Is this trademark infringement case?

[morvillz7z]

User Curiosity123 is offering his paid betting predictions in the service section while using Sportsbet.io logo without permission.

His promo flyer also includes parts of Sportsbet.io website which are HTML-edited again without permission.

Is this unauthorized use of trademark to promote and sell a service deserving a negative tag or you would rather ask him to take down the promo banner?

Thread: [#1 Vouched] 🌟 The BEST Sports & Gaming BETTING Predictions | INSANE PROFIT 🌟
Archive: http://archive.md/arGQg











miscellaneous: There's high probability Curiosity123 to be an alt of YohannHermann. If you are active in the gambling section you know who i'm talking about.

edit; 4/10/2020

Changed the topic title to trademark infringement. Thanks for the explanation @nullius!

[FIFA worldcup]

Firs of all I do not see a sportsbet logo on his thread. Can you help me find it ?
Secondly have you contacted sportsbet.io account on bitcointalk and have his view point on this ?

[LoyceV]

Is this unauthorized use of trademark to promote and sell a service deserving a negative tag or you would rather ask him to take down the promo banner?

I wouldn't do anything. If sportsbet.io doesn't like it, they can speak for themselves. You could notify them.

[morvillz7z]

<snip>
You could notify them.

Yeah, that was the first thing i did and was given the answer that this was not them or authorized by them.
Will link the thread to Steve if he wants to add something.

I just find it all highly unethical to use someone else's brand in order to sell a service.

[Harkorede]

miscellaneous: There's high probability Curiosity123 to be an alt of YohannHermann. If you are active in the gambling section you know who i'm talking about.

Highly probable, I'd say.

<snip>
You could notify them.

Yeah, that was the first thing i did and was given the answer that this was not them or authorized by them.
Will link the thread to Steve if he wants to add something.

I just find it all highly unethical to use someone else's brand in order to sell a service.

If they weren't selling a service it could have been a different case, a red tag and/or flag would be justified IMO, If Sportsbet reaches out to them to take it down and they refuse.

[The Cryptovator]

Is this unauthorized use of trademark to promote and sell a service deserving a negative tag or you would rather ask him to take down the promo banner?

Its seems they have changed name and copied sportsbet logo directly. Ofcourse this is copyrighted since they didn't got official permission from sportsbet. Regarding negative feedbacks depends on sportsbet. If they claim about this case then its matter of negative tag.  Since you notified sportsbet and they aware about it so we should wait for their statements here before tag.

[acroman08]

Firs of all I do not see a sportsbet logo on his thread. Can you help me find it ?
Secondly have you contacted sportsbet.io account on bitcointalk and have his view point on this ?

it's not only about the logo of sportsbet.io but about the design which is almost identical except for the name where the name of sportsbet.io should be. also, the photo provided by the OP is visible on the thread in question.

[TECSHARE]

Find a hobby.

[notblox1]

All their design and logo is clear ripoff from Sportsbet.io website.
I am not sure if they have any website of their own, but their ANN topic is full of newbie comments.

[sportsbet.io]

Hi guys,

This is a clear rip off of us, Sportsbet.io

We have no idea who these people are, or why they are so in love with us. Ill be sure to pass the flattering feedback back to our designers.

Please be very careful when entering this site... this is no doubt amateurs being lazy and just looking to rip you off.

any questions or queries, message me personally and ill respond to everyone.

regards,

Steve,
sportsbet.io
e-sportsbet.io

[LoyceV]

Please be very careful when entering this site... this is no doubt amateurs being lazy and just looking to rip you off.

I've left Curiosity123 neutral feedback with this quote, and your post as Reference.

[Timelord2067]

Is this unauthorized use of trademark to promote and sell a service deserving a negative tag or you would rather ask him to take down the promo banner?

I wouldn't do anything. If sportsbet.io doesn't like it, they can speak for themselves. You could notify them.

If  Curiosity123  added the name of the website and a blurb saying (words to the effect) "This is an example of the site I give predictions on." then the issue would be resolved - yes?

Disclaimer: I've never heared of  Curiosity123  until this thread was started.  If they are implying that sports... is their own website, or they are an affiliate then that's an entirely different issue.  The OP hasn't said there has been any claim made to that effect by  Curiosity123

...

Hope you get some resolution to this issue.

[logfiles]

Firs of all I do not see a sportsbet logo on his thread. Can you help me find it ?

Look closely on their website



Don't you see some sort similarity?

Of all possible logos and logo templates on the web, why particularly pick up sportsbet.io's logo? Moreover, their direct competitor.
It's like picking up a Mercedes-Benz logo and then putting a "Toyota" wording right next to it like demonstrated in the images below.

   

Do you think the Mercedes-Benz would just keep quiet about this? 

[nullius]

I have created Flag #1627 on #2790027 “Curiosity123”, with this post as the reference.  Please support the flag.

There is a big difference between copyright and trademark.  Please don’t confuse the two concepts.  This is an excellent catch by morvillz7z for what by definition is the very essence of trademark infringement.  On the face thereof, Curiosity123’s advertising fraudulently misleads consumers and damages the mark of sportsbet.io.

The flag is important:  This type of rip-off advertising is most likely to mislead newbies and casual users, exactly the types of people who are protected from a high risk of losing money by the Type-1 flag warning banner.  I will also red-tag the account.

If evidence is presented linking this to #1297942 “YohannHermann”, then that account (and any other alts) need flags, too.

Please look up “confusion”, “dilution”, etc. in a legal dictionary.  It is a textbook case, since sportsbet.io has made it clear that the usage is unauthorized by them.  (Full quote below for evidence.)

Though it may be arguably true that copyright is technically being infringed, the big issue hereby is misleading consumers with a familiar logo which, in turn, is thus damaged.  In the overall context, I do not even think that copyright is worth discussing.  (I now have my quasi-legalistic hat on; my principled opposition to copyright is irrelevant to the opinion that I just expressed.)

Is this unauthorized use of trademark to promote and sell a service deserving a negative tag or you would rather ask him to take down the promo banner?

If such a thing were practical here, then this would be one of the good uses for an “intellectual property” lawyer.  It is definitely worth a red-tag, and also a Type-1 flag!  It is a deliberate attempt fraudulently to mislead consumers, in a way that damages the brand of sportsbet.io by stealing their reputation.

Anybody who rips off a logo in fraudulent advertising ipso facto presents a high risk of losing money.

[...]

 

Do you think the Mercedes-Benz would just keep quiet about this?  

Excellent hypothetical illustration of the issue here.  The resulting trademark infringement lawsuit would be epic—and it would probably conclude in summary judgment for the plaintiff, since there is no way that the facts could be disputed without perjury, or frivolous litigation, or both.  Open and shut.

This would also be cause for a Type-1 flag on Toyota’s forum account; the flag could be withdrawn only if Toyota were to produce adequate evidence (such as a PGP-signed contract) showing that Mercedes-Benz had authorized this use of their mark.


Full quote for evidence that sportsbet.io has explicitly disclaimed authorization of this use of their logo (also look & feel, etc.):

Hi guys,

This is a clear rip off of us, Sportsbet.io

We have no idea who these people are, or why they are so in love with us. Ill be sure to pass the flattering feedback back to our designers.

Please be very careful when entering this site... this is no doubt amateurs being lazy and just looking to rip you off.

any questions or queries, message me personally and ill respond to everyone.

regards,

Steve,
sportsbet.io
e-sportsbet.io

[logfiles]

Flag supported on grounds that this is Trademark infringement, It's unauthorized as confirmed by the Sportsbet.io rep, totally unprofessional, and could be misleading to Newbies. This should be a lesson to them. I wouldn't care if they used 💩 as their trademark so long as there was no form of Trademark infringement.