Legal
Trademark Infringement
Have you found a post on Just-Jolly.com that you believe is infringing on your trademark? Before you report it, please ask yourself these 3 questions:
Is the post using your trademark to review or criticize your products or service? If so, this is not trademark infringement. Since we will promptly reject your complaint, please don’t submit your complaint.
Have you contacted the post author/writer directly to resolve the issue? Check if the blog or post has a contact form or leave a comment on one of their posts requesting the post author/writer contact you.
Is the post really on Just-Jolly.com? Just Jolly has no control over blogs or posts that say “Powered by Just-Jolly.com”. Please contact the appropriate web host with your complaint. We only host blogs or posts that have “just-jolly.com” in their URL.
Filing your complaint
If you weren’t able to resolve the issue directly with the post author/writer, we recommend to submit your complaint to report.justjolly@gmail.com, to ensure you include all the information we’ll need to investigate: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQ4yaGqAOhuNtFiTpS1eunCkKDdX0b5cUVkoHNJM7Sb0Bww1wvLpNHkM3xBpoaITcQdvhbdOWOQZDo4/pub
Specifically, we’ll need the following information:
your name and contact information
your company name, and website address, if applicable
identification of your trademark being infringed, including official trademark registration details and information
the URL of the Just-Jolly.com post being reported and the exact content/aspect of that post
a clear and detailed explanation of how the above content is in violation of your trademark, thus creating consumer confusion
a statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the trademark in the manner complained of is an infringement of the rights granted under Indian and/or foreign trademark law
your physical or electronic signature as the owner or person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the trademark that is allegedly infringed
your consent to forward the trademark complaint to the post author/writer, including your contact information
Our Process
With all this information, our team will review your complaint, and will take action as appropriate if we consider the use of your trademark to be infringing.
When we evaluate your complaint, we weigh the following factors:
Likelihood of confusion. This is the central focus of determining if the use of a mark is infringing.
Strength of the mark. There are five categories of trademarks:
Fanciful – a made up mark that doesn’t correlate with the product/service, e.g. Kodak, Haagen-Dazs, Exxon. These marks have less inherent meaning, and can be used to create a strong correlation between the mark and product/service.
Arbitrary – a mark with a common meaning, unrelated to the product/service, e.g. Apple (for computers), Amazon (online book sales). These marks are strong because they are inherently distinctive.
Suggestive – a mark that hints at the product/service, but which still requires an act of imagination, or power of suggestion, e.g. Microsoft (suggesting software for microcomputers), Coppertone (suggesting your copper tone from using sun tan lotion). These marks can be strong, but their strength relies on the suggestiveness, which may be disputed and deemed a descriptive trademark instead.
Descriptive – a mark that describes the product/service, e.g. Holiday Inn (for travel accommodations), World Book (for encyclopedias). These marks don’t receive any trademark protection, unless they’ve been used in commerce and have built up a secondary meaning. “Secondary meaning” occurs when consumers identify the goods or services on which the descriptive term appears with a single source. In other words, if consumers know that HOLIDAY INN hotels are all affiliated with a single source, then the mark has secondary meaning and receives trademark protection.
Generic – a mark that describes the product/service, e.g. Shredded Wheat (for a cereal), Laptop (for a portable computer). These marks don’t receive trademark production.
Proximity of the products/services. Are the purchasers of both in the same group of people? Does the product/service have a similar use and function?
Similarity of the marks. Do they sound the same? Appear the same? Mean the same? This can increase the likelihood of confusion.
Evidence of actual confusion. Is there any evidence customers have been confused?
Similarity of marketing channels used. Would product/services using the mark be found advertising in the same channels? This can increase the likelihood of confusion.
Type of product/the degree of caution exercised by the typical purchaser. For cheaper goods, there might be more likelihood of infringement since low cost usually means low degree of caution before purchase. However, if the product is a military cargo aircraft that costs millions, and the only customer is the Indian military, there is a weaker case for infringement.
Intent behind selecting or using the mark. Does the use of the mark suggest or imply an affiliation or sponsorship? Or is it just being used to refer to the trademark? For example, fan blogs or posts aren’t infringement because there’s probably no confusion, and they’re just using the name because they have to refer to what they’re fans of, not as an indication of affiliation or sponsorship.
Likelihood of expansion in the market of the goods. Is there a strong possibility that either party may expand their business to compete with the other? This can increase the probability that the current use of the mark is infringing.
The Decision
After examination, most trademark complaints fall into the follow categories:
Not trademark infringement. Most often the trademark complaints we receive are posts that are using the trademark to review or criticize a company’s products or services. We will let you know we won’t be suspending the post, and we will pass along your complaint to the post author/writer for their review.
Borderline complaint. If we aren’t legally required to act on your complaint under the law of the India, we will let you know, and will pass along your complaint to the post author/writer with advice to contact you directly. As the post author/writer is the party legally responsible for the content, we will encourage you to resolve it directly with the post author/writer.
Valid trademark infringement complaint. Unless the infringement is pervasive enough to warrant an immediate suspension, we will pass along your complaint to the post author/writer, along with a list of changes they’ll need to make over the next week to resolve your complaint. If the changes aren’t made, we will suspend the post.
Not infringement, but another violation. If the post you’ve reported is violating our Terms of Service, we’ll immediately suspend it and thank-you for your assistance.