Trademark Policy

What this policy covers

This policy explains what to do if you believe an account on BranchBeat uses your trademark in a way that misleads people about who they are dealing with. It covers usernames, display names, profile pictures and profile text. It does not cover copyright, which is handled under the DMCA process in our Terms of Service.

A matching name is not by itself a violation

An account whose username happens to match a registered trademark is not necessarily breaking this policy. Trademarks protect a name for particular goods and services, not everywhere at once. Somebody using a word that has nothing to do with what your mark was registered for is not infringing it, and neither is somebody who shares a name with your brand by coincidence.

What we act on is confusion. If an account presents itself as your company, suggests an endorsement or affiliation that does not exist, or is set up so that a reasonable person would think they were dealing with you, that is what this policy is for. We also take into account fair uses of a mark, including commentary, criticism, review and comparison.

Who can file a report

The owner of the trademark, or somebody authorised to act for the owner. We normally require a registered mark and its registration number. If your mark is not registered, for example because you are a government body or a non-profit, tell us and include enough detail for us to confirm who you are and what you are claiming.

How to file a report

Email support@branchbeat.com with Trademark Report in the subject line. Send it from an address at your company's own domain where possible, since that helps us confirm you are who you say you are. Include all of the following, because a report missing any of it cannot be acted on and we will have to write back and ask:

• The username of the account you are reporting
• Your name and title, and the company you represent
• Your company website
• Your company's BranchBeat account, if it has one
• The trademarked word, phrase or symbol at issue
• The trademark registration number
• The office the mark is registered with, for example the USPTO
• A description of the confusion, saying specifically what the account is doing that would lead people to believe it is you, or how it dilutes or tarnishes your mark
• What you are asking us to do, for example removing the account or releasing the username to your existing company account
• This statement: I have a good faith belief that use of the trademark described above is not authorized by the trademark owner, or its agent, or the law. I have taken nominative and other fair uses into consideration.
• This statement: I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this notification is accurate and that I am the trademark owner, or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
• Your physical or electronic signature

What happens after you file

We acknowledge your report by email and give it a reference number. We then review it ourselves and decide whether the account is likely to confuse people about your brand. We are not a court and we do not decide who owns a trademark; what we decide is whether the account breaks this policy.

Where an account is clearly set up to pass itself off as somebody else, we suspend it and tell the account holder why. Where an account appears to cause confusion but is not deliberately impersonating anyone, we contact the account holder and give them a chance to put it right.

If we uphold a report against your account

We email the address on your account explaining what was claimed, who claimed it, and what we decided. You then have 48 hours to choose a new username yourself. Nothing else about your account changes, and nothing is deleted.

If you believe the report is wrong, reply to that email inside the 48 hours and tell us why. We will look again before doing anything further. Telling us your side of it is not a formality and it does change outcomes, particularly where the mark covers goods or services unrelated to what you use the name for.

If the 48 hours pass with no reply and no change, we assign your account a temporary username so the disputed one can be released. Your account keeps working, and you can change that temporary username to anything available straight away, with no waiting period. You will be emailed the temporary username when it is assigned.

What we will not do

• Release a username to you because you registered a mark matching it, absent any confusion. Usernames are first come, first served and are not reserved.
• Decide a trademark dispute between two parties who both have a claim to a name. If that is the situation, resolve it between yourselves or through a court, and we will act on a court order.
• Pass messages between you and the account holder, or give either of you the other's contact details.
• Act on a report that omits the required information or the sworn statements above.

Reports made in bad faith

The statements we ask for are made under penalty of perjury. Filing a report you know to be false, or using this process to take a username from somebody who is entitled to use it, may itself be unlawful and may cost you access to BranchBeat.

Related pages

How usernames work, including the 48-hour hold and the 30-day waiting period, is described in Username Changes. Your rights and ours are set out in the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy.