§ ¶Preliminary injunction granted against Mr. Kliemen in regard to German word mark VIRTUALDUB
I have some good news to report with regard to the word mark issue in Germany. I have actually known about this for several days, but was unable to disclose it publicly until successful delivery of the legal notice.
(Previous posts on this subject: part 1, part 2, part 3)
In response to a request filed on my behalf, a regional court judge in Stuttgart, Germany has granted a preliminary injunction against Mr. Raimar Kliemen prohibiting him from (a) using the trademark VIRTUALDUB in conjunction with computer software, or (b) sending warning letters to third parties with regard to my software program VirtualDub or links to its associated web sites. He is also liable for costs involved in obtaining this injunction.
For those who want to see the actual ruling (in German): Download scanned copy of decision (part 1), (part 2).
The issue is not completely resolved at this point; Mr. Kliemen can contest the decision, in which case I would be liable for costs should I lose (Germany has a sort of "loser pays" legal system). However, I believe this to be a remote possibility, given that the mark is currently in the process of being cancelled on initiative of the German Patent and Trademark Office itself.
I hope this will be of assurance to all VirtualDub users in Germany, and particularly those who have unfortunately been affected by Mr. Kliemen's actions.
Comments
Comments posted:
Great news!
Sidenote: Do not publish Raimar's postal address (it's in that PDF). ;)
anonymous coward - 06 10 06 - 07:06
yeah... you might want to redact the addresses and repost it. It has both you address and Raimar's.
Coderjoe - 06 10 06 - 12:06
I'd imagine since this is an official court document, its accessable to public record anyway.
Regardless, great news.
With the increasing grey area of internet ownership, we need to be vigilant against these types of people who would try and profit from other people's work.
Matariel - 06 10 06 - 16:22
The address in that document is the one that's already on public record as the contact address for the mark, but I went ahead and blacked it out anyway, as it's not my intent to cause Mr. Kliemen trouble by posting this. (Didn't know you could copy-and-paste images verbatim out of scanned PDFs -- wonderful since I dislike PDF.) As for my address, well, that was already available if you knew where to look.
Those of you who go the PDF with my address now know where to send bribes^H^H^Hgifts.
Phaeron - 06 10 06 - 23:41
congrats :D way to go....
Saulo Benigno - 08 10 06 - 16:12
Congratulations, very nice! So you actually had a trademark on 'virtualdub'? The text in the ruling mentions something like that.
niko (link) - 10 10 06 - 10:11
Yess, VERY GREAT news!!! Congrats Avery!
Best regards
Frettt
Frettt (link) - 10 10 06 - 16:06
This really makes my day! Congratulations!
Roger - 11 10 06 - 10:58
Avery, way to follow through with this. It's just too bad it ate so much of your time. Either way, score one for the good guys.
steve - 11 10 06 - 16:18
(Off topic comment) The comments count bugs : it says "%num% comments" ;-)
Anyway, great news !
keger - 29 10 06 - 23:04
Congrats Avery!
Do you also put in YOUR 'Time and Material' costs for the time and effort you have to apply to just this case alone? 'Loser pays fees' is just not good enuf. Who pays for YOUR troubles? YOUR headaches and initial anxieties? What is your hourly/daily work rate? I hope you cost them ALL in and claim that against the other guy.
This is ONE big thing that shows the ugly side of Capitalism. How I hate this. Now, who's gonna start patenting the clean water I'm currently drinking...
XEQ.
XEQtor - 05 11 06 - 12:42
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