Posted by amnesia
since I'm seeking legal council (and it's lucky that my Professor is legal aid to Tony Blaire) I thought I'd mention it here.
Oprah is trying to sue me.
Yep you heard it. Apparantly, there are some stupid people that go to my site thinking that it is hers.
So rather than better advertise her site, she's attempting to close mine down.
She has a US television company called Oxygen (Oxygen Media Inc)
My online company is known as Oxygen Inc.
Now she's asking that I stop using the 'term' Oxygen, mainly because I am diluting the term.
Also, as stated, the first thing that someone thinks of when they hear the word Oxygen is Oprah.
Talk about being big headed? Is that the right term?
So, now my legal advisor has told me that they have no basis to their claim since I'm in the UK, my target are UK consumers, and 4 out of 5 of my sites are non-profit.
*sighs*
Why do American's think that they can control the world, let alone the internet.
Oh and long story short, her company Oxygen Media became international in the year 2000 where mine was on online site targetted at the UK audience for income, and world-wide for non-profit, started in 1999.
For those that dont know much about my site,
I run
Oxygen X, a free site that provides resources to help modify your computer,
Oxygen Inc. the original homepage that provides information, flash animations, and other free content,
PSP-Cheats as the title says, and
You! a site that helps other sites by working as a link exchange.
oh and Oxygen Mobile, which provides mobile reviews, and the best
contract deals you'll ever find. (target audience is ONLY UK)
If anyone should sue me, it should be O2 (if I was stealing their customers, which I am not) I also checked who trademarked the term Oxygen in the UK and it's a shoe store in London.
Guess Oprah wants to own the word Oxygen now...
I also run 'The Oxygen Network' (network used as a term to show affiliation not media) which sport members such as http://www.pluslite.com, http://www.mobydock.com, http://www.aquaxp.com among others.
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Oxygen Inc|Oxygen Mobile
[ This Message was edited by: amnesia on 2005-08-23 23:11 ]
Posted by kk.226
Dam, well seeing as yours is older... YOU should sue her right back!
I just came back from states, and yes they have that kind of "We are superior" attitude, and they pretty much sue whatever moves.
Posted by Sammy_boy
Give them your facts and tell 'em to get lost! The arrogance of some people - her company seems to be acting as if they own the word 'oxygen'!
I wonder what she'd do if we all started up websites with 'oxygen' somewhere in the title?
Posted by amnesia
lol that would be great.
Oxygenesato.com
IlikeOxygen.com
OisforOpraxygen.com
Posted by happycheesecake
@amnesia
Good luck to you, mate!
Reminds me of a firm that I used to work near. Called "Trucks R Us". Guess who went after them?
Well a certain toy store lost their case as the truck company had been in business since the 1930's....
Posted by Melik
hmm, amnesia did you design these sites ?
Posted by amnesia
The Oxygen Inc site is a template from Phong.
Oxygen X was designed by myself.
I also designed Oxygen Mobile based on a mock of Hotmail Wave 11.
You! is my design.
PSP-Cheats is also my design.
Posted by Luke-the-magic-man
I dont really think she can do anything. Why should anyone relate oxygen to opera-air head??
personally I recon she should bugger off, you own the site and you bought the domain name, she doesnt own that so what can she do
[ This Message was edited by: lukebonathan on 2005-08-24 00:16 ]
Posted by ÈL ® ö B ì Ñ
Hmm dude, I recon you'll win...because A you are in the UK and B you have been around about a year longer.
But ya gotta admit, it's quite a conversation to have, "I've be sued by Opera" heehee.
Best of luck mate, let us know how you get on
Posted by Ayush
This is rather interesting! Maybe you can feature in her show? :-D
Posted by gelfen
maybe you could write to dr. phil about the problems you're having with a mad woman obsessed with bringing a frivolous law-suit against you because she thinks she owns the stuff that people breathe.
best of luck mate
Posted by SsTiTcH
Bloody Yanks taking the piss again... Damn .. Dont Yanks have anything better to do.??? Good Luck M8 Hope You Beat The Bloody Obnoxius Yank Cow in Court...
Posted by Gigs
you could also reply "I have every legal right to what I have.. however you're a buisness woman and 5 billion dollars out of yoru cartel certainly sound sbusiness like right?"
Posted by CrackerJack
I think it's her lawyers who came up with this lawsuit. Oprah is paying them a lot of money as retainer fees. To justify what they receive, they would file a lawsuit in everything and anything that they could think of. Somebody who is so busy like her, wouldn't have the time to think about this things. And, win or lose the lawyers still come out on top. They can always say that we are only doing our job of looking out for our client's interest.
Posted by JK
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Posted by Davo_169
counter sue and get a free car for all of us
Posted by JK
I want a steel grey Audi RS3!!! please..
Posted by JK
Shes an oxygen thief!!!!
Posted by Glenny
dam, she'll take all our oxygen and kill us!
Sue her right back, she copied u, and you'll get loads (ill have an ipod mini a k750 and a mini ramp (search ebay))
im only joking, unless you want to....
We'll all go to the court room and see how you get along, and maybe youll go on tv and ill say to my mates, yup hes on my amazing forum....
lots to take in there (no offence intended to anyone)
best of luck
_________________
You'd think so, but youre wrong
[ This Message was edited by: Glenny on 2005-08-24 13:34 ]
Posted by Johnex
You should sue her as* back to the getto....you are bound to win. I am sure the judge would also like to see her go down on such pathetic terms. Anyway, if you loose the case, she still can't make you take down the site. Have you ever been to mozilla.com? Read and see what it says. The owner was nice and gave the domain up, nobody took it from him.
Posted by 50Cent
maybe she could buy the rights of the name "Oxygen" from u.. for about..... 10 million
Posted by goldenface
@Amnesia
There have plenty of these suits before.
Stick to you guns and if they get too heavy then write to a Computer Mag or something, but make sure you keep a log of everything that is happening.
Didn't Microsoft lose a suit against someone not too long ago over a similar name to a website.
Jeez she has a cheek. I hope someone cuts off her Oxygen.
Next she'll be trying to sue Opera!!
Posted by amnesia
well I am consulting my tutor and professor and of course they tell me I've won in their minds.
I can't counter sue because she's started Oxygen Media in 1998, it's just the International part that she's started in 2000.
I could counter sue saying that she's stealing my customers, but if O2 or Oxygen shoes got wind of it, they might sue me
That lawyer had the nerve to send me an email which
'implied' (as all lawyers do) that I am not understanding the subject and that I have to stop using the terms Oxygen in the site AND the URL or else.
Now I can understand not using the term in the site but how the hell do you remove it from the URL?
Well this made me angry so I'm going to take this till the end. I was considering settling if they give me a good deal, but now, screw it!
Posted by batesie
you go for it amneisia. stupid americans.
i'm going to start a company called Carbon and see if anyone sues me....
Posted by joebmc
@batesie
Your get sued buy apple
www.carbon.com
Posted by ADT0079
Im sure you have the money to fight it till the end. Stupid brits.get over it.
Posted by amnesia
why are you sure that I have the money to fight till the end?
To be sure you'd need to know me... you'd also need to know what legal fee's could cost.
I'm just a law student. I run a business with mega low prices, and because I do that, i get very very low profit.
And why are the Brits stupid? You didn't say? Is it because we dont sue anything that moves?
Look at where it says you are from in your profile... capitalist terrorists, now THAT is stupid.
Posted by goldenface
@ADT0079. Why have you not been posting in the American thread? Support your fellow men :-)
Posted by ADT0079
@ AM i was being sarcastic As i know there is a good chance that you do not have the kinda money it would take to fight something like that......Stupid Brits ,Meaning you are crying over something pity that will likely not go anywhere And that reading through the post i see alot of posters responding With Stupid Americans Americans think there better than everyone else....see you are taking one person Oprah and judging every other american because of her.......The Majority of your news you see on american life is the Minority of America..............Can i say that because the british cops killed an unarmed Man by way of Seven Bullets to the head because they thought he was a terrorist or that the Uk will Deport any person that preaches hate ,Should i judge you all to be hot headed trigger happy Mindless idiots.....No therefore you should think before posting Stupid Crap like that.........
Not Being Sarcastic ---Hope everying works out and you can keep your site which is a great possiblty,,,,They are trying to Strong Arm you and when they see that your not backing down then will probably
give up........
[ This Message was edited by: ADT0079 on 2005-08-24 22:21 ]
[ This Message was edited by: ADT0079 on 2005-08-24 22:23 ]
Posted by Sir-SonyEricsson-man
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And you mean??
Posted by ADT0079
Sorry Double Tapped
Posted by amnesia
i didn't realize you were being sarcastic.
I personally dont say that American's think they are better than us by suing everything because of one person, but I use alot of the past experiences that led me to that conclusion, as I'm sure other people have to.
If it is those minorities that we so commonly confuse with the rest, then why dont the majority do something to stop it?
regardless,
I wonder what will happen if I send Oprah an email, will she help out
Posted by maddav
I think we all know what to do in this situation:
Counter-Suit!!
_________________
Check out my ebay auctions
[ This Message was edited by: maddav on 2005-08-25 01:19 ]
Posted by JK
Oprah's a very powerful woman!! Dont forget that!!
+ that angel/oxygen network help raise funds for lotsa charities!!!
If it was a pron site you might win, but its not so becareful!!
Posted by maddav
he could always turn it into a pron site!
Posted by N56
Why is Oprah such a powerful woman - because of her money?
Posted by maddav
Her name = influence, everyone knows about her, that and money gives her a lot of space to push people around and satisfy her ever inflating ego.
Posted by gelfen
maybe if you turned it into a publicity/media circus her lawyers would start to back off.
Posted by amnesia
if I lose, I'll definately make a story of this,
Call a tabloid and do something like
"*sniffles*
And... and then Oprah took my website away
*hugs teddy bear*
my dad says that Oprah is THE ANTI-CHRIST, SCUM OF THE EARTH COMMON *rob zombie tune starts*
Posted by gelfen
ok, but if you make a story of it now then you might scare 'em off with the bad PR and they'll try to settle - and maybe you can make some cash from an exclusive "how oprah tried to ruin my life" article in a women's magazine.
_________________
Whomsoever you see in distress, recognize in him a fellow man
Gelfen's special place where nobody talks to him anymore
[ This Message was edited by: gelfen on 2005-08-26 05:13 ]
Posted by carkitter
Lawyers always try to imtimidate you into caving in, especially if supported by a large multinational company. Make sure you have a strong position and good advice.
Remember these lawyers have to justify thier exorbitant salaries with professional behaviour - Imagine being responsible for Oprah recieving bad press affecting her Image or ability to attract advertisers for her show. It would pay to turn the pressure onto her lawyers, making them nervous about the damage thier client could face. Show them they have more to lose than you. Research this Law firm and see if they have lost any high profile cases recently, or if there is any precedent for your position in the States or UK.
They are relying on you worring about the high cost of a long drawn- out court case but this could work in your favour. The media interest would give you tonnes of free advertising and may boost you sales, especially amongst anti-American people of which there seems to be alot. You could appeal for donations on your site, or run an Oprah poll which would be potentially embarressing for her too.
Good Luck,
carkitter
_________________
The Official Rugby Topic
[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2005-08-26 15:33 ]
Posted by nitesh
@oxygen(amnesia). Can i sell this story?! :d ..
Posted by whistla
You should sell your story to every newspaper in the uk, computer magazines, and takeabreak! (Thats a womans magazine that buy crappy stories, not that urs is!)
Posted by amnesia
i am seriously thinking about selling this story.
But I have to wait and see what happens first.
Posted by ADT0079
BLOGS BLOGS BLOGS some1 will pick it up
Posted by amnesia
what do you mean by that?
Posted by mustafabay
To start a blog about it. A story in the papers plus a link to your blog on the subject would be even better.
Posted by amnesia
oh well I've already written it in my blog.
Posted by REO
@ Amnesia
Yes, it is true that americans are lawsuit happy people. I am an american and can tell you that our court system is innundated with foolish lawsuits. Personally I don't like her nor her show.
@ Sstitch WHY REFER TO AMERICANS, AS BLOODY YANKEES?
We are not all the same, you are an ignorant individual. Grow up !!!
Posted by SsTiTcH
@ Reo .. Because its more polite than what i could say about bloody yanks having had the misfortune of residing there for 5 years due to business.. and from what i saw im not impressed . contrary to what you yanks think the world doesnt revolve around you yanks .. and before telling others to grow up take a good hard look at yourselves .. ie the crime problems , drug problems , hypocrisy , no espct for anyone or anything , no honour , meddling in affairs of nations where youve no bloody business being ie illegal military actions in afghanistan and iraq .. its also the only country ive had to wear body armor in when there on business. i could go on but ive better things to do than try and explain to a colonial why yanks are such a bloody nuisance.