Should we pursue Cease and Desist letter, lawsuit, etc?

[Prometheus]

Jurisdiction

Arizona

So our business found out that a non incorporated DBA engaged in name infringement. Our business owns the trademarks and tradenames. We sent a simple cease and desist letter to this person and they basically responded in all caps, and blew up, why, who knows. Anyways, they then turned to social media and uploaded all emails, logos and trademarked images, and spoke disparagingly about our company, as well as CEO personal information, address, etc. (doxxing and our business accounts have been flooded with spam, etc.). Our main atty cannot take the case so we are being referred. Waiting to hear back. The paralegal did say, that the atty onsite briefly looked at everything and said cause for infringement, copyright violations and defamation and slander. We dont have the time to pursue a legal case and money spent could be diverted to R&D (big project right now, and we are still in startup mode).

How to proceed? Have the atty that contacts us write a C&D? If the person does not comply I wonder if a DCMA take down notice to the platform would suffice? Contact law enforcement? The same platform made this person change their user @ ID as we own it. I dont think there would be a problem. We have no inclination to be vindictive, spend money in a lawsuit, just want this person to stop what they are doing and shut up... thoughts? So frustrating.

 

[Zigner]

How to proceed is a great topic to discuss with the attorney.

EDIT: In case I'm not clear, my advice is to wait and talk to the attorney about the path forward that you should take.

 

[welkin]

How to proceed? Have the atty that contacts us write a C&D? If the person does not comply, I wonder if a DCMA take down notice to the platform would suffice?

The DMCA (not DCMA) stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The DMCA takedown notice process is for copyrighted content, not trademarks or tradenames unless you have a copyright on the name. But that is no guarantee that the notice will be successful.

After you file a proper takedown notice to the provider (whichever social platform it is) the provider usually notifies the user, subscriber or other person who is responsible for engaging in the infringing activity. If that person – the alleged infringer – in good faith does not think the activity is infringing, he or she can send a counter notice to the service provider explaining why they disagree with the copyright owner. After receiving a counter notice, the service provider is obligated to forward that counter notice to the person who sent the original takedown notice. Once the service provider has received a valid DMCA counter notice they must wait 10-14 days. If the copyright owner sues the alleged infringer in that time frame the material will remain down, but if no suit is filed then the service provider must re-activate or allow access to the alleged infringing activity.

I don't think the DMCA would be of much help to you.

 

[zddoodah]

I'm not sure what you're seeking from the anonymous strangers at this website. You're already in the process of consulting with an attorney, and that attorney knows what's happening. We don't. How to proceed? Continue the process you've started.

 

[Zigner]

We dont have the time to pursue a legal case and money spent could be diverted to R&D (big project right now, and we are still in startup mode).

Despite my earlier post, if you are unwilling to pursue legal remedies, then I'm not sure what you expect us (or an attorney) to help you with.