Colorado | Intellectual Property
Legal Question
A friend has published a blog decrying the bad practices toward consumers and employees of a business. This business is trying to get rid of the bad publicity, and has resorted to bullying and threatening to abuse the legal system against her. One of their accusations is that her use of their business name (really, half of it) is "infringing on their common law trademark." (While they have done business under this name, they may or may not even qualify for a common law mark, but that is not the issue here.)
She is not pretending to be this company or affiliated with this company (quite the opposite, actually), nor is she competing with this company; she is warning consumers and potential employees about this company. She is also not making any kind of money doing it (she is not using any part of a mark they may or may not have "in commerce") - she is doing this as a public service. As I understand trademark law (particularly the Lanham Act - are there state statutes to worry about?), she does not seem to be "infringing" on any mark they may or may not have. It seems more like free speech to me. Does she need to worry about this bullying?
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