Shoeperwoman trademark dispute: an update

Shoeperwoman trademark dispute: an update
Posted on April 8th, 2011 by Shoeperwoman


Following on from my most recent post about the dispute we’re involved in over the “Shoeperwoman” brand, I’ve just received the following comment from Laura Blake, in which she demands that I immediately remove my post, and threatens to contact the police and have me charged with harassment if I do not. As Laura has posted her comment in the public domain, I’m sure she will not mind me reproducing it here:

“Hi Amber,

I am really disappointed to see the way that you have reacted today, and in organising an inaccurate hate campaign against me via your blog.

I think I’ve been more than willing to talk with you, and reach an amicable solution and today reached out to you to offer to bookmark and outline the points of differentiation between our sites.

You have posted a lot of misleading, inaccurate and incomplete information about me and my business on your site today and it’s been hurtful to see someone act so unprofessionally and damaging to my business and my name.

Therefore I wanted to once again reach out to you, and ask if you wanted to have a proper discussion (so we can both operate in our respective niches…I categorically did not see your site first and decide to set mine up anyway – I explained all of this to you, but think you’ve misinterpreted my comments.)

I did not set out to close you down, or take over, and registering the TM was about protecting me as a business…I would do that for any business I start, it’s the first rule of setting up a company. Seeing any form of Shoeper-Woman wasn’t already registered I didn’t think that ShoeperWoman was a serious company, I thought it was an American site, and just a bit of fun, and not a competitor as you don’t retail shoes or design them.

I would still consider talking about the linking suggestion I made earlier, a joint statement, or even tweaking my branding (or not using certain phrases if you believe they are ‘yours’) so I’m more than open to those type of discussions (or others if you have any bright ideas) but you MUST remove your earlier post about me that was slander and cyberbullying, and I also expect an apology on your site and an end to this hate campaign.

If you are not willing to do this, I’m going to speak to the police in the morning about pressing charges against you for harassment, slander, and cyber-bullying.

I’m sure this is something we could both do without right now, but as above, I’m not out to cause or do any malicious damage, so I’d appreciate the same professional courtesy.

As previous, still wish you the best with your sites and business ventures,

Laura”

I’m frankly astonished that someone would not only try to trademark my blog name, but then threaten to report me to the police for defending myself. The post below is an accurate statement of the situation I’ve found myself in and I’m confident that it contains nothing which could be construed as libel or harresment: indeed, Laura actually suggested that I publish a post clarifying the differences between our two sites, having also suggested that we issue a press release about the situation to garner publicity. I will not be responding again to Laura, as I can see little point in trying to communicate with someone who is threatening to report me to the police, but obviously she is free to take any action she feels is appropriate.

As I mentioned previously please do comment, tweet, FB, and let Amber know of your support. This must stop. You never know, it may be you next! Let's make this history!

XXX