DISQUS

Philip Wilkinson · 3 years ago

That's just ridiculous! Some corporate love-starved lawyer at Yell has tried to think of something to justify his or her overly paid existence and come up with this.

I didn't realise Yell had a trademark on the term "Yello" or the colour itself...

Rod · 3 years ago

The "Yellow Pages for the 21st Century" combined with the yellow colouring used, yellow in the name, and the fact that it is indeed a directory with similar purpose and intent probably means that this claim has merit.

Being small and independent doesn't offer you legal immunity; for instance, I can't open a corner burger & fries shop called "MacDormand's" using similar colors and appearance in logo and facility design and plead "but I'm just an solo dude!" It is infringement, as IMHO is the case in Yellowikis.

I mean, this scenario is not new to business, even if yell has handled it poorly from a PR perspective. Remember MikeRoweSoft? Businesses have an obligation to protect their trademarks; to not do so relinquishes their legal hold on a brand that they've invested in for years, and invites others to attack.

Again, Yell went about this in a clunky way (think they could have learned from MS), but if Yellowikis wanted to start a directory of anything, they should have chosen a name/brand/etc that doesn't leverage a well-known corporate trademark to communicate its brand proposition.

CT · 3 years ago

Fortunately there is nothing Yell can do about the business idea that was set up. All they need to do is change the business name, get a new URL and hopefully hold on to yellowikis URL and redirect it to the new site. I don't think they had any intent on leveraging the name/trademark of Yell, more likely they were completely ignorant of what they were doing and the infringement. If they were aware of it, they were idiots.

S4NDM4N · 3 years ago

I agree with Rod. At first I was thinking it was ridiculous but then I noticed the mention of the yellow pages itself. Again, no, Yell doesn't have a hold on the color itself or the term but Yellowikis does much more than use that. They have leveraged an established brand in their own. I personally think its crossing the line.

I believe that in advertising and promotion, an idea should stand on its own and when commercials, ads, etc use others' products to compare themselves to, it takes away from their own merit. That's my 2 cents.

Rod · 3 years ago

Well, yeah, agreed - chances are they didn't think their marketing plan through very well, or understand that "Yellow Pages" is like "Kleenex" - a word that's taken on meaning in our cultural lexicon, but that is still trademarked and protected.

Good luck to them under a new banner.

A · 3 years ago

"Yellow Pages" and even the finger logo are in the public domain here. Those trademarks expired decades ago in the United States. That means any company in the US can use such terms and imagery. A lot do. Search for "yellow pages" with Google (don't just google it).

Yell has a trademark on "Yellow Pages" in the UK. According to a whois, that's also the country of Yellowikis.org. I don't think anyone can lay claim to the actual domain name unless it's shown that some type of actual damage (financial, reputation, etc.) actually happened. There's about no chance they could prove any kind of public confusion; that'd be laughable. I hope Yellowikis has the means to consult a lawyer.

Once they get everything straight (keeping the domain names, removing anything infringing, maybe temporarily closing the site), they should do the sensible thing: set up the actual company and ownership in the USA if they have a partner they trust. Then enjoy this early holiday gift of getting this extra attention, once re-launched. I hadn't heard of Yellowikis till now.

Whatever you do, Yellowikis, don't give up the domain names. Though if you do get a new name, make the most of it: maybe some term that creates expression or antithesis with "yellow" or "yell."

A · 3 years ago

In addition to my previous comment, I do also want to say that Yell has every right to uphold their "Yellow Pages" trademark in the UK. It's not ridiculous nor frivalous for companies to protect their identities, no matter how big or small they are. Otherwise, identity does become lost and no longer unique. That's the way it works, as was clearly shown in the US for "yellow pages."

benDover · 3 years ago

Yell has taken an appropriate legal action. Let's be honest. You associate yellow and business listings with the yellow pages...which is own and operated by the plaintiff. Creating a business listing with the color and world yellow is a clear attempt at brand confusion.

maybe yell will settle for all the printed t-shirts.

Philip Wilkinson · 3 years ago

Well, here's another example - in the UK there are a lot of cheap chains of Kentucky Fried Chicken shops called "Dallas Fried Chicken" and "[insert state here] chicken" generally. Now, KFC surely would not be keen on the fried chicken copying here?

Granted, these guys should not have actually used the words "yellow pages" on the site itself. Sometimes a site that could be construed as similar is better than one which obviously is copying.

Jarhead · 3 years ago

Wikicompany http://wikicompany.org is pretty nice.

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In addition to my previous comment, I do also want to say that Yell has every right to uphold their "Yellow Pages" trademark in the UK. It's not ridiculous nor frivalous for companies to protect their identities, no matter how big or small they are. Otherwise, identity does become lost and no longer unique. That's the way it works, as was clearly shown in the US for "yellow pages."