Sterling Management Systems complaint

On or about the 9th of November 2007 I was notified by my US host that my account "was deactivated (reason: terms of service violation)". As it turned out the webmaster of Sterling Management Systems had filed a complaint because I allegedly am "using Sterling Management Systems service mark, "STERLING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS," in [my] metatags" of two pages located here and here.

Below follows the complaint by the webmaster of SMS:

My name is Robert Georgius and I am the webmaster for Sterling
Management Systems, a Glendale, California management company.  Sterling
Management Systems has been a successful consulting business for the past
twenty five years.  Like all successful businesses nowadays, SMS also has a
website, which I administer.  As the webmaster, I am responsible for
optimizing the website.
In January of 2006, the United States Patent and Trademark Office
approved our application to register "STERLING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS," as a
service mark under registration number 3043198.  I am attaching a copy of
that registration as proof of this fact.  SMS uses this service mark
extensively on its website to sell its products and services.
As part of my job, I also monitor the Internet to ensure that nobody
is illegally using Sterling's trademarks or service marks.  In conducting
one of these searches I came across a website hosted by Bluehost, whose
customer is using our registered service mark "Sterling Management
Systems,"
in his metatags.  The owner of this website is using Sterling Management
Systems service mark, "STERLING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS," in his metatags to
illegally lure people to his website. Our service mark can be found in the
metatags in the following Bluehost webpages:
www.stop-wise.biz/Sterling_Management_Systems.html
www.stop-wise.biz/Sterling_v_CAN.html
I am not a lawyer, but I did do some of my homework on this and
there are lots of cases where the courts said that using another's
trademark
or service mark in metatags is trademark infringement.  The big one I found
on the Internet was Brookfield Commc'n., Inc. v. W. Coast Entm't Corp., 174
F.3d 1036, 1066  (9th Cir.1999) where the court said that using somebody's
service mark in metatags was trademark infringement.
Again, I am not asking for the content to be removed, we just want
his use of our service mark, STERLING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, taken out of the
metatags.
Thank you for your help with this.
Sincerely,
Robert H. Georgius
Webmaster                 | Sterling Management Systems
350 West Arden Ave. | Glendale, CA  91203
Fon: 818-241-1144    | Fax: 818-241-4837
email: bob [at] sterling.us

Sterling Management Systems & Scientology

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