Yellowikis:News
From Yellowikis: Open Business Listings
English | Español
Yell Limited have accused Yellowikis of "Passing Off"
The largest publisher of yellow pages directories in the world have written to Paul Youlten (co-founder of Yellowikis) saying they believe Yellowikis is "plainly purporting to be associated with (Yell)" and "this amounts to a misrepresentaion... which may result in third parties associating (Yellowikis) with our client (Yell)" ... "The continued presence in the market of your website will cause substantial damage to (Yell's) good will and reputation".
These are very serious accusations.
Yell's solicitors are demanding that:
- the Yellowikis site is shut down
- control and ownership of the domain name is passed to Yell
- compensation is paid to Yell for loss of profits
- Paul and Rosa agree never to set up another competitor to Yell
Paul Youlten and Rosa Blaus (co-founders of Yellowikis) have taken legal advice in London and believe that Yell's claims, while sincerely made, are without merit.
It is going to take about £5,000 ($9,250) to fight this action - more if the case goes to court.
Yellowikis runs as a free service and it will always be free, however if Yellowikis is going to become the biggest and best business directory in the world, we know that we must start to make some money.
If we survive the challenge from Yell we will be introducing two paid-for services:
- but right now we don't have the resources to take on Yell.
The only way we can afford to fight this action is to ask for donations via PayPal. <paypal> </paypal>
- With your help Yellowikis can survive
[edit] Notes:
Tell Yell.com that you will look to resolve the issue through an alternative Dispute Resolution Service. This will save court fees if they agree.
- Passing off from [intellectual-property.gov.uk intellectual-property.gov.uk]
- Wikipedia's article on Passing off