Evil Controllers trying to change the industry as we know it.

modded matt

modded matt

Active Member
received this email from the dudes over at Controller Chaos today... Pretty damn important, we need your help. Read below... i'll keep yall in the loop.

READ:

Hello Modding Companies,

This is an email to inform all the mod shops that our friends over at Evil Controllers are trying to be very evil to the modding industry. If you're not aware Evil Controllers has recently been in action with the USPTO.gov in regards to trademarking the term "Rapid Fire".

As most of you know we all use this term very regularly on our websites. If they are granted the trademark we are all in the line of fire to be asked to remove the term "Rapid Fire" from our websites. If the mark is not removed it could be taken to litigation by Evil Controllers should they choose to pursue it. If the court finds the defendant guilty of the claim you could be held accountable for any and all damages to Evil Controllers.

Evil Controllers is taking a very shady approach to become the top seller of modded controllers. Trademarking terms like jitter, drop shot, rapid fire, master mod, mod, ring of light, and fast reload.

All these terms are generic terms and they have no right to owning them. Evil Controllers was not the first in commerce to use these terms as they claim. Now they are trying to stiff arm other companies out of business by trademarking terms that truly don't belong to anyone.

If you would like to help stop them from obtaining the mark "rapid fire" we all can band together and file a opposition/cancellation with the USPTO. By doing this we can settle the matter by allowing all included parties concurrent use of the mark "rapid fire". If your interested in banding together please reply to this email and let me know. Once we know which parties are interested we can then assess the next step to move forward with this process.

If your not interested in working together there is no pressure. We still wanted to share this information with all the other companies because we feel it is a very unfair tactic that Evil Controllers is trying to use. If your interested in talking with your attorney about this situation please feel free to do so and any information you find out can help us all beat them!

USPTO Trademark Link: Rapid Fire


Best Regards,
Controller Chaos Team
 
odingalt

odingalt

Well-Known Member
Staff member
For you legal buffs out there...

ImageAgentProxy

Word MarkRAPID FIRE
Goods and ServicesIC 042. US 100 101. G & S: Designing and modifying player-operated electronic controllers for electronic video game machines for others. FIRST USE: 20070807. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20140212
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code(4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number77982849
Filing DateMarch 18, 2010
Current Basis1A
Original Filing Basis1A
Date Amended to Current RegisterFebruary 12, 2014
Owner(APPLICANT) Evil Controllers, L.L.C. LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ARIZONA 1835 E. 6th Street, #22 Tempe ARIZONA 85281
Attorney of RecordJohn S. Lopez
Type of MarkSERVICE MARK
RegisterSUPPLEMENTA
 
odingalt

odingalt

Well-Known Member
Staff member
So I have read this from beginning to end. For you legal buffs...

http://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn77982849&docId=ROA20140213183111#docIndex=9&page=1

Here's the short version. Evil filed for a trademark in 2010. The USPTO attorney assigned to review their application has shot it down multiple times. In early 2014 Evil fired their old lawyer and hired a new lawyer. The new lawyer is aiming low and just trying to get Evil to be able to get rapid fire registered on the "Supplemental Register". What happens if Evil gets the term Rapid Fire registered on the Supplemental Register? Nothing:

"...Registration on the Supplemental Register does not confer any additional rights on the owner of the registration beyond those provided by common law for the mark (if any). Registrations on the Supplemental Register are not subject to opposition proceedings, but they may be canceled at any time by a third party through a court proceeding or through a cancellation proceeding in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Owners of the registrations on the Supplemental Register are still permitted to sue for trademark infringement based upon their common law rights (if any), but must prove that the registered term actually functions as mark. Unlike a mark registered on the Principal Register, the Supplemental Registration provides no evidence of trademark rights in the registered term in a court proceeding."

In other words, nothing really happens if they get on the Supplemental Register, they'd still have to sue each and every mod shop and they'd have a huge burden in court to prove that their supplemental registration carries any weight. What you want is to get your term on the big kahuna whcih is the Principal Register.

We'll be keeping an eye on this, but for now it looks like Evil is just wasting time and money and feeding their lawyers. Even if the trademark "Rapid fire" is added to either register, we can still file an opposition or cancellation to get it removed.

I don't read legal mumbo jumbo so good since I have no background in law, but unless the USPTO makes a mistake it should continue to shoot down this application as I have not seen Evil file any specimens (evidence) that would make the USPTO change their mind.
 
odingalt

odingalt

Well-Known Member
Staff member
They may be trying to register other trade marks but I'm not following those others as closely. I believe jitter, fast reload, and master mod are among other terms they are trying to get registered.
 
JIM WALKER

JIM WALKER

Active Member
What's the is the matter with people, sadly, gone are the days when a shaken hand to an agreement was a solid oath, now people will sue for the slightest reason, laws are changed, rules are bent, just to accommodate greed and control over others.... This ploy from EVIL controllers is ridiculous, they are borderline to hijacking and claiming a piece of what is essentially, "language", therefor this app should fail at the first step .... I still believe in "my word is my bond" as do many people, sadly, we have allowed the lawyers and legal profession (particularly the corporate kind) to undermine that natural instinct, by feeding us a "greed pill" !!!!!!!!!!!! ... Tirade over .... I am off to never never land to see the wizard hahahahahahahahahah ...
 
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