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Autodesk sues revitforum.org

gruen

Just got this email from revitforum.org. Guess Autodesk wants to control everything REVIT, including a community of people promoting REVIT?

Geesh. Dorks. 

 

 

"Dear revitforum.org members, colleagues and friends,

Our apologies for the mass email - we try to avoid these as much as possible, but we feel it's very important that we share this news with all of our members as soon as possible.

As some of you may be aware, Autodesk, Inc., makers of Revit, have retained the law firm of Donahue Gallagher Woods to notify all domain holders that have the word REVIT contained in their top-level domain name, that they are infringing on the Autodesk REVIT trademark. They have requested that we change the domain name of revitforum.org to one that doesn't contain the the word REVIT.

We refute these claims of infringement. The use of the trademark "REVIT" in the domain name "revitforum.org" is protected by the "Nominative Fair Use" legal doctrine that provides an affirmative defense to trademark infringement as enunciated by the United States Ninth Circuit, by which a person may use the trademark of another as reference to describe the product.

The administrators of revitforum.org will formally respond to Autodesk. However, if all else fails, we want to assure you that we are prepared to move revitforum.org to a new domain if that is required.

Whether or not there is a domain name change, rest assured that the forums will continue to operate just as they do now. We retain all the data on revitforum.org - that is not in any way at risk.

We will notify you via email and on the revitforum.org website of any required domain name change ahead of time.

Also, keep updated, and feel free to comment in this thread: https://console.mxlogic.com/redir/?4syOepud7bxIsyCejod79EVdw0E-pBdSImRu00VlKpupfU_yaoVZAL7PcFKRySGn00BQaGXa70UTvAn3hOYyyODtUTsT2F2G1o5k-9DUZ7PcFKRySHM04SOC-Yrhpshp78KnhdI6zAS7llSk3h13lvd424GbdPYQg5Ph02_cOCXmbqL00jh0pFNEw46VRg-xkTfM-ub7Xa1J4Syr78FzAS7Tzo0gfgfbzxws9

Thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely,
Gordon, Ian & Klaus


p.s. if you know an attorney with the appropriate expertise who is willing to donate their time for this good cause, please feel free to contact a forum administrator privately."

 
Feb 20, 13 9:52 am
gruen

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=14224649

 

autodesk public relations. 

Feb 20, 13 10:43 am  · 
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oh COME ON! seriously? 

Feb 20, 13 11:20 am  · 
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threadkilla

this is why I laugh in interviews when it becomes clear that the employer only wants someone to man 'the autodesk stations' they put all that money into...

Feb 20, 13 1:19 pm  · 
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accesskb

evitforum.org ?

r_vitforum.org?

fuck you autodesk

Feb 20, 13 4:48 pm  · 
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zonker

Rhino by Autodesk?

Feb 20, 13 4:50 pm  · 
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ianreves

Ridiculous.

A "thanks for building our brand at no cost to us, promoting our software for free and offering non-charge tech support for its bugs, glitches and issues" would have sufficed.

Feb 20, 13 8:23 pm  · 
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gruen

Looks like it took about 24 hours for Autodesk to back down. Here's todays' messge:

 

"Dear members and friends.

We're happy to announce that Autodesk is now calling the whole domain dispute "completely unintended", and that it seems like they'll let us keep the revitforum.org domain as there appears to be nominative fair use. Common sense prevails!

We will however, have to add some minor disclaimers and tradegraphs to the forum, to fully comply with Autodesk’s trademark use guidelines. We'll be cooperating with the law firm over the next few days to ensure that it's done correctly.

Sorry to fill up everybody's inbox again, but great news are always worth sharing.

You can read the reply letter from the law firm here: https://console.mxlogic.com/redir/?hOb8VBUQsK6NOaoVdwQsCzAS02zVCkTqNrlU03BmVBVA_z-8FzDSiYvcOCXmbqFs02ngGHIE5Qmu1M6blFcsYqenzhOrLObxEVuhhpjKYrKrxkxl0I2Gv4PYuzVCkTqNrlU02rjhd7apJ5BN5xYseoudII6MijYQghYParJoJGY01d425ltB0QghZnpgEq8js_3VUIvIE6Qjq9IsyCejovudMigM5FungkI

Thank you to all our members, and thank you Autodesk for doing the right thing.

Sincerely,
Gordon, Ian & Klaus"

Feb 21, 13 9:56 am  · 
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gwharton

And Autodesk wonders why so many of us go out of our way to find non-Autodesk products to do our work on.

Feb 21, 13 3:39 pm  · 
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That's why I use Graphisoft - a friendlier, better BIM.

Feb 22, 13 1:59 pm  · 
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