I got a letter from a French law office, representing Cafe de Flore in Paris, regarding a website I did for my friends in Costa Rica.
The text of their letter is reproduced below.
In the meantime, I did some research on Cafe de Flores, and found these:
Cafe de Flores, Heredia, Costa Rica
http://etribe.com/costa_rica/
Cafe de Flore, Paris, France
http://cafe-de-flore.com/
http://www.cafe-de-flore.com/indexa.htm
Cafe de Flore, Catania, Italy
http://www.cafedeflore.com
Antikantus Italian Theater Group
http://cafedeflore.com
Cafe de las Flores, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
http://www.flickr.com/photos/havercuse/2201053474/
Tourist Trap: Café de las flores.... not so cute and kitschy
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/9acdf/193ec1/7/
Cafe de la Flor, Tijuana, Mexico
http://moyey.blogspot.com/2006/04/cafe-de-la-flor-tijuana-mexico.html
Someone's blog
http://cafedeflores.blogspot.com/
Here's the letter, followed by my reply:
Subject: Domain name CAFEDEFLORES.COM - Ref.:F1717OPND10/FM
From: Cabinet Dreyfus & associés
Date: Mon, January 28, 2008 6:51 am
Paris, January 28, 2008
RE: Domain name
O/Ref.: F1717OPND10/FM
Dear Sirs,
We are acting as Intellectual Property Attorney on behalf of the French
Company CM CAFÉ DE FLORE, which head office is 172 Boulevard Saint Germain,
75006 PARIS. We represent this company in trademark, unfair competition and
related matters.
The Café de Flore appeared at the beginning of the third Republic, probably
in 1887. The Flore is said to be a "myth", an "institution", only reserved
to initiate clients. It represents the “French touch” so much sought-after.
Café de Flore can claim to have been the heart of the Existentialist
Movement during the early part of this century with lots of prominent
figures and others regularly meeting here.
As you may be aware, our client is the owner of numerous trademarks “CAFÉ DE
FLORE” and the mark “CAFÉ DE FLORE” is very well-known especially in the
field of restaurants services and bars. As such, the mark “CAFÉ DE FLORE” is
an extremely valuable asset that must be protected against infringement and
other misuses that dilute and weaken their scope of protection and the
favourable reputation this mark have achieved.
Our client is aware of the registration and use of the domain name
cafedeflores.com. It constitutes a registration and use in bad faith as
it could lead average consumers to think that this domain name is related to
the official website.
The registration and the use of the above mentioned domain name constitute
an infringement to the trademark act, which prohibits reproduction, use or
affixing of a mark without the authorization of the owner of the
registration.
Nevertheless, our client would be prepared to find an amicable settlement
providing that you:
- immediately cease the use of the domain name ,
- transfer amicably said domain name to our client,
- take the engagement in writing and on a letter headed paper not
to use the mark “CAFÉ DE FLORE” in the future,
- assume the costs regarding this matter.
We expect to receive confirmation of your undertaking in the next 48 hours.
Otherwise our client will have no other possibility than instituting legal
judicial or extrajudicial proceeding.
We remain at the disposal of your legal advisor.
Yours faithfully,
Nathalie DREYFUS
Cabinet Dreyfus & associés, Conseils en Propriété Industrielle
European Trademark, Patent & Design Attorneys
25 rue Louis le Grand
75002 Paris
Tel. : +33 (0)1 44 70 07 04
Fax : +33 (0)1 40 06 99 64
I replied:
Dear Natalie,
It was never my intention to defraud, mislead, or harm anyone by my
registration of cafedeflores.com.
I made the website for my friends who have a cafe in Heredia, Costa Rica,
"La Ciudad de las Flores."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heredia,_Costa_Rica
I have removed the website as of 11:30 am, Pacific Standard Time, Monday,
January 28, 2008.
I will agree to a ruling by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN) regarding this matter.
http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/uniform-rules.htm
Sincerely,
Seth Matterson