DisLive.com Shut Down

[jsoren11]

devil's advocate here, if you have ever been on that site, you can totally see a resemblance to the "offended" site. I totally thought there was some sort of partnership going on between the two entities. Im admittedly new at the blogging and chatting world, but I honestly could see an almost identical design between the two home pages. the login screen and so on and so forth....
If Dislive is designing almost identical pages, with just a few color differences and such, but they choose to do business with corps that the offended party does not, it could shine poorly on a company and site that has worked hard to maintain a sort of higher standard in who they represent as a public site.

If you DISagree with my statement, im sorry, just throwin my two cents in, but you have to admit, Pete seems to really take the quality of adverts on his site seriously. If they start to get hit with crap from a random copy cat like Dislive, (no matter how fun it was to watch sorcerermickey's live vids) you know it has to hurt the boards a little bit..

 

[CPT Tripss]

I don't see any similarity (other than Disney) between the two sites.

The site owners don't seem to have any problem with advertisers that claim to be BBB affiliated when they are not.

 

[andrewilley]

I honestly could see an almost identical design between the two home pages. the login screen and so on and so forth....

Any similarities in look and feel (e.g. login screens, basic message layout, etc) are solely down to the vBulletin software which both sites (and thousands of others) use to manage their messagebases. Otherwise, there is nothing to indicate that DisLive is attempting to usurp users into thinking that they are on another site - even the color palette is totally opposite!

Should sites such as www.dis.dk, www.disdubai.ae, www.dis-corp.com, www.dis-locate.net, www.dis.cc, www.dis.waw.pl also be shut down under the same argument, by the way? Or worst of all, www.distrips.net (which is another Disney-specialist travel agent).

In a spirit of generosity (hey, I'm a born optimist) I do wonder whether this may have been instigated by over-zealous lawyers, rather than by the actual operators of the "offended site". I really do hope so, as otherwise they have just lost a heck of a lot of respect from their userbase.

There are times to talk and times to send in the artillery - and this would appear to be very much in the former category.

Finally, thank you to the moderators here for allowing this discussion to take place, it's nice to see that freedom of speech and expression is alive and well over there in the USA - even if some lawyers might appear to think otherwise.

Andre

 

[Cinders Mum]

to my mind someone made a kneejerk reaction to this and the consequences are far reaching, and in my opinion, shows a real level of arrogance that one company can own the rights to 3 letters... it is rediculous.

Unfortunately there have been and I believe will continue to be times when decisions made here with a hot head on rather than with calm rational process.

I wait with anticipation that i will be proved wrong, but I ain't holding my breath.

 

[Tink rules]

Gee... nobody seems to have noticed that it happened about a week after one of the people went through the MK with a laptop???

I enjoyed the videos...

Considering the info that Disney itself puts out is crap, I think the other sites, including this one only help Disney if it is done in good taste.

Disney wouldn't have as many fans without sites like this for people to share their love of Disney...

 

[andrewilley]

Disney wouldn't have as many fans without sites like this for people to share their love of Disney...

To clarify, it is not DISney that have objected, it is another fan site which also uses those same first three letters... perhaps their lawyers would like to take on DISney too for the use of the letters?

The basic live web streams can currently still be found via the old link which has been around for ages without anyone taking exception.

Andre

 

[Tink rules]

I stand corrected...

 

[cazzie]

I am shocked by the reaction of the Disboards. Dislive was exactly that a live streaming site where all the live Disney streams could be found in one place easily. I fail to see why a site as big as the Disboards should feel the need to do something like this. It definitely leaves a bad taste and I hope it can be resolved.

 

[granmaz]

I am so very sad about this and the Disboard's response. I love the Disboards, and I love all other Disney related sites. I visit quite a few and gain much information from them all to be able to enjoy my vacations all the more.

Dislive is for live streaming and is a wonderful tool for us all to enjoy. I don't believe for one minute it is in competition, but complementary.

I always thought the Dis meant Disney, so available for us all to use.

Disboards, please reconsider, it seems so childish to me.

 

[WebmasterPete]

First, let's clear up a few things.

No one is trying to 'shut down' dislive.com - I have no problem with their site, I have a problem with the name they are using. I've had the DIS for 12 years and have built a brand around that name, including DISboards.com, DISUnplugged, DISRadio, etc.

dislive.com is confusing to some people - I know this because I've received several emails from people thinking that it was our site. And I'm sorry, I don't believe that it's unintentional. Even the most jaded and cynical can see the obvious similartiy.

The law is pretty clear about this stuff - you can't use a name that's confusingly similar to someone elses. I know as I've been on the receiving end of a letter like that. Those of you who have been around for a while might remember that this site used to be disneyinfo.com - until Disney asked us to stop using that name.

Again, it's not my intention to shut that site down - but they'll have to come up with an original name for it. I'm not trying to be unreasonable, not trying to hurt their traffic, and we'll give them a grace period to find a new name and switch over without huring any of their traffic - but they need an ORIGINAL name for their site. That's all I'm asking for.

Pete

 

[andrewilley]

Thanks for the comments Pete. I'm assuming that all of your concerns were exhaustively discussed with the DisLive webmaster first, and no suitable agreement could be reached, before any threatening legal letters were sent out?

I'm not trying to be unreasonable, not trying to hurt their traffic, and we'll give them a grace period to find a new name and switch over without huring any of their traffic - but they need an ORIGINAL name for their site. That's all I'm asking for.

That's great to know. So, as far as you and your appointed lawyers are concerned, the current version of the streaming videos site can be immediately restored while discussions about any naming changes continue (options could be put to the site membership that way).

Andre

 

[mom2mykids]

What more could I say???

 

[MonicaInFlorida]

Any similarities in look and feel (e.g. login screens, basic message layout, etc) are solely down to the vBulletin software which both sites (and thousands of others) use to manage their messagebases. Otherwise, there is nothing to indicate that DisLive is attempting to usurp users into thinking that they are on another site - even the color palette is totally opposite!

Should sites such as www.dis.dk, www.disdubai.ae, www.dis-corp.com, www.dis-locate.net, www.dis.cc, www.dis.waw.pl also be shut down under the same argument, by the way? Or worst of all, www.distrips.net (which is another Disney-specialist travel agent).

Excellent points.

 

[Bill From PA]

I didn't think stuff like this went on in America.

It's not an American who's gone lawsuit crazy.

Bill From PA

 

[WebmasterPete]

It's not an American who's gone lawsuit crazy.

Huh?

As for the comments about 'look and feel' - that's not the issue. The issue is the name - and as for the other sites that were mentioned, it's the first I'm hearing about them and if they are looking to confuse people into believing they are associated with the DIS, they'll get the same letter from the lawyer.

And yes, I sent two emails to the webmaster of dislive.com and neither was responded to.

I'll repeat what I said, no one is trying to shut anyone down - they need to find their own identity and not try to borrow off mine.

Pete

 

[IloveDMB]

First, let's clear up a few things.

No one is trying to 'shut down' dislive.com - I have no problem with their site, I have a problem with the name they are using. I've had the DIS for 12 years and have built a brand around that name, including DISboards.com, DISUnplugged, DISRadio, etc.

dislive.com is confusing to some people - I know this because I've received several emails from people thinking that it was our site. And I'm sorry, I don't believe that it's unintentional. Even the most jaded and cynical can see the obvious similartiy.

The law is pretty clear about this stuff - you can't use a name that's confusingly similar to someone elses. I know as I've been on the receiving end of a letter like that. Those of you who have been around for a while might remember that this site used to be disneyinfo.com - until Disney asked us to stop using that name.

Again, it's not my intention to shut that site down - but they'll have to come up with an original name for it. I'm not trying to be unreasonable, not trying to hurt their traffic, and we'll give them a grace period to find a new name and switch over without huring any of their traffic - but they need an ORIGINAL name for their site. That's all I'm asking for.

Pete

Hmm, that's pretty funny considering the Walt Disney World Company trades on the stock market as DIS! Shall you be going after them next?

 

[tecdavidt]

Pete - thanks for chiming in. It helps to hear both sides of an issue.

And angry responses aside, I hope you take a deep breath, then read the balance of this thread in the spirit it was intended. Clearly a number of your customers believe that this decision on your part was inappropriate.

I have been a business owner for more than 15 years and have had to deal will "similar" issues a number of times. I have found that holding on too tight to "my stuff" tends to alienate clients (customers). Being open builds a stonger relationship.

My 2 cents.

Thanks

 

[tlens]

Courts look at many factors regarding trademark infringement when looking at similar names. Some include things such as similarity of products, sophistication of the buyer, the level of confustion and expansion of product lines. I don't think dislive was selling anything. DISboards however are and Disney had a right to ask you to change the former name. It's not an apples to apples comparison.

 

[brerrabbit]

I might get in trouble for this but here goes, this whole thing boils down to money, pure and simple. The DIS is and has been a platform for all things Disneyworld related for quite a while. I got here all those years ago by searching for information on an upcoming trip and found this place. It helped a lot and I found when I wasn't planning a trip it was a pretty neat place to keep up with the world. Then all of a sudden you could become a sponsor and pay money for a little avtar that said you were a sponsor. It was to help defer the costs of the site. Only problem is the site is a platform for marketing. Links everywhere to affiliated sites/ marketing sites. A Travel Agency owned and operated by the owner of this site. Site operators make money by the number of hits they get and collect more dollars from advertisers based on that. Call it the rating system of the internet. Pete makes a lot of money off of other peoples love of Disney. And thousands who chat on this board help hi, make that money. Now when another site with a similar name threatens to cut into that profitability then they have to change their name, interesting.

The only problem with this scenario is that if they so choose, the real Disney could crush this site like an aluminum can if they wanted to and it would be gone tomorrow. When one makes their money living in the murky area between copyright infringement and not quite copyright infringement they need to be real careful how they operate and what they say is a copyright infringement by another site.

In the end I come here and post here because I enjoy it, but believe me if at any point this site is gone, or I can no longer post here it will in no way diminish my love for and enjoyment of my trips to the World.

 

[Planogirl]

I think that the Dis and Disney have an understanding if I've heard it right or at least they used to. It might be that the Dis has permission to use certain images.

How long has DisLive been around? I don't like this, it seems similar to when Disney went after the daycare center for having Disney images on the wall. I always looked at any of that as free advertising, within reason of course.

I hope that this is resolved amicably and DisLive doesn't have to shut down. The thought of that definitely makes some things look pretty ugly right now.