Start-up Askpedia: IAC doesn't like our name

Just how much does Ask.com own the word "Ask?" Enough to have a problem with a question-and-answer site called "Askpedia," apparently. Representatives from the start-up Askpedia.com told CNET News.com that the search engine's parent company, InterActiveCorp, sent a cease-and-desist letter earlier this month, citing intellectual property violations in the name "Askpedia."

"(This) is likely to cause consumer confusion, particularly inasmuch as Askpedia purports to provide online informational services that are substantially similar to those provided by Ask," the letter dated March 13 reads. "In using and incorporating Ask's intellectual property in this manner, Askpedia is falsely suggesting a connection between Ask and Askpedia, and thereby misappropriating the substantial good will associated with Ask's trademarks."

IAC representatives were contacted to verify the contents of the cease-and-desist letter, but were not immediately available for comment.

Ask.com's trademark on the name was first filed April 28, 1999, when the company was still known as Ask Jeeves and had not yet been acquired by the Barry Diller-helmed IAC in 2005. These days, the search engine has been undergoing a restructuring process in order to handle its tepid market share.

The letter, signed by Edward T. Ferguson, IAC senior vice president and general counsel, and provided to CNET News.com by Askpedia representatives, goes on to request that Askpedia "cease and desist from all use of Ask's trademarks and other intellectual property, including without limitation in the name 'Askpedia' or any similar formation using the word 'ask,'" and agree not to do so in the future.

A deadline of 10 days was provided, meaning that IAC would presumably seek legal action after Sunday, March 23.

Yong Su Kim, CEO of Askpedia, which describes itself as "a knowledge marketplace for questions and answers" and awards cash prizes to the best answers, said that his small start-up has about 100,000 registered users. He sent an e-mail to CNET News.com in which he speculated that "our guess is that their lawyers have nothing better to do."

Kim continued, "Either that or they're working on a Wikipedia-like service and want the domain name and trademark."

[gsmiller88]

Ask is a generic term...

Just like Windows, but of course, with the way the TM system <br />works, IAC will win. Might as well change your name now, <br />Askpedia.

[flagg3]

They have no case,

Ignoring the obvious fact that Ask is a generic term and the term is being used on the dictionary definition - the fact that Amazon.com has openly and notoriously used the term in the exact same manner with askville.com pretty much removes IAC's rights to even make such a claim. <br /><br />They would have no legal claim to the name, and are merely hoping that the letter will scare the small site into turning the name over.

[protagonistic]

RE: Ask is a generic term...

This is not quite the same. In the Windows/Lindows case the <br />name was just too similar for MS. But, as I recall, Lindows actually <br />received some money from MS to make the case go away.<br /><br />In this case we have a company objecting to three letters in a <br />particular sequence being uses in another name. I really don't see <br />how they could win. I mean, what if an information searching site <br />wanted to use tasking in its name?

[zaznet]

IAC will win?

Ask.com filed a complaint with the IAC. The IAC will decide who "wins" in this issue. This is not exactly a matter of trademark law but a matter of the IAC rules and regulations.<br /><br />I would think Wikipedia would be more likely to request the Askpedia name be changed as the site doesn't try to duplicate Ask as much as it does Wikipedia. But again the IAC would decide that.

[ssenator]

Ask.com executives should refer to the renowned legal scholar, Groucho Marx

The executives, or at least the lawyers for the executives, at <br />ask.com should actually use their own site to look up the <br />appropriate and hilarious letter from Groucho Marx to Warner <br />Brothers when they objected to the Marx Brother's film which <br />included the named "Casablanca". Refer to: <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.chillingeffects.org/resource.cgi?ResourceID=31" target="_newWindow">http://www.chillingeffects.org/resource.cgi?ResourceID=31</a><br />or, if you want weightier reference, although less amusing, see: <br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=449341" target="_newWindow">http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=449341</a>

[microsoft slayer]

Ask should be sued itself...

What a bunch of Ask-olez...

[tamparesjr]

You mean I have to "ask" permission!

IAC and Berry Diller have lost their minds! So, what are they saying, we have to "ASK" permission when we want to use the word "ask" now! Give me a break. I didn't even think about "ask.com" when I first encountered Askpedia!

[Shaun822]

Not quite the same thing

You don't have to get permission to use the word "ask." <br />However, using "ask" in part of a domain name for a knowledge <br />based search website could cause confusion among the internet <br />population, however unlikely. You can copyright and trademark <br />commonly used words in certain instances or when written in <br />certain font, etc. because it is automatically associated with a <br />certain product or brand. One, example is a case where Hershey <br />chocolate manufacturers sued and won a case against a fashion <br />designer that created a line of clothes for breast feeding mother <br />titled "Milk Duds."<br /><br />I agree with you that when I first read "Askpedia" my first <br />thought was not Ask.com it was actually Wikipedia. But, <br />Ask.com and IAC at least have enough of a case that they will <br />get it to court and then they will use their endless bags of money <br />to just pummel the start up into submission.

[mikestatic1]

Ask.com should worry about Ask.com

The way things have gone, any court case may outlast Ask.com - they are at best a fringe service now, and that is through mismanagement of their brand. Maybe this is their way of telling the world "Yes, Ask.com really DOES still exist!"

[MNNice]

No such thing as bad publicity.

Gee...I wonder why they would start this bogus lawsuit? Maybe because it is a publicity stunt that works! I had ever heard of them before I read this article but now I have been to Askpedia.com courtesy of Ask.com providing me with a hyperlink.

[michael_o]

So, oppose the registration

They're trying to trademark the term "Ask" -- they filed for the trademark Feb 21, 2006. It appears to still be out in publication for opposition. You may consider filing a Notice of Opposition, explaining to the PTO that the word "Ask" is generic and using their CND to prove they're trying to trademark the word "Ask" rather than the logo. Here's a link to one of the the applications: <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&#38;state=7iut2g.3.74" target="_newWindow">http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&#38;state=7iut2g.3.74</a> (There are other applications but they're all essentially the same; the TLD modifier is meaningless, and they know it).<br /><br />This is part of the business sludge the USPTO seems to throw on the ability of legitimate companies to compete. Congress and the courts are beginning to clean up the patent side; they also need to focus on the trademark side. There are thousands of dot-com trademarks -- filed AFTER the domain name was registered -- that should be canceled as a group.

[bitjack]

You cannot own ideas

Owning ideas like words, know-how, etc, is a con. You can't own whats in my head. You can create governments and put people in cages and *pretend* like you own ideas; but you still can't own ideas. Not that blood-thirsty, lawsuit happy, cage-building America is much concerned about who they must hurt to keep this con going.

[togmkn]

Oh come on, don't be the whiney loser.

I gave ask credit a few months ago for being the only search engine trying to get my attention. Until Microsoft's "Live" ad campaign, Ask was the only search engine I was regularly seeing commercials and billboards for. But now? Pfft...never finding what I'm looking for AND trying to bully a fledgling website? Screw IAC!

[mcbutterbuns]

The algorithm

Maybe the algorithm told them to do it.

[Dalkorian]

I would ...

I would ask you for more details about this, but my lawyers have <br />recommended that I don't until the details of this case unfold. <br />Maybe I could question you about it though, my lawyers are still <br />mulling over that one.<br /><br />This is so ridiculous it should be on comedy central.

[NewEnglander]

a$k.com

I posted this on Webware.com. However, another reader make a comment that posts there are not cross-posted here, along the main story line. So:<br /><br />"(This) is likely to cause consumer confusion, particularly inasmuch as ..." yada yada yada Askpedia will confuse consumers? How will that happen? Oh, I see, we consumers are too stooopid to know the difference between two websites. Cut me a break. I've used ask.com every now and then. But that's over now. I never heard of askpedia until this article. I checked 'em out. So, seeing the content of both, how in your over-inflated ego-mania mind, dear Ask.com, am I, and any species above a slug, going to be 'confused insomuch as' blah blah blah. Wait, I got it ... a$k.com That's all it's ever about.