Released on: May 12, 2010, 6:06 am
Author: Lily Chambers
Industry: Small Business
Boulder, Colorado - 5/12/2010 - TVE Magazine has been threatened by Entrepreneur Media, Inc., owners of Entrepreneur.com with legal action unless we change our name.
".We hereby demand that you immediately cease and desist from any and all uses of the ENTREPRENEUR® mark or any similar mark in your online publication of "The Virtual Entrepreneur Magazine" and throughout the domain name www.tvemagazine.com. Moreover, we demand that you likewise immediately cease and desist from any and all uses of the ENTREPRENEUR® mark or any similar mark throughout your website and on advertisements, marketing, promotional, and/or sales materials of any sort." (to see the full letter from the attorney go to http://www.tvemagazine.com/)
Therefore. we are having a 'name change' contest! The new name cannot contain the word Entrepreneur and we would like to retain the 'TVE' image. So - put on your thinking caps and help us use the initials 'TVE' for a new name. The winner will receive a 1/2 page ad (3.75"x5") that will be published in the next 3 issues!
All entries for the name change contest must be received by May 31 and you must have a subscription to TVE Magazine to enter. We look forward to your creativity!
TVE Magazine is an ezine BY Virtual Professionals FOR Virtual Professionals. Subscriptions are free and article submissions are always welcome!
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Boulder publication losing 'Entrepreneur' name
Virtual Entrepreneur Magazine receives cease-and-desist letter from publisher of Entrepreneur
By Alicia Wallace Camera Business Writer
Posted: 05/07/2010
An 8-month-old Boulder-based publication with 1,200 [readers] caught the attention -- and apparent ire -- of the 32-year-old Entrepreneur Media Inc., the publisher of the [600-thousand]-subscriber strong Entrepreneur magazine.
Earlier this week, Entrepreneur Media Inc. sent a cease-and-desist letter to the owners of The Virtual Entrepreneur Magazine saying the publication's name infringes on trademarks registered by the Irvine, Calif.-based company.
"The manner in which you are using the ENTREPRENEUR[reg] mark is clearly intended to trade on the considerable goodwill that EMI has developed in the ENTREPRENEUR[reg] mark and to cause third parties to believe that you are associated with, affiliated with, or connected to EMI," wrote Mark Finkelstein, a Jones Day attorney representing EMI, in the letter to Virtual Entrepreneur. The letter was provided to the Camera upon request on Friday.
Lily Chambers, Virtual Entrepreneur's owner, said she was caught off-guard when she received the e-mailed letter from Jones Day's Ashley Wilkes and a subsequent certified letter in the mail.
"My first reaction was, 'You've got to be kidding me. This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard,'" Chambers said. "I'm this little, teeny, tiny fish."
Chambers decided to remove the word "Entrepreneur" from various aspects of the tvemagazine.com Web site, replacing it instead with an "E???". She also posted the letter on the site's front page, asking readers to submit ideas on how the business can use TVE for a new name.
But the letter, she said, got under her skin. She said she couldn't afford to get into a legal skirmish, but opted to let Scott Smith -- an operator of a press relations company that lost trademark infringements battles with Entrepreneur Media -- distribute press releases about what was happening.
Smith runs the Sacramento-based BizStarz, formerly EntrepreneurPR, a publisher of a press-release periodical called Entrepreneur Illustrated. Smith, who changed his company's name after a court order, is in the midst of a fourth appeal of the judgment.
"I am an entrepreneur and I represent entrepreneurs. This is egregious to me when a company says to me ... 'I own the word entrepreneur,'" said Smith, a vocal opponent of EMI's actions related to trademark protection.
Those actions have included lawsuits against entities such as Entrepreneurs.net; Entrepreneurmagazineblog.com; and consulting firm Ernst & Young, which retained its Entrepreneur of the Year Magazine and awards program.
EMI has 29 active trademarks registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Some of the trademarks include Entrepreneur; Entrepreneurial Woman; Be Your Own Boss; and Author-Preneur.
Entrepreneur has registered "Entrepreneur" in three different instances that collectively protect the use of the word for purposes such as advertising business services via the Web, broadcasting programs, magazines and books.
EMI's spokeswoman could not be reached for comment Friday. EMI attorney Mark Finkelstein said he was unable to get approval from his client to speak on the topic and that his client did not have enough time to respond.
Click here for pdf copy of EMI's cease-and-desist letter to Lily Chambers of Virtual Entrepreneur Magazine (720K).
Click here to view this article online.
About the Boulder Daily Camera:
For the past 100 years, the Daily Camera has been Boulder County's No. 1 source for news and advertising information. The Camera delivers 123,300 consumers every week and nearly eight-of-10 Boulder Valley adults.
About The Virtual Entrepreneur Magazine:
The Virtual Entrepreneur Magazine promotes and assists virtual entrepreneurs and businesses with helpful tips, tricks and how-to's. Articles are written by actual virtual entrepreneurs, and encompass all facets of working virtually. Virtual Entrepreneur is owned by Lily E. Chambers, owner of The Virtual Office Goddess (http://www.virtualofficegoddess.com/) and co-owner of the Academy of Virtual Entrepreneurs (http://www.aove.org/).
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For more information, contact:
The Virtual Entrepreneur Magazine
Lily Chambers, Owner/Publisher/Editor
(303) 437-3712
lily@tvemagazine.com
Entrepreneur Media, Inc.
Peter Shea, Owner/Chairman/CEO
(949) 261-2325
pshea@entrepreneur.com
Mark Finkelstein, Lead Attorney
(949) 851-3939
mafinkelstein@jonesday.com