Discussion:
I am in Arizona and have a user ID on ebay. I have been contacted by someone today that said he has registered that trade name and has order me to cease and disist from doing 'business' under the name.
Can a User ID be considered doing business and is this honestly an infringement of his registered trade name.
Any info you can give me would be appreciated.
Also, what info / proof is he required to give me when ordering me to cease and disist? I have received a couple of emails from him, but he will not tell me what state his business is in, if he does inter-state stransactions and he will not give me any information/show me a copy of his trade name certificate.
Answer:
Can a User ID be considered doing business and is this honestly an infringement of his registered trade name. Yes and maybe. To know if there is infringement will require a lot more facts than you have here.
Also, what info / proof is he required to give me when ordering me to cease and disist? Well, he doesn't have to give you any proof to order you to "cease and desist" -- on the other hand, you don't have to "cease and desist" either. If he thinks he's got a strong enough case, and you refuse to cease and desist, then he will sue you, and that's where the proof (or not) will come out.
I have received a couple of emails from him, but he will not tell me what state his business is in, if he does inter-state stransactions and he will not give me any information/show me a copy of his trade name certificate. See above. If he has a federally-registered mark, then you should be able to do a search at and find out if he has a mark and what the status of the mark is.
If he doesn't have a federally-registered mark, or if your use of your username predates the registration of the mark, then simply ignore him, and take the appropriate actions if and when he tries to sue you. But until then, just ignore him.
One caveat -- if he does have a federally-registered mark, and the registration predates the earliest use of yours (that you can prove), then you are probably better off changing your name to something else -- if he has a federally-registered mark, sends a cease-and-desist, and you continue to infringe, the penalties could be still.