Question on Legal Trademark / Copyright?

Question

I have a question specific to copyright / trademark pertaining to a web site.

There is a large transportation company in my state that recently started a light rail transport train. For arguments sake we will call it xyz company. Since there are numerous stops on this I decided to purchase a web site and I called it www.xyz-stops.com My plan is to have all of the stops listed on this web site and allow businesses at each stop to advertise on my web site based on category (dining, shopping etc)

My questions is... do I violate any copyright / trademark with this web site? I did seek out to the transportation company and they right away threatened me with a lawsuit if I pursue this venture.

I actually took a ride on the train the other day and saw numerous businesses with the transport company name in there like The XYZ Cafe, XYZ Storage, XYZ Realty

Just looking for any advice.

Answer 1

Copyright protects creative works -- songs, art, stories, software, etc. -- and unless you are using images or text from XYZ company, then copyright laws are not involved.

Trademark protects right of ownership -- it ensures that only the original company can use a particular phrase or logo -- so that competitors cannot steal their good will or make counterfeit products. Because you are using the XYZ name, and specifically to refer to XYZ train stops -- you are relying on their trademark, for something that is not theirs -- and in the process, holding yourself out as being related to them. That's a potential trademark violation.

If you want to do your website -- get a written letter from XYZ saying that they are allowing you to use their name for reference purposes -- but that you are going to make it clear that you are an independent company.

That's probably what each of the other businesses also did.

Answer 2

it quite is thoroughly unlawful (surely a federal crime) for every person to accomplish willful copyright infringement for advertisement benefit or deepest monetary income (18 USC 2319 referencing 17 USC 506 offender copyright). you're able to desire to be charged for even soliciting a federal crime (i.e., offering to pay somebody to reproduction or distribute copyrighted photographs without a license). they could be watching as much as 3 years in detention center on the 1st conviction and 10 years for their 2nd (as though every person might ever make that mistake two times). All form designs containing unique works of inventive authorship are copyrighted.