So, you saw our thread earlier about us forming an LLC. Just wanted to let people know that there is a church group out of Alabama who has the same name as us and is now suing us for the rights to the domain name

I got the letter in the mail yesterday and we have 14 days to respond.

Easiest solution would be to relinquish the name but that would mean giving up our club identity.

We can also counter-sue showing that we have been using this name for the past 9 years and have already established the domain and name as our club and business

I looked around a bit for lawyer info but they are extremely expensive. $100+ an hour for legal work

Anyone have any ideas?

Um...is this a test? A Christian church is sueing a small Christian based club? Are you serious?

Skatchkins wrote:Um...is this a test? A Christian church is sueing a small Christian based club? Are you serious?

Id use the term christian loosely :((

Brian Blum - Joe West's lawyer buddy from the VJC?

I also know another lawyer in Prescott I can ask.

I say counter-sue!!!

Which church?

I searched Google for Higher Ground Church and I'm finding many hits. Here are just from the first page.
http://www.highergroundchurch.com/ --South Carolina
http://www.higherground.org -Tennessee
http://oh.citysquares.com/greenhills/religious-organizations/religious-services-organizations/higher-ground-church --Cincinnati, OH
http://www.highergc.org/ --Mesquite, TX

There are also many other uses of the name such as:
http://www.highergroundroasters.com/ --Coffee House

Hmmmm. Pay for me to fly out and I will "talk" to them... I'm sure I could talk them into letting us have it.

What other paperwork do I need to gather other than our website and graphics copyright information?

Check this one out. It's actually in Alabama, but the website is incomplete.
http://highergroundbaptists.com/default.aspx

One in Oklahoma. http://www.paulsvalley.ok.phonepagesinc.com/Higher%20Ground%20Church/

Ok, I'm fired up about this. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

I say we handle it battle royal style. Airplane tickets are cheaper than lawyers and we already have the weapons! }:(

;-) Good one Chris

Actually, Chris, I've already got our legal department on it. We have reserved a meeting at 4 PM to review, so please forward me the notice and supporting paperwork so I can get a proper response out today if possible. We've only got four lawyers, but they are the very good and very expensive type. They owe me favors.

alanzona wrote:Actually, Chris, I've already got our legal department on it. We have reserved a meeting at 4 PM to review, so please forward me the notice and supporting paperwork so I can get a proper response out today if possible. We've only got four lawyers, but they are the very good and very expensive type. They owe me favors.

Sweet!!! Soon, we will own a church in Alabama!!!

Don't want to own a church and don't want this to get ugly, but I do want to protect our group and I think it can be worked out reasonably.

Mike/Chris - is this the first communciation? It's odd that a church would just start with a suit, instead of a cease and desist letter from an attorney. It's much cheaper than filing. Did we just miss the initial notice.

Still waiting on forwarded documents.

alanzona wrote:Don't want to own a church and don't want this to get ugly, but I do want to protect our group and I think it can be worked out reasonably.

Mike/Chris - is this the first communciation? It's odd that a church would just start with a suit, instead of a cease and desist letter from an attorney. It's much cheaper than filing. Did we just miss the initial notice.

Still waiting on forwarded documents.

They might have sent something earlier but I usually dont read my mail, I just toss it out when I get it since all my bills are paid online

:red|

Mikes going to send it over through a courier today

Thx.

It doesn't seem like they've got a case. Higherground4x4 is different from Highergroundbaptists, Highergroundchurch . . . How can they lay claim to the first part when the second part is different?

d

Mike - what courier service did you use and do you have an tracking number? I've got the all three here and brought them to speed and we're waiting on your documentation.

Please advise.

April Fools!

offroadaz wrote:April Fools!

I was waiting for that... before I would have bit too... :red|

LOL I called Chris on it early on a PM, and here was his response:

Quote:
Originally Posted by alanzona
April Fools, dude.

lol yah, you can play along though :)


I thought maybe I could get a little mileage out of Mike with him thinking I was taken in by it and calling in lawyers, but I didn't even get a text or e-mail from Mike warning me off... either Chris tipped him off, of he just didn't care that I had three expensive lawyers waiting on his documentation. :'( LOL

alanzona wrote:LOL I called Chris on it early on a PM, and here was his response:

Quote:
Originally Posted by alanzona
April Fools, dude.

lol yah, you can play along though :)


I thought maybe I could get a little mileage out of Mike with him thinking I was taken in by it and calling in lawyers, but I didn't even get a text or e-mail from Mike warning me off... either Chris tipped him off, of he just didn't care that I had three expensive lawyers waiting on his documentation. :'( LOL

hah yah I had to call him early in the morning to let him know. He was seriously upset, said he was digging through all our copyright forms and finding any info we had on how long weve been around :)=)