§ ¶"Word mark," again
While not yet resolved, the situation with the word mark in Germany becomes stranger. (part 1, part 2)
First, Mr. Kliemen sent a response back to the letter sent by a lawyer on my behalf. In it, he restates that he believes himself to be the rightful owner of the mark, due to having registered it, regardless of prior use. He also states that there is no conflict with me since I am in the USA and the mark is German. (Threatening my users changes that.) More strangely, however, he then offers to license it freely to me, as long he retains the mark -- an offer of dubious worth which I have refused -- and then proceeds to accuse my lawyer of acting without authorization and of attempted fraud. Mr. Kliemen will be surprised to learn soon that Mrs. Stumpf has signed correspondence from me authorizing her actions.
Incidentally, in case there is still doubt, Mrs. Stumpf has advised that anyone having received a warning letter in this regard should not pay Mr. Kliemen. I apologize to everyone for not offering such reassurances earlier. This is, of course, not official legal advice and anyone involved should discuss this with his own lawyer, but I have not heard a lawyer recommend otherwise.
Second, in the previous post, someone noted that the German Patent and Trademark office online database now lists the VIRTUALDUB word mark as having an opposition motion in progress. This confused me somewhat, as I had just started preparing for my own challenge on bad-faith grounds. Well, I asked Mrs. Stumpf to look into the matter -- the automated translation of the notice certainly wasn't any clearer to me -- and it turns out that the cancellation request was filed by the Office itself! Apparently, the Examiner received over a hundred complaints and has directly started a cancellation motion. More information is supposed to be forthcoming in about three months, but this is good news. In the meantime, I am preparing for possibly filing for a preliminary injunction against Mr. Kliemen to prevent him from sending any more warnings.
So, it looks like a resolution to this issue will be coming soon. I hope this news is of some relief to those who have been directly affected by Mr. Kliemen's actions.