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It comes to a question of money. How much are you willing to pay a lawyer to fight them on this? If you have a large bank account with alot of disposable income take them on otherwise it will be a long and expensive battle unfortunately.
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Greg - 3/26/2014 5:09 PM 
But do they have a leg to stand on. They trademarked the logo, not the phrase "scuba earth". I’m not using their logo. I’m using the phrase, which was in-use on DiveBuddy before PADI was using it.
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I am not sure whether they do or not but in the end it will end up costing you money as they will probably force the issue and take you to court over it. I don’t like it but that is what will most likely happen. I would not respond to them in anyway with out consulting a legal professional as admitting you received the original communication Trademark and copyright law is a sticky area and costly.
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Well you could tell them that on the forum and certs that "PADI" would not be allowed because that’s probably trade marked also and we will use "Put Another Dollar In" instead :)
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I wish you the best on this. I am not familiar with the legal part of all of this but it appears that we are good to go on this site. To be honest, the name is not important to me but the principal of it is. Good luck and keep us posted.
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I totally see your point, Greg, and we got your back. But do talk to your lawyer and take it from there. And trademark your stuff in the future, otherwise there’s no stopping them from doing stuff like that.
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I actually found your site through PADI ScubaEarth, so they are no doubt losing money and recognition. I concur with your view, but legal counsel is your best bet. Since your claim-to-fame is Divebuddy, I would die on that mountain. Maybe letting scubaearth slide is the preferred course of action. You could always go with ScubaTerra. No one has a claim on that!
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lerpy - 3/27/2014 5:09 AM
Greg I agree with your stand wholeheartedly. As you say, from the notice provided they have trademarked the symbol inclusive of the Scuba Earth part. As well the other thing I notice is that in they’re symbol the Scuba Earth is one word, ScubaEarth, whereas yours is spaced, which defines them as separate. So the argument as you and others have pointed out, are they trying to say they have a tradmake are on the words Scuba and Earth, it’a stretch, but then I am not a lawyer. It is similar to case, although Canadian, that took place here awhile back between the two big brewers here, Molson and Labbatt. Molson had a beer called Molson Dry, Labatt came out with Labatt Dry, Molson sued and lost the decion being you cannot trademark a commonly used word in the english language or something to that affect. It’s interesting, and I would wonder if they are more just trying to throw their weight around.
If you want to play games you could request that they do not use the term dive buddy on their website anywhere.
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Then again, UPS has a trademark on the color brown and Harley has a trademark on the sound of their engines. Apparently you can trademark anything nowadays. I support you and the fact that they are being foolish. You can trademark anything. The difference is they have not trademarked the term but rather the logo. I wouldn’t be surprised if trademarking the logo would be in the works at this very moment. Personally I like the name Scuba Terra. They can also sue over enfringement because of the similarities. Surprisingly enough two logos being extremely similar marketing the same product can fall under copyright enfringement.
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I like lerpy’s idea of trademarking the term divebuddy as your logo and then sending them a similar letter stating the must refrain from using that term anywhere. so they would have to reprint every book they print. Sounds like a good start to a war of copywrites
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cant you just change the name on this site?
SCUBA Spot Finder, DiveSite Map, etc?
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Change the name? For why??! The copy Greg’s work (and even flub that all up) and then expect you to stop using the very name you’ve been using from before they hijacked it?!
PADI is showing their true colors and that makes me want to distant myself from them. Thankfully, there are other organizations that I can continue my training thru. Complaint letter to PADI will be sent.
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Greg - 3/27/2014 11:39 AM
From meltonart: cant you just change the name on this site? SCUBA Spot Finder, DiveSite Map, etc? No need to change the whole site name. I own the trademark to the term "dive buddy". They just don’t like us using "scuba earth" for the name of the integrated dive map section on our site.
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Your "Scuba Earth" designation doesn’t match their trademark description, so unless they amend their description, I’d say this has been a rather empty threat. I’d sit on it and see and in the meanwhile, consult with a qualified attorney who knows this type of law as to whether you need to apply for your own trademark.
I, personally, think you have a superior product to PADI’s application and I’ll continue to log my diving experiences on this site as long as it continues to work. I hope it works out to be no big deal for you in the end. :)
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If you end up changing the name, I’d change it to the PADI lawyer’s name and Name Mark that. Then you could order their lawyer to stop using his own name!
This name branding/grabbing has been going on for many years in business (by people that lack imagination, IMHO). My friend has a cool calculating program that he allowed all his friends to use, until a lawyer demanded he stop using the ten year old name due to some companies one year old word mark.
Starbucks (COFFEE) was recently in the news after ordering a micro brewery to stop calling one of their beers (ALCOHOL) the name "Frappicino" because it could be confused with their COFFEE named "Frappuccino." The beer maker realized it would cost him too much to fight, so he now refers to the beer as "The F Word." That name change (plus the free press) got Starbucks a black eye for being a bully and $6. But it made the micro brewery famous - increasing their name and sales!
npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/12/30/258427295/the...bucks-over-beer-name
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Keep using the words separately and I doubt it will be a problem. A few years ago here in south Florida a developer sued another developer for naming a new community "Pelican Strand". The plaintiff claimed in court that he had the exclusive rights to the word "Pelican" in naming new communities since he had already built other communities named "Pelican Bay", "Pelican Marsh", etc. It didn’t work out too well for the plaintiff.
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I see it as the logo and not the words. Scuba and Earth have been around for a long time. Common words. Aren’t you PADI certified Greg? I think maybe a little media attention might be the answer.
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write them a ceases and desist letter. Tell them you have prior use predating their use. Also let them know that your membership, a great number are PADI certified will be very upset to see that PADI is trying to bullying a site.
Bad press is not something that the "Way the World Learns to Dive" needs. Facebook their letter.
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Also a letter through the "contact Us" page is not a valid form of service of a cease and desist notice.
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So, rush out, trade mark the phrase , sue PADI.
Isn’t America great!
Than again the trade mark does state "design plus words"
Seem you need a patent attorney
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Harley lost that one.
But still nothing else sounds like a Harley anyway
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A number of years ago I received an email from ebay’s legal telling me to stop using the name "Ronniebay" because it violated their trademark, (I was a small time eBay seller on the site so it was a little ridiculous). I did 5 mins of research and found another small company that was being sued by Victoria’s Secret because he was calling his small brick in mortar store "Victor’s Little Secret"... I forwarded this article to eBay’s legal time and never heard from them again. Sometimes simply finding a legal precedent and showing that to the other party is enough to make them back down. The Supreme Court actually ruled in favor of "Victor’s Little Secret" but Congress in 2006 passed the FTDRA, which essentially overturned the Supreme Court’s decision. The district court applied the new law and granted summary judgment in favor of Victoria’s Secret and issued an injunction against the use of the name Victor’s Little Secret.
Your case is a little different but I think this info might help you.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moseley_v._V_Secret_Catalogue,_Inc.
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Dutch - 3/30/2014 3:07 PM
First, did your use of Scuba Earth predate the filing date for their trademark?
Second, Is your trademark for Dive Buddy or DiveBuddy? Scour their website and books for any use of your trademark and not how often and in what type of media that appears.
Third, Do the research as mentioned by JonathanMarc82.
Fourth, sit back and relax until they actually send you a real Cease and Desist registered letter.
Lastly, Crowdsource the counting of violations of your trademark. that is what we are here for.
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Dutch - 3/30/2014 3:08 PM
Oh, and do a good search of the web for Mr "name deleted"...
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Rhian - 3/30/2014 6:17 PM
PADI can’t claim to own words. It is the symbol that is trademarked, not the word "scuba" or "earth". Anyways, in their use of it, they put the words together to form one word. Also, it isn’t like you are selling anything using the term that would be causing padi to lose money.
I think it would be silly for them to bring about a lawsuit over this.
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I agree with Rhian.
Dam, Just when I started believing in PADI again!
Q: Don’t we have lawyer’s that dive and are divebuddy’s to clear some of this up!
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Greg - 4/10/2014 5:33 AM
They have not pursued this further yet. If I ever receive anything "official" from them, I’ll be sure to put up a good defense. We were using the words first. We came up with the concept of an integrated map of the "earth" with "scuba" points of interest. We will win.
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