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need a bit of legal advice


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I haven't read through the six pages of comments so far, but basically, if you can prove that you were using it before them, you are the superior rights holder.

Also, you're music, and they are not. They are actually very different from music, so there is little to no likelihood of confusion, so there is little chance that they can nail you for trademark infringement.

Feel free to send me a PM if they keep harassing you.

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Perhaps, but if it were you would you risk it? Is it worth potentially losing a lot of money over something that won't generate any revenue?

If anyone was trying to drain me of money for some bullshit court thing out of the blue, damn fucking right I'd do everything I could to get it back from them. Taking money from me is sentencing my wife to death, I could not risk them getting away with that.

Thats if that was me though.

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I have no legal advice, but I had to bark...

Before today, I'd never heard of their pretentious clothing brand. Admittedly though, I'm not in their "target demo" (read: "UNMARKETABLE CLASS 0: Literate and/or Doesn't Watch Jersey Shore").

But... not a week goes by in which I haven't listened to at least one or more prophetik tracks.

These guys are the litigious arm of a pretentious little group unworthy of further existence. If you need to start a Chip In for legal costs, I'd throw $15+USD your way. Probably wouldn't be alone.

I hate legal bullying. Especially when it's baseless. This is all about the SEO, only in the name of trademark.

Bananas.

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http://www.prophetik.com/category/philosophy/

I thought I knew what "pretentious self-indulgent ego" was until this day...

Romantic visual artist, pioneer, and unconventional designer Jeff Garner and his sustainable, organic label Prophetik are on a path of transformation, leading the evolution of fashion and changing our perception of luxury.

Sir, you make clothes. You are not a pioneer, as people have made clothes before you have done so. Your brand is sustainable if you can sell stuff, that's not something really to write home about, and until I start seeing Target ripping off your style, you are not leading an evolution of any sort. And if you were to change my perception of luxury, you would need to make me think that rich people wear gelatonized dog snot as opposed to refined sheer cloth.

Go gently shove your rear end hole onto the hot end of a steam engine.

Edit: Brad, I talked to a lawyer friend at work. He basically said "In cases this these, deeper pockets win." They're not giving you enough information for you to make a basis claim, as anything short of expensive lawyers doing years of discovery into time and method of use of the names is needed to gather the evidence necessary for a case in court. So from the sound of it, unless you can get the trademark for "prophetik music" AND only use it in that exact phrasing from here on out, might just be safer to change your name as these guys, for all their unprofessional display and legal retardartion, likely have a lot more money at their disposal than you to take things to court.

Should things go really REALLY badly, I agree that sullying their name is probably the only kind of satisfaction you can get out of this.

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a guy on the forums who thinks i'm a better musician than i actually am has offered some lawyerly assistance, so i think i'm going to ask him to help me trademark "prophetik music". i think i can do it for pretty cheap. i will use kickstarter to fund it.

i then will make an album called lifestyle brand and give it to my contributors because this whole situation is patently absurd.

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i then will make an album called lifestyle brand and give it to my contributors because this whole situation is patently absurd.

Agreed. A friend of mine back in college was in a bluegrass fusion band. I forget what their name was at the time but I know they had it for several years before one day getting an email from a lawyer claiming to represent the father of some famous pop singer who wanted to get a boy band together under the name they were using.

So the lawyers harrassed them until they took down everything that had the name on it. Even though i'm sure they could have proved they had the right to use the name no one wanted to risk going to court since they didn't have any money, and they were going to be fighting a guy who probably had the best music business lawyers in the country.

As far as I know the boy band never came to light.

You could always try adding two dots over the o in Prophetik and say that it represents a cross between an "o" and an "ah" sound and if that's not good enough say that you come from an old swedish family line whose traditional middle-class values are at risk of going extinct and that being forced to change your name is against your "personal belief system" (to be as PC as possible) Make sure they all realize that this is an issue that is less about brand names and more about classic Post War European-American Personal Belief Intolerance where justice has been known to favor the overly oppressive fashionable socialist regime in this country. And that they are all probably from France. Make sure to quote as many points as you can from Calvin Klein Vs. The Susquehana Indian Reservation so that everyone knows that you know what you are talking about.

That should get Fox News on your side, at least, which means you'll have a much better chance at being able to defend yourself in court. :) See, it's all how you play your cards.

In all seriousness though i'll be rooting for you on this one. Keep us updated!

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I say we disparage their name publicly. Find whatever the local paper is in Franklin, TN and report that kinda shit to them. Reddit and other places as well.

They can protect their name all they want, but they can't protect their reputation if they go around EDGE GAMES'ing people over a fucking name.

I think that's unreasonable. I can see where they're coming from. With the edge games stuff, that was UNREASONABLE because Edge Games didn't produce a product and nobody knew about them. Again, if you search "prophetik", and if they really have been using that name for many years, I can understand why they wouldn't be happy about Brad's site coming up as a top search result. You all underestimate how insanely valuable Google search results are, particularly those 'above the fold' (like top 5-6). Not saying I agree with what they're doing, but it's not as OMGSOBAD as you're all making it out to be.

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It sucks that it's happening to Brad but I mean, come on, people need to fight for their trademarks and their property. It's not like they just formed yesterday and tried to legally take your name, like what happened to Rhapsody / Rhapsody of Fire because they failed to trademark their name. They've had the trademark for 14 years and they've probably

for a long time. :-o

They aren't doing something wrong just to be nefarious, and spelling "out" instead of "our" does not make their lawyer incompetent. You'll see their real competency if this heads to court, but hopefully it won't have to go that far.

Prophet of Mephisto WAS the bee's tits, and the owner DID say that prophetic would have been fine. If you change to prophetik music, you're really not satisfying anything.

Also: chthonic changed his name. Zircon has yet to change his. :lol:

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I think that's unreasonable. I can see where they're coming from. With the edge games stuff, that was UNREASONABLE because Edge Games didn't produce a product and nobody knew about them. Again, if you search "prophetik", and if they really have been using that name for many years, I can understand why they wouldn't be happy about Brad's site coming up as a top search result. You all underestimate how insanely valuable Google search results are, particularly those 'above the fold' (like top 5-6). Not saying I agree with what they're doing, but it's not as OMGSOBAD as you're all making it out to be.

I'd agree with you except no one can even find or prove they have "prophetik music" trademarked in the first place. It reminds me of the Nihilists demanding ransom money for a girl they never kidnapped.

I would think a company this ferocious about protecting their name might at least produce a copy to prove they have it. Right now it just looks like they're harassing Brad, telling him to go find it in places where it can't be found and expecting compliance. That's not reasonable either.

***

On further inspection, did anyone see this yet? http://www.trademarkia.com/prophetik-76259412.html.

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It reminds me of the Nihilists demanding ransom money for a girl they never kidnapped.

Nothing but love for anyone who can work in a Big Lebowski reference to take the sting out of another's legal nightmare.

It's a scare tactic. What really got to me was when The One Real Prophetik asked for proof of trademarking and they told him to "go look it up" in so many words. I'm no legal expert so don't take this for more than it's worth but a real lawyer should have no problem providing proof on request when threatening someone. Chances are they wanted him to take a look for it, try to make him think he was in over his head, and get him to change his name without a fight.

Just look at that guy. Jeff What's-his-name. Start's with a G i think. What's he doing in the fashion business? Get some teeth and more camera friendly people!

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