threatening letter regarding the use of the word "Entreprene

[ChrisGreaves]

http://www.tvemagazine.com/(Not one of my sites)

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What does one do when one receives a threatening letter regarding the use of the word "Entrepreneur"?
I am puzzled because I am an Entrepreneur, I meet with Entrepreneurs, we discuss Entrepreneurism(?) and many of us, quite naturally, use the word Entrepreneur on our various web pages, blogs etc.

[Goshute]

This kind of copyrighting of common terms is offensive. Legal counsel should advise, but because it's a commonly used business term, it can be argued that it can't be commandeered. (I wonder, do Fortune magazine, Soldier of Fortune magazine, and Wheel of Fortune television show periodically threaten each other with infringement suits? Perhaps I should trademark the word "interface".)

You could also determine if the entrepreneur.com name predates the virtualentrepreneur magazine. And either way make them buy the rights to the name or threaten a suit (just don't pursue very far if you'll lose).

And Virtual Professional sounds like a reasonable alternative.

[John Gray]

Sadly it seems that a previous President of the US didn't say that "The problem with the French is that they have no word for entrepreneur..."

[John Gray]

What does one do when one receives a threatening letter regarding the use of the word "Entrepreneur"?

Refer them to the dictionary?

[ChrisGreaves]

This kind of copyrighting of common terms is offensive.

I think so too. I often post here and include a trademark^(TM) symbol^(TM) against any sort of word that I think I'd like to lay claim to, just to poke fun at the lawyers^(TM).
It is hard to imagine a court^(TM) upholding any such claim against a word in a common dictionary^(TM).
I have a pal here in Toronto^(TM) who received a threatening letter^(TM) from Australia^(TM). Pal's sister is/was a lawyer. End result, acting on her advice, my pal dropped his web site, lost the impact of the print-advertising he had done over the years, the goodwill^(TM), the work building the web site etc. etc.

I rather suspect this sort of thing is a shakedown^(TM), a mechanism^(TM) whereby a lawyer can shake $^(TM)1,000 out of each person and make a handy profit just by threats.

(edited^(TM) to lay down a few more trademarks)

[ChrisGreaves]

Sadly it seems that a previous President of the US didn't say that "The problem with the French is that they have no word for entrepreneur..."

He should have used a Synanym^(TM).
(I was going to say Sinnamon, but I thought that noone would get the bun)

[ChrisGreaves]

This kind of copyrighting of common terms is offensive.

So, then is Rupert Murdoch!