Celeste

I'm going to actually DO the things on my very long To Do List! Celeste

The young 'uns (20's group) around here are limewire users - they don't like the bearshare, have heard of Ares but haven't used it. I downloaded Limewire and evidently was too honest when signing in to get songs? I can't get anything recent....thank goodness my daughter has about 2000 songs on her computer so I just hook up to hers :) Santa brought me the coolest speakers that my Shuffle hooks to so I can plug it into them instead of my head while at my desk. mp3 thing....Bill, you're too funny :)

What is the ACPA? The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act is a federal law that took affect on November 29, 1999. This new domain name dispute law is intended to give trademark and service mark owners legal remedies against defendants who obtain domain names "in bad faith" that are identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark. If a mark is a famous mark, the same remedies are available if the domain name is identical to, confusingly similar to or dilutive of the mark. What Must a Mark Owner Show to Win a Case of Cybersquatting? The plaintiff must prove the following elements: The Defendant has a bad faith intent to profit from that mark, including a defendant name which is protected as a mark; registers, traffics in, or uses a domain name that-- (I) in the case of a mark that is distinctive at the time of registration of the domain name, is identical or confusingly similar to that mark; (II) in the case of a famous mark that is famous at the time of registration of the domain name, is identical or confusingly similar to or dilutive of that mark; or (III) is a trademark, word, or name protected by reason of 18 U.S.C. § 706 (the Red Cross, the American National Red Cross or the Geneva cross) or 36 U.S.C. § 220506 The key element that must be proven is that the defendant has a "bad faith intent to profit from the mark." ''Traffics in'' refers to transactions that include, but are not limited to, sales, purchases, loans, pledges, licenses, exchanges of currency, and any other transfer for consideration or receipt in exchange for consideration. What is Bad Faith Intent to Profit from a Mark? The ACPA gives the court some guidance to assist it in determining if the requisite bad faith exists. In determining if the defendant has bad faith, the court may consider the following non-exclusive factors: the trademark or other intellectual property rights of the defendant, if any, in the domain name; the extent to which the domain name consists of the legal name of the defendant or a name that is otherwise commonly used to identify the defendant; the defendant's prior use, if any, of the domain name in connection with the bona fide offering of any goods or services; the defendant's bona fide noncommercial or fair use of the mark in a site accessible under the domain name; the defendant's intent to divert consumers from the mark owner's online location to a site accessible under the domain name that could harm the goodwill represented by the mark, either for commercial gain or with the intent to tarnish or disparage the mark, by creating a likelihood of confusion as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the site; the defendant's offer to transfer, sell, or otherwise assign the domain name to the mark owner or any third party for financial gain without having used, or having an intent to use, the domain name in the bona fide offering of any goods or services, or the defendant's prior conduct indicating a pattern of such conduct; the defendant's provision of material and misleading false contact information when applying for the registration of the domain name, the defendant's intentional failure to maintain accurate contact information, or the defendant's prior conduct indicating a pattern of such conduct; the defendant's registration or acquisition of multiple domain names which the defendant knows are identical or confusingly similar to marks of others that are distinctive at the time of registration of such domain names, or dilutive of famous marks of others that are famous at the time of registration of such domain names, without regard to the goods or services of the parties; and the extent to which the mark incorporated in the defendant's domain name registration is or is not distinctive and famous within the meaning of Section 1125©(1) of the Lanham Act. Bad faith intent will not be found in any case in which the court determines that the person believed and had reasonable grounds to believe that the use of the domain name was a fair use or otherwise lawful. What's the Quickest & Easiest Way for Domain Name Owner to Lose an ACPA Lawsuit? If the domain name owner, including a domain name owner that may not otherwise be liable under the ACPA, offers at any time to sell or transfer the domain name for value, most courts will find that the owner has acted in bad faith and if the other elements of the case are proven, the plaintiff will win. Another easy way for the plaintiff to prevail is if the domain name owner supplied material misleading contact information on the domain name registration application or if the defendant intentionally fails to maintain accurate contact information with the domain name registrar. Because of this bad faith factor, it is important for all domain name owners to check their domain name registrations at their registrars Whois database to determine if the contact information is correct. See Who Owns Your Domain Name and Who Controls Your Domain Name. What Remedies May be Granted by the Court for Violations of the Act? The Act authorizes a court to order the forfeiture or cancellation of a domain name or the transfer of the domain name to the owner of the mark. In lieu of actual damages, the plaintiff may elect statutory damages and the court has discretion to award damages of not less than $1,000 and not more than $100,000 per domain name, as the court considers just. 15 U.S.C. § 1117(d). An infamous cybersquatter named John Zuccarini lost an ACPA lawsuit in October of 2000, when the court awarded the plaintiff statutory damages of $500,000 for each of five domain names that were obtained in bad faith and that were confusingly similar to the plaintiff's trademark. The court also ordered Mr. Zuccarini to pay attorneys' fees of more than $30,000. See Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. v. Zuccarini, Mousetrapping Cybersquatter Slapped With $530,000 in Damages and Fee and In Search Of: 'Cybersquatter' John Zuccarini This is only a portion of the article published on April 20, 2001. About the Author Richard Keyt is a business, transactions and internet law attorney licensed to practice law in Arizona, but he may represent clients from any state with respect to federal internet law, cybersquatting and domain name disputes, domain name law, e-commerce law, copyright and trademarks. Rick can be reached by telephone at 602-906-4953, email at rickkeyt@keytlaw.com and fax at 602-297-6890. Rick's internet, e-commerce and domain name law web site is KEYTLaw, located at www.keytlaw.com. Communicating with Richard Keyt via email or otherwise does not cause you to become a client or cause your communications to be confidential or subject to the attorney client privilege.

This is another good article on a related subject: Who Owns Your Domain Name? by Richard Keyt Are you sure you own your domain name? Chances are that neither you nor anybody in your company has ever checked to see who actually owns your domain name. It is very common for domain names to be owed by a company employee, a web site designer or an internet service provider. The initial owner (technically called the "licensee") of a domain name is the person or entity that is listed as the "registrant" on the application for the domain name submitted to the domain name registrar. Using the internet, it is very easy to determine who actually owns a domain name. A domain name is "owned" by or licensed to the person or entity shown as the "registrant" on the "whois" database of the registrar. The registrar is the name given to an entity that is authorized by ICANN to issue domain names to the public. The first and most well known registrar is Network Solutions, Inc. A "whois" database is a database maintained by all registrars that lists pertinent information about all domain names issued by the registrar. Each registrar's Whois database may be searched online. To check the ownership of a domain name, go to the Whois database of either Network Solutions or Better-Whois.com. Simply type in the name of the domain name and the top level domain name such as .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info or .name and click the search button. If the domain name is in the Whois database, the search results will display the following pertinent information about the domain name: Registrant: The person or entity listed here is the "owner" of the domain name. Administrative Contact: The person designated to receive communications from the registrar related to administration of the domain name. Billing Contact: The person designated to receive notices from the registrar concerning renewing the domain name by paying the registration fee. Technical Contact: The person designated to receive communications related to technical matters associated with the domain name. Record Expiration Date: The date the domain name will terminate and be revoked unless the renewal fee has been paid Record Creation Date: The date the domain name was first issued to the registrant or the registrant’s predecessor. Important Note: Any person or entity named as a contact on the Whois database has the power to adversely affect the domain name. Make sure the people who are named as administrative, billing and technical contacts are correct. These people should be trusted individuals or companies that will not use their power as designated contacts to adversely affect the domain name. The billing person should be somebody who can be trusted to make sure the domain name renewal fee is paid before the expiration date. Verify that the names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers for the registrant and all contacts are correct. If any information is not correct or if you want to change any or all of the contacts, you should initiate the changes on your registrar's web site. The fact that a domain name owner has incorrect information in the Whois database can be used against the registrant in disputes involving ownership of the domain name. See the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act FAQ. Sometimes when you do a Whois search, you may not get much information other than the name of the registrar. Many of the registrars do not share domain name information or have access to other registrars' Whois databases. If you cannot get the information you need when you do a Whois search, make a note of the name of the registrar and then go to the web site of the registrar to do the search for the domain name information. ICANN maintains a list of all accredited registrars with their contact information. Domain names are valuable assets. By taking the time now to check the ownership record of your domain name, you may prevent the loss of your domain name in the future. This article was first published on May 1, 2001. About the Author Richard Keyt is a business, transactions and internet law attorney licensed to practice law in Arizona, but he may represent clients from any state with respect to federal internet law, cybersquatting and domain name disputes, domain name law, e-commerce law, copyright and trademarks. Rick can be reached by telephone at 602-906-4953, email at rickkeyt@keytlaw.com and fax at 602-297-6890. Rick's internet, e-commerce and domain name law web site is KEYTLaw, located at www.keytlaw.com. Communicating with Richard Keyt via email or otherwise does not cause you to become a client or cause your communications to be confidential or subject to the attorney client privilege.

Everycontractor.com <--- Rip-off! When they call you....HANG UP! Do NOT get sucked into sending these people money. Where Service Magic charges per lead, these folks sell on not paying per individual lead. When they could not hold up their end of the deal, which was 12 qualified leads in 12 months.....they tried to blame ME for our company's scope of work being too narrow. WHAT A CROCK!!! Anyway, their guarantee comes with a full refund - in writing. After 6 months of calls & emails requesting my well-deserved refund.....still nothing. Hopefully the complaint filed with the BBB will nudge that check along. Will let you know Just don't want to see anybody else get ripped off! Celeste

I need Christmas puppy pictures :) Celeste

Cool deal - another little Millen :) Congrats & best of luck to you in the next several months (learn to duck!) :) Celeste

John T.....funny to see you speaking of blind faith. It's almost hypocritical. Celeste

Here are a couple of shots of product in action. First is HD-80 in Ipe to remove some failed Messmers, second is EFC-38 on weathered, untreated PT.

Charlie, I have some wood resto information for you if you want to email me :) Celeste

And which logo do you get to display......the old one or the new one???? (The one that matches the DeWalt boxes) Celeste

Let's wait and see who's allowed to join the org now....been an open door policy before but we still have never received a renewal. C

Great job John! Glad Roger could help :) Celeste

Ken, we have a wood setup (on a trailer) that would very likely fit all inside a van. Low psi, high gpm washer plus a sprayer setup - nothing leaves the trailer except the hoses & wands. We can work from 200 ft easily, likely further but have not had a need. Celeste

In the 60's.....overcast skies as well. This was not a high heat time of year! Celeste

We used WTW mixed with Woodrich applied by hand.....I will say that my rags and stain sponge got hot as hell at one point - hot enough to scare me. Don't know if it was because the two were mixed - we've never had the heating issue with plain Wood Tux Wet. Needless to say, at the end of the day on that job, all the rags/applicators rode home in a bucket of water! Celeste

This is a cedar sided house that Carolina ProWash & My Curb Appeal worked on together last summer. Old CWF was easily stripped with EFC-38, house was brightened with Citralic and stained with Wood Tux Wet :) Celeste

Here's a shot of EFC-38 taking off CWF from cedar siding like it was nuthin' :) Celeste

Gee, after Neil's mansion, ours looks kinda puny! This house was pine sided, only 5 years old with a severe overapplication of something then bleached improperly. We stripped with HD-80, neutralized with Citralic and applied Wood Tux Wet. The neighbor across the street accused Roger of changing out the siding overnight during the drying stage! The before shot is over in another thread..... http://forums.thegrimescene.com/showthread.php?t=4532&highlight=October+project

Carlos, I am feeling your pain....even after deciding to take time off, I'm back to join your thread......this goes for me too! Celeste

Folks, I know you are all going to be absolutely CRUSHED - but I'm taking the rest of the year OFF! I have spent entirely too much time and energy playing around with all of you lovely people....it's family time from here on out. Have a fabulously Merry Christmas :lghohoho: and the most prosperous New Year ever! See you all in '07! Celeste:lgwave:

The biggest question that is coming to mind now is.......where is it going to stop. With the Japanese buying up every company in our country.....what's going to happen when they all come over - will we then have to learn Japanese??? Probably a bad example because the Japanese are so far ahead in their education - but go to other countries and English IS taught. Are our illegals coming mostly from "3rd" worlds where education is lax or non-existent? If this is so, why again, do we have to foot the bill? I for one get VERY discouraged when I go to my kids' school awards programs and the majority of the awards are given to the hispanics because not only are they in the 3rd grade (barely) but they've also done something about learning the language in MY english speaking country. What message is being sent to my 3rd grader? Do your best, get the best grades in class and still not be recognized because some kid in your class read a 1st grade book! Stump is free again! Celeste

It's funny how we refer to immigrants as anything other than Americans simply because their forefathers weren't physically born here. Technically, we're all immigrants. With that said, ILLEGALS do make things just a wee more difficult. We have a HUGE "immigrant" population in North Carolina. Let me throw this out there - since their foreheads are not tattood "LEGAL" upon legalization, when you're just out in public, you can't tell so this is a blanket statement. Our Latino community displays some of the most beautiful family unity, hard work ethics and Christian morality. They travel in packs to the grocery store - moms, dads, kids, grandmas - all together. They do show up to work. Have you ever driven by a Latino church - any time of day or any day of the week? It would just be nice to weed out the illegals and keep the good legal folks. Our country could stand a kick in the pants on how to live. Celeste

I'm not saying that we should't learn other languages....I used to be fluent in French, started learning Japanese while living in Okinawa (where by the way I taught ESL), my kids were taught spanish in school. I think what a lot of this boils down to is that WE Americans are making all of the effort and concessions....we are learning their languages, we are re-packaging, we are footing the bills for the illegals....at some point why don't WE as a country just put our foot down and tell them, come on over BUT do it legally and learn to communicate in a language that yours HOSTS are comfortable with!!!!!! Celeste

Second language knowledge is nice - the schools have been teaching basics for YEARS...the point is, you should not have to know another language to be in your own neighborhood in America.