Trademark Terrorism: Hotel Chain Sends Cease and Desist Letter to 1,000-Year-Old Village for Using its Own Name

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In one of the most embarrassing cases I’ve ever seen of corporate overreach, Copthorne Hotels sent a cease and desist letter to a village that has used its name for almost a millennium, claiming the tiny hamlet of 5,000 was infringing on its trademark. I wish I was making this up.

TechDirt covered this story and explained that:

Techdirt has covered its fair share of idiotic legal threats over trademarks, but the following example is spectacular even for a field that has many superb examples of corporate bullying. It concerns the village of Copthorne (population 5,000), in the English county of West Sussex. It’s rather well established: it’s been around for a thousand years, and is mentioned in the Domesday Book, which was compiled in 1086. Recently, though, its village association was threatened with legal action for using the name ‘Copthorne’ on its Web site.

Now here’s the actual letter, courtesy of the Plymouth Herald:

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