Shutterfly vs. Skutterfly Update
Ok, so last night I went online and found emails of Shutterfly’s top level management team, including VP of Marketing, VP Legal, CEO, and Media Relations rep. I sent them all the following letter:
Monday, December 2, 2007
To Whom It May Concern:
I recently received an email from a company, CitizenHawk Domain Recovery, claiming to be working on your behalf. In the email (included below) they demanded that I shut down my Web site and turn over to them the domain name that I legally purchased over a year ago, www.skutterfly.com. The company is accusing me of violating the AntiCyberSquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), and claim that “it is clear that [I am] trying to capitalize on [your] very strong trademark rights in the Shutterfly Mark by using a confusingly similar domain name to divert traffic to [my] site.”
We are hesitant to respond to CitizenHawk Domain Recovery directly, as we have no assurance that the email was not simply a phishing scam, and that is why I am writing to you directly.
About two years ago my wife and I had our first child. Shortly thereafter we began designing and screen printing shirts for my daughter because we were tired of being flooded with the sea of pink flowers and kittens that inevitably follows the birth of a baby girl. We wished to dress our daughter in the same alternative styles with which we had grown accustomed, so we converted the shed out back into a makeshift studio for screen printing. The first shirt design we printed for her was a cross between a skull and a butterfly, hence Skutterfly.
After that we began selling extras to friends, then on ebay, and eventually ended up creating a small online store. We hoped that the online store would made it possible for my wife to stay home with the baby, and that was our primary goal when deciding to sell shirts online under the Skutterfly name. There was no bad faith involved, which is necessary to fit the definition of cybersquatting. We never intended on piggybacking on your respected brand, and haven’t heard of a single instance of a customer or site visitor confusing our site for yours…or vice versa. We firmly believe that this is due to the fact that the design of our sites share no similarities, our products share no similarities, and our branding shares no similarities.
We humbly ask that you respect our right to run our very small business.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
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And I just got the following response: WHO-HOO!!
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The executive team of Shutterfly.com has forward your email to us. Thank
you for your attention in this manner, and quick response.
After learning about your inspiring home business, the legal team at
Shutterfly.com has decided to not continue pursuing this domain.
We hope your family and business continues to do prosper.
Best Wishes,
Domain Recovery
CitizenHawk, Inc
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