In legal terms, how would you call someone who steals customers by using your business name?
by Author on Saturday, July 31st, 2010 | 3 Comments
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That would be trademark infringement and passing off. Contact a lawyer.
Edit:
It does not matter that you had an agreement with the company. Your agreement does not give ServiceMagic the right to direct business that is looking for your name to itself. That is illegal and they need to stop it right away and pay for the lost business.
As far as I know, this is not illegal. I have dealt with ServiceMagic before. Call them and tell them to completely remove your profile, company name and any other information from their website. You must provide them reasonable time to do so, usually no more than 3 business days.
Send them an email as their legal, written notice to remove any information regarding your business completely from their website.
IF they don’t comply, THEN begin seeking the advice of an attorney, who will probably just send them a letter requesting they remove your business information (name) from their website immediately.
GOOD LUCK! the internet is a strange world.
p.s. the reason it’s not trademark infringement in this case is because you agreed to their terms at some point before your profile was created. i know, because i have worked with them before. just email them and call them and they will remove your profile.
They lost the right to use your name when you terminated, so you should mention that to them when you call to get it stopped. Give them the name of your lawyer if they don’t seem to understand what you want.