Kevlar Killers get sued

Posted by alpha at 12:34 24/12/2001.

It seems that the Christmas spirit doesn't stretch as far as certain corporate offices, as Wireplay clan Kevlar Killers were recently threatened with legal action for using the registered trademark "Kevlar" in their name. Clan host Wildwayz (who owns the domain name kevlar-killers.com) received this letter from DuPont, the company behind Kevlar bullet-proof vests. It basically says "you don't have permission to use our name, you have three weeks to remove it or face legal preceedings".

The clan's website doesn't mention Kevlar at all, let alone defame their products in any way. DuPont's own trademark regulations state that:

"The DuPont Oval logo, DuPont™, The miracles of science™ and all products denoted with™ or ® are trademarks or registered trademarks of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. DuPont trademarks may not be used in connection with any product or service that is not a DuPont product or service."

So where's the problem here? The clan isn't offering any sort of service, and in a way their name is free advertising for Kevlar. Clearly a small non-sponsored Counter-Strike clan cannot afford a legal battle with a large corporation, so it looks like the bully-boy tactics will win out and [KK] will have to change their clan name (and register a new domain name), losing a piece of their two year history.

Comments

	alpha Da boss Inspired Gaming 12:39 24/12/2001	Seems this isn't the first time it's happened either - apparently the same thing happened to an old FTP program called Kevlar FTP, which had to be renamed after the legal department objected. More info on that story at http://dpsftp.sourceforge.net/about.html [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	WildWayz 12:56 24/12/2001	Yep - I have emailed the creator of Kevlar FTP and he said it was a no win situation - although, he was making a product based on the name Kevlar so he would be under fire more than us. This is the last email I got from DuPont Dear Mr. Kapherr, We require that you remove all references to the KEVLAR® trademark from your website and domain name. DuPont's trademarks are not related with any of your activites and cannot be used by you in any way. Thank you, Anne Chabane DUPONT LEGAL --James aka WildWayz.KK [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	c0zen 15:39 24/12/2001	Guess it shows what muppets these companies are..... Kevlar Killers been around and respekted for ages, aint been a problem in those 2 years, so why now. And in any case its free advertising innit! pffft ghey!! [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	Krondor 16:14 24/12/2001	Can u not slightly change the spelling of kevlar, how childish that a large corporation like this has nothing better to do than this. [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	ryano theb0g 16:22 24/12/2001	can u not make it k3vlar killers or something very similar [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	b1az0r 18:03 24/12/2001	k3vlar kill3rs ................. [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	.Xi 18:22 24/12/2001	yea have something like that. do it towards the end of the 3 week period they gave u then mebbe you can have k3vlar for another 3 weeks. then go to k3vl4r hehe r0x0r [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	Blitz Editor UKTerrorist 18:30 24/12/2001	If it's possible, I'd definitely recommend changing to something very similar....just to show them that that's a bad way to go about business. I remember a similar story with some dutch/german (perhaps something else) clan that was named after a brand of beer. The beer company asked them to remove it (politely) and also gave them crates of free beer in return....now that sounds like a deal! [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	WildWayz 18:49 24/12/2001	heehee wouldn't it be ace to be given free Kevlar Armour for free? We might register k3vlar-kill3rz.com or kavler-killers.com - but we are holding out - they aren't gonna get us to change it straight away. Shame The Register are not interested in running articles on it. Also, the company I work for is a distributer of their chemicals in the UK too - might see if they know the woman in the legal department and sweet talk them around. --James [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	Blitz Editor UKTerrorist 18:59 24/12/2001	Best of luck with whatever you do...if they don't let you keep it, a subtle change is sure to p*ss them off at least hehe. [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	Myers Saviour of UKT UKTerrorist 20:52 24/12/2001	It would be an interesting situation to call their bluff though wouldn't it?. I can't really see any legal action simply because of a result of a cs clan...i mean..who gives a s***?. I reckon they're just bluffing :D [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	.Xi 20:59 24/12/2001	yea same here lol if its not though ;/ [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	Krondor 21:42 24/12/2001	Don't let the B@stards grind u down..! [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	Sarge 00:29 25/12/2001	Seems bloody ridiculous that a company that is obviously quite well known, resorts to threatening legal action against a group of people that play a game because of the word Kevlar......... change it to something extremly similar just to p*** them off [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	.Xi 03:33 25/12/2001	my favourite is kelvar, then k3vlar :) have nice xmas all :+) [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	h3i 20:49 25/12/2001	k3vlar-big_m4c-h00ver-s0ny-wilkins0n_sw0rd-sc0tch_t4pe-d3ll-micros0ft-4rmani-kill0rs.com sounds good to me <john virgo> win as-many law suits as ya can <john virgo/> [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	ALI_G 23:36 25/12/2001	lol, i like that suggestion there must be a cs player out there who's fked alley mcbeal.....come on... [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	Moof 08:06 26/12/2001	It had been a long time since anything on the internet made me "lol", thanks very much. [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]
	Kensi 12:45 26/12/2001	actually, if you say Kelvar fast enough it sounds exactly like Kevlar ! [ Comment: Report \| IP: Logged ]

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Kevlar Killers get sued

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