PokerStrategy.com is "Poker Affiliate of the Year" - Thank you, Guys! - PokerStrategy.com -- Two Plus Two Poker Forums

**PokerStrategy** · 01-27-2012, 01:56 PM

For the third time in a row, we won the iGB award for being the "Best Poker Affiliate".

We want to say thank you to our awesome community, our hundreds of freelancers and our great staff that made this possible.

In 2011, we made a big leap: being known mainly as a poker school & community that gives beginners a non-deposit free $50, we've also become a great value-added affiliate with our VIP promos such as the Gemstone.

Our CEO, Dominik 'Korn' Kofert says:
"The Best Poker Affiliate award is a great achievement and I would like to thank our employees, our freelancers and our fantastic community - we would not have done it without you!

While this award is a confirmation of our hard work in 2011, we will not slow down. We will continue to try and meet your expectations this year and hopefully win this award for the 4th time in a row."

SmithF234 · 02-16-2012, 02:41 AM

I'm so much interested in playing poker but not so good enough. I hope, one day the same award would be given to me as well.

**PokerStrategy** · 02-16-2012, 02:47 PM

Hey Smith,

come learn at our site - and you might not get this particular award, but become a better player!

Best,
Lutz

egoismforever · 02-23-2012, 06:14 AM

Biggest affiliate wins in a user vote.
Who would had expected that?

bigloser2448 · 02-23-2012, 12:50 PM

It's too bad some of their practices are just shameful..

Pokerstrategy.com trying to scam affiliates

egoismforever · 02-24-2012, 05:21 AM

Not really a surprise. Knowing Xantos (Lutz), he will silence it to death anyways.

maxostoch · 02-24-2012, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigloser2448

It's too bad some of their practices are just shameful..

Pokerstrategy.com trying to scam affiliates

Is this real?

**Pokeraddict** · 02-24-2012, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxostoch

Is this real?

Yes, you can read about the demands from Pokerstrategy.com to competitors here:

http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.co...am-2012-a.html

Here is one from 2011:

http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.co...omain-lol.html

Poker Strategy seems to think they have the rights to websites with the words "Poker Strategy" in them because they trademarked "Pokerstrategy.com".

bigloser2448 · 02-24-2012, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxostoch

Is this real?

definitely.. It's a classic case of a big dog beating up on the little dog. They think that if they send a legal looking cease and desist letter to a small webmaster they'll cave and blindly hand over their domain. The problem is, some do because they don't know their rights or just don't have the resources to fight it.

egoismforever · 02-25-2012, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigloser2448

definitely.. It's a classic case of a big dog beating up on the little dog. They think that if they send a legal looking cease and desist letter to a small webmaster they'll cave and blindly hand over their domain. The problem is, some do because they don't know their rights or just don't have the resources to fight it.

True story. Lots of big companies (microsoft, apple, and so on) have been doing this for years. The problem is that takeing this to court can bind money for several years, which is a terrible situation for the small company.

I might not be the biggest fan of pokerstrategy.com anyways, but that they go that low - I would not had expected in my wildest dreams.

**PokerStrategy** · 02-25-2012, 10:22 AM

Hey everyone,

in order to give you the opportunity to view the case from both sides, please read the statement from Dominik Kofert, our founder & CEO at PokerAffiliateListings.com:

"Hi all,

first of all, I would like to ask everybody to calm down a bit. We are an affiliate ourselves and have no intention to "scam" or "harm" anybody.

However, when there is a plain and audacious attempt to piggy-back on and exploit our trademarks that we have spent considerable time and money on, we must take action.

The case in question is a very clear cut one, and I'm sure that the IP lawyer that Ridge has hired will be able to confirm the same once he is made aware of all the facts. As your Ridge's IP lawyer himself points out, the key question is whether a customer could be confused about the brand PokerStrategyGeeks.com, thinking that it might be related to PokerStrategy.com.

This is very clearly the case, in particular when taking into account how PokerStrategyGeeks.com presents itself, namely as “Best Poker Community in 2012” (that's odd, last time I checked, it was us who won that award?) and the “#1 Poker Strategy Resource".

Ridge, what you are doing is a very deliberate piggy-back / IP infringement attempt which we will defend against if we cannot resolve it in cooperation with you."

Especially with regards to the parts I highlighted in bold: do you really think this was just an attempt to build some site on poker - or do you rather think the intention was to let visitors think they are at our site?

Here's also a statement from our legal department:

Quote:

Statement on behalf of PokerStrategy.com – made WITHOUT PREJUDICE to PokerStrategy.com’s strict legal rights

First, please note that we would not normally propose to make such a public statement as this regarding our business affairs, but feel that, given the circumstances and the very public nature in which contradictory opinions have been aired, it is only right that we do so. Also, we are ourselves an affiliate and, as such, we obviously understand the sector and are able to appreciate some of the misgivings which people are so clearly having regarding PokerStrategy.com and its ethics when it comes to the protection of its intellectual assets.

Second, intellectual property law is a very specialised and complex area of legal practice (for which we are sufficiently and appropriately staffed) and we do not intend to be drawn into any lengthy debates on the relevant legal principles or the merits of any particular claims and, as such, will not be responding further in this thread. What we hope to achieve with this statement is to put forward, in very simple terms, our own view on the topics under discussion – it is by no means a comprehensive summary of our position, or the position at law.

The “POKERSTRATEGY” trade mark

PokerStrategy.com enjoys REGISTERED trade mark rights in the mark “POKERSTRATEGY” (both the word, as represented, and as depicted in graphical form) in over 40 territories worldwide and has numerous other applications pending approval. For a number of years we have offered and provided our services under the moniker of “PokerStrategy.com”, we have invested millions of dollars in the promotion and protection of this brand and in growing its reputation and goodwill to the point where we provide our services in 19 different languages and are the world’s largest and most popular poker site and community with circa 6 million registered members.

That is not to say that PokerStrategy.com lays claim to the words “poker” and “strategy” in their entirety and that we would, in any way, suggest that third parties are not free to use these words in their plain English-language context – a view which we would imagine the owners of other very strong (but “generic”) brands such as Apple, Amazon, BlackBerry and Orange would share. It does mean, very generally speaking, that PokerStrategy.com enjoys the exclusive right and entitlement to use “POKERSTRATEGY” in a trade mark context, in relation to those goods and services in respect of which the mark is registered, in numerous territories across the world – this is without even taking into account PokerStrategy.com’s considerable unregistered rights in the mark, which we do not feel the need to address in any further detail for the purposes of this statement.

PokerStrategyGeeks.com

Again, while we would not usually rehearse our legal claims and arguments in such a public forum, we feel it is important to provide some additional colour to the facts of this matter to demonstrate that the domain name in question has been carefully identified as wilfully infringing our valuable intellectual property rights and that the registrant is not the victim of an indiscriminate campaign by PokerStrategy.com to seize domain names which we, actually, would not wish to have the costs of maintaining in our portfolio.

1. PokerStrategyGeeks.com is the website of a venture that purports to operate under the brand name of “Poker Strategy Geeks” in providing online poker education, coaching, hand analysis, a poker community/forum, industry news etc. – all important elements of the PokerStrategy.com offering and services that are covered by our various trade mark registrations. The addition of the word Geeks to this mark is irrelevant;
2. PokerStrategyGeeks.com bills itself, without substantiation, as both the “Best Poker Community in 2012” and the “#1 Poker Strategy Resource” – this could cause confusion amongst the public at large who might expect such claims to be associated with a bona fide PokerStrategy.com offering, given our enviable position within the market place and the numerous industry awards we have been fortunate enough to receive over the years;
3. PokerStrategyGeeks.com is stated here as being solely for the benefit of the registrant and 30 “close friends” – however, the website has a corresponding Facebook page with nearly 500 “likes” and its forum has over 200 registered members, which is either indicative of the registrant wilfully misrepresenting the situation, or is prima facie evidence of confusion amongst the public at large as to the provenance of the PokerStrategyGeeks.com website (i.e. individuals registering or associating themselves with PokerStrategyGeeks.com as they have assumed some affiliation with PokerStrategy.com); and
4. The registrant has publicly acknowledged that he is aware of PokerStrategy.com, its offering and the length of time it has been promoting its services under the POKERSTRATEGY mark and has, despite being in full possession of these facts, elected to establish a competing offering under a confusingly similar mark.

It is for these, and other, reasons that we have taken the view that the registrant of PokerStrategyGeeks.com is doing more than simply referring to “poker strategy” in a good faith, English-language context and is, in fact, attempting to establish his own competing undertaking by providing identical, or confusingly similar, services to the public at large via a trade mark and associated domain name which is also confusingly similar to our own, thus seeking to unlawfully benefit from the goodwill and reputation already established in the POKERSTRATEGY mark. This is a clear abuse of our intellectual property rights and, as such, will not be tolerated. PokerStrategy.com is well within its rights to pursue infringing activity of this kind and will continue to do so as it seeks to protect its valuable assets from those third parties who would attempt to benefit from the same – unfortunately, there are many.

Damon Barnard
Head of Legal
Legal Affairs
PokerStrategy.com

Best,
Lutz

**Pokeraddict** · 02-26-2012, 01:03 AM

Quote:

This is very clearly the case, in particular when taking into account how PokerStrategyGeeks.com presents itself, namely as “Best Poker Community in 2012” (that's odd, last time I checked, it was us who won that award?) and the “#1 Poker Strategy Resource".

Can someone please link me to where Pokerstrategy.com won “Best Poker Community in 2012”? I cannot find anything in Google. The award announced in this thread has to do with being best poker affiliate of the year.

egoismforever · 02-26-2012, 01:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pokeraddict

Can someone please link me to where Pokerstrategy.com won “Best Poker Community in 2012”? I cannot find anything in Google. The award announced in this thread has to do with being best poker affiliate of the year.

Haha, how i tought exactly the same when I saw the post of Lutz

Maybe, if the award for "best poker community 2012", goes to another site they should sue PokerStrategy.com , fraud and so........they know the dance

bigloser2448 · 02-26-2012, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PokerStrategy

Hey everyone,

in order to give you the opportunity to view the case from both sides, please read the statement from Dominik Kofert, our founder & CEO at PokerAffiliateListings.com...

haha, I find it humorous how he links us to a post in a long thread on a forum where it's just about unanimous against pokerstrategy.com's case. It's just LOLz imo..

**Pokeraddict** · 03-03-2012, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pokeraddict

Can someone please link me to where Pokerstrategy.com won “Best Poker Community in 2012”? I cannot find anything in Google. The award announced in this thread has to do with being best poker affiliate of the year.

I assume that no such award was given since the post has sat here for over a week. The only info in Google about such an award is to the site Pokerstrategy.com is going after but it is satire about this situation.

I am working on an article about this and was hoping to get an explanation about this claim since it seems impossible to verify. Feel free to PM me anything that backs up this claim. I will probably write the article Monday.