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Godzilla Getting Ready to Stomp Mozilla?

Posted by timothy on from the we-own-your-formative dept.

mrBlond writes: "Doing the rounds: Seems like Toho [jp], 'the owner of all rights in and to the trademark and service mark GODZILLA [jp] and the GODZILLA characters,' is coming down on Davezilla for use of 'zilla' in his domain name and his dragon logo, to set a precedent before attacking Mozilla."

3 of 747 comments (clear)

  1. In other news... by Black+Parrot · · Score: 0, Redundant


    In other news, God is suing Toho for for appropriating his name into the name of their monster.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  2. Davezilla.com by xkenny13 · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Here is the text from Davezilla.com:


    Sun, 11 August, 2002
    Goodbye little dragon guy!
    [Blog] - Davezilla @ 07:07:43 pm
    re: DAVEZILLA.COM
    Dear Mr. Linabury:

    We represent Toho Co., Ltd ("Toho") in intellectual property matters. Toho is the owner of all rights in and to the trademark and service mark GODZILLA and the GODZILLA characters. In addition, the name "GODZILLA" and the likeness of Toho's GODZILLA character are federally registered trademarks belonging to Toho. Copies of Toho's U.S. Registrations for GODZILLA and the GODZILLA character image are enclosed.

    [Omitted long, dull paragraph about the history of Toho...]

    It has come to our attention that you have incorporated the "ZILLA" portion of our client's GODZILLA marks in the name of your "DAVEZILLA.COM" domain name, and that you have included a "reptile-like" character as well as a "monster-like" character, which you refer to as "GODZILLA", on your website accesible through "DAVEZILLA.COM." Please be advised that your use of the GODZILLA mark constitutes a trademark infringement and confuses consumers and the public into believing that your "GODZILLA" character originates from Toho, which it does not. Moreover, your use of the "ZILLA" formative along with imagery associated with GODZILLA is likely to cause the users of your site to believe that the "DAVEZILLA.COM" website is either associated with, authorized by, or sponsored by our client, and demonstrates an attempt by you to trade on the goodwill built up by our client. As such, we request that you remove the objectionable imagery and reference to GODZILLA from your website to eliminate any likelihood of confusion and posibility of an inaccurate affiliation with Toho and GODZILLA.

    We look forward to receiving your prompt reply, with a statement of your intentions, no later than August 16, 2002. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.

    Very truly yours,

    SEYFARTH SHAW

    Jill A. Jacobs

    Wow. Guess the little dragon at the top has to go bye-bye. At least they are letting me keep the domain name. A few inaccuracies: I have, until today, never mentioned Godzilla, nor do I have any imagery of him on this site. Nor do I refer to my logo as Godzilla. It's always been. "That little dragon guy." Could have been a lot worse. Expect a new banner this week and changes to the colophon.

  3. Good luck.... by Frobnicator · · Score: 1, Redundant
    Just run a google on "zilla", you get...

    Go!Zilla, nomo zilla, :Zilla Clothing, My Zilla, Budgie-ZILLA, ZILLA sports, TrafficZilla, WebZilla, and even a thorny plant named Zilla

    So they have lots of legal battles if they want. (Watch them claim that the thorny Zilla plant stole their ideas of a thorny reptile...)

    frob.

    --
    //TODO: Think of witty sig statement