Sunday, June 17, 2012

The Writing World


The publishing world is becoming more dangerous for authors.  I belong to a Yahoo Group named Romance Books R Us.  We have a website, blog, Twitter and Facebook Account. 

The owner of Romance Books R Us started this group in 2010, but recently an author named Adele Dubois was asked to cease and desist using the name Adele by Sony Cooperation.  Sony sent a letter to Google telling them to remove all articles on Blogger by Adele because her name infringed on the singer, Adele.  Sony threatened Google with a lawsuit, so they removed her articles.  Eventually, this ended up being solved because Adele was the real name of the author, Adele Dubois. 

Another author had a series using realtor, and had to use something else because Realtor is a trademark.  I've gotten off track here, but now I'm going to tie back into the first paragraph.  Because of the lawsuits, the owner of Romance Books R Us decided she'd better trademark the name Romance Books R Us.  After applying for the trademark, she received an email from the lawyers for Baby's "R" Us and Toy's "R" Us that she had 5 days to remove her site or face the consequences of a lawsuit because R Us was their trademark. 

At this time, I'm not sure how this is going to turn out, but I'll keep you informed.  This is something that concerns anyone who has a business, and writing is a business.  It's getting late, and I just hope I'm making sense. 

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a lovely week, and I'll see you next Sunday. 

Sandra K. Marshall
http://www.amazon.com/author/sandramarshall

13 comments:

KT BISHOP said...

I always love your post!

Sandy said...

Thank you, KT. You're a sweetie.

Author GE Stills said...

Companies are so concerned about infringement these days. (insecurity?)Sheez Unfortunately it has become a sue happy world on top of everything. I think lawyers are to blame for a lot of that. (rolling eyes) deep down lawyers are good. The deeper the better.

Louise Behiel said...

amazing. simply amazing to consider how far the world has come. thanks for letting us know.

Sandy said...

LOL GE, you sound like my hubby. He doesn't like lawyers either. Thanks for stopping by.

Louise, you just can't be too careful in today's world.

Christie Craig said...

Let's just say that I can relate.

CC

Sandy said...

Oh no, CC, I hope it didn't happen to you. Thank you for coming by.

Lindsay said...

If someone can't tell the different between the Yahoo group with your name, which if I'm not mistaken you have to be invited to use, and one of the other X' Xx STORES, brick and mortar and internet then something is seriously wrong with them

Linda LaRoque said...

Seems there is something all the time. I'm so glad that things are smoothing out for Adele. Hopefully google will put everything back up.

On the R Us, I just don't know. Toys R Us is certainly not Romance R Us. People need a job, something to keep them busy so they don't have time to think up all this stuff.

Sandy said...

Thanks, Lindsay. We'll just have to wait to see what happens. We may have to change the name of Romance Books R Us.

Thanks, Linda. I think Google has put Adele's articles back up just not when they were originally posted.

As far as Toys R Us they watch for people who try to get a trademark using the R Us, which is part of their trademark. The owner of Romance Books R Us is trying to get hold of their lawyers, so we'll just have to wait to see what evolves.

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness!!! I'm speechless. Things are getting weirder and weirder. Now, how are Toys R Us going to be confused with Romance Books R Us?

Zee Monodee said...

That sounds absolutely insane! Thanks for keeping us posted, Sandy

Sandy said...

Thanks, Nat. All of us are speechless.

It is insane, Zee. You're welcome.