u00a0 name and trademark.<\/p>\n

Hard Rock operates a world-famous chain of restaurants, hotels and casinos under the HARD ROCK name and promotes and sells a wide range of goods and services under the valuable HARD ROCK marks.\u00a0 Our use of HARD ROCK\u00a0 as a tradename, service mark and trademark dates back to 1999.\u00a0 Throughout the years, we have acquired an extensive portfolio of\u00a0trademark registrations\u00a0that evidence our\u00a0exclusive right\u00a0to use HARD ROCK\u00a0 and other HARD ROCK marks for numerous goods and services including Registration Nos. 2,478,328 and others (collectively \u2018Protected Mark\u2019).\u00a0 Due to the superior quality of our services and merchandise, together with our promotional and advertising efforts, Hard Rock has acquired substantial rights in its marks. The Protected Mark enjoys a reputation and goodwill of inestimable value and has become our most valuable asset.<\/p>\n

Your use of our Protected Mark in the registration of the Domain Name suggests approval, sponsorship and\/or affiliation with Hard Rock. This use constitutes unfair competition, intentional\u00a0trademark infringement,\u00a0trademark dilution, false designation of origin in violation of the federal Lanham Trademark Act and state laws. Further, your registration of the Domain Name may violate the\u00a0Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act\u00a0(\u2018ACPA\u2019) of 1999, which is embodied in the\u00a0Lanham Act.<\/p>\n

Hard Rock\u2019s\u00a0legal remedies\u00a0under federal and state law, including the ACPA, provide for serious penalties; (up to $100,000 per domain name) against THOSE who, without authorization, use a domain name that infringes or dilutes another\u2019s trademark. Hard Rock is adamant about protecting its intellectual property and is successful in its claims against infringers. See Hard Rock Licensing Corp. v. Pacific Graphics, Inc., 776 F. Supp. 1454 (W.D. Wa. 1991);\u00a0Hard Rock Cafe\u00a0Licensing Corp. v. Concession Services, Inc., 955 F.2d 1143 (7th Cir. 1992); Hard Rock Cafe International (USA), Inc., v. Thomas D. Elsea, 56 U.S.P.Q 2d 1504 (TTAB 2000). Therefore, we hereby demand that you immediately cease and desist from all use of our Protected Mark. Specifically, we require the following:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Immediately transfer to Hard Rock any and all rights to the domain name hardrocknights.com and any other domain name(s) that you have registered containing terms identical to or confusingly similar to the Protected Mark;<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Immediately take down all content and cease operating your website at the URL\u00a0www.hardrocknights.com<\/a><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0Cease and desist\u00a0from registering any other domain names that contain terms identical to or confusingly similar to the Protected Mark; and<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Agree not to use terms identical to or confusingly similar to the Protected Mark in any manner that would create confusion as to association, source, affiliation, and\/or sponsorship.<\/p>\n

Please contact us within five (5) days with your written assurances that you will take the steps listed above. You may\u00a0 indicate your assurances by signing this notice electronically where indicated below and returning it to us via e-mail. If this matter cannot be resolved amicably, we will be forced to consider and implement all legal remedies available to us. If you have any questions or wish to discuss the matter, please do not hesitate to contact this department at the e-mail listed below. This proposal is made for settlement purposes only and without prejudice to any of our rights and claims, all of which are expressly reserved.<\/p>\n

PLEASE GOVERN YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

\/ipenforcement\/<\/p>\n

On behalf of
\nHard Rock International Business Affairs Department<\/p>\n

Hard Rock Caf\u00e9 International (USA), Inc.
\n6100 Old Park Lane
\nOrlando, FL 32835
\nipenforcement@hardrock.com<\/p>\n

via Hard Rock Caf\u00e9 International claims copyright infringement against Hard Rock Nights \u00ab Hard Rock Nights.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does the Hard Rock Cafe have a claim against using the term Hard Rock, a accepted genre of music? Is the Hard Rock Cafe going to issue cease and desist letters to everyone using the term Hard Rock? Seems to me the Hard Rock Cafe probably has some business plans for the brand Hard Rock […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[433,434,435],"class_list":["post-2199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-cease-and-desist","tag-hard-rock-cafe","tag-hard-rock-nights"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}