Another one bites the dust (benzsport.com) - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

250SE · #1 12-08-2002, 03:33 PM

hey guys... just letting you know that benzsport.com was shut down as a result of a law suit from mercedes. Apparently all the benzsport guys went over to euromotorsport.net for the time being, an I think it's a pretty lame move on the behalf of mercedes.

4NDELIT · #2 12-08-2002, 03:37 PM

kim... stop logging in on my computer!!!

Kuan · #3 12-08-2002, 03:49 PM

Well, I know what I'm going to do now.

Kuan

250SE · #4 12-08-2002, 05:06 PM

I didn't know!

jjrodger · #5 12-08-2002, 05:08 PM

What's the full story on Benzsport? I used to look in there every so often and was registered as a member. I can't find any account of what happened to it whethe ron eurosportcarwhatever.net or anywhere. Anybody got more details?

suginami · #6 12-08-2002, 06:20 PM

What was the lawsuit by Mercedes anyway?

suginami · #7 12-08-2002, 06:32 PM

Is Mercedesshop.com in a legal fight with Mercedes?

Regarding what?

I didn't know....

need2speed · #8 12-08-2002, 07:34 PM

Seems the info nazis have been busy. You won't find any discussion about mercedes warranty or customer service problems on their "official" site and now they want to plug up any independent sources of information!

This just makes mercedesshop.com's legal fight with mercedes to establish their right to exist even more impressive. Wonder if benzsport just couldn't afford the battle...maybe they need a legal defense fund?

#9 12-08-2002, 08:06 PM

Well if they come back I will be glad to give some money for a lawyer. Thats sad that Mercedes is doing that to everyone that loves the cars the make so much. But I think that says something about how the company has changed.

suginami · #10 12-08-2002, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TXBill
Paul, MercedesShop already fought the battle and won, quite a while back.

Good good good.

So Mercedes sued Mercedesshop.com for what? A forum where people talk about Mercedes vehicles?

I wonder how the lawsuit was settled. Did they win because the lawsuit was meritless?

suginami · #11 12-08-2002, 09:40 PM

Very interesting. It was apparently settled June of 2001. I completely missed the whole event as I joined in November or December of 2001.

What was interesting is that they weren't trying to close down the site, but to prevent them from using the name MercedesShop.com because it uses the word Mercedes.

The dissenter said that Donnie could have used a name like germanauto.com.

I'm glad Donnie won.

placo1 · #12 12-09-2002, 12:00 PM

Sounds to me like Mercedes is getting way too sensitive about their reputation lately. I wonder if the latest reports about Mercedes not making the top 10 list of JD Power quality has something to do with it.

It is quite stupid however for them to make a move like this, they hurt their strongest most dedicated customers and leave a bad taste in their mouth. Not to mention that most of the members of Benzsport are younger and have many many more years of car purchases with greater wealth behind those purchases.

I wonder if GM shuts down Corvette websites or if Dodge has tried to shut down Viper Web Sites? Makes you wonder.

#13 12-09-2002, 01:00 PM

http://www.vettenet.org/

All kinds of Corvette references, and I'm sure "Vette" is a registered trademark of General Motors.

Also...there's bmwplanet.com, which is alive and well.

For Audis, there's www.audiworld.com.

WTF is up with Mercedes?

Other manufacturers don't get their undies in a knot about this.

-Sam

The Warden · #14 12-09-2002, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by placo1
I wonder if GM shuts down Corvette websites or if Dodge has tried to shut down Viper Web Sites? Makes you wonder.

Ford's done this. I'm also a regular on Ford-Diesel.com because of my truck; I've been there since early 2000. In August 2002, the webmaster got a "cease & desist" letter from Ford, basically telling him to shut the site down or face legal action. He was able to make a deal with Ford (he ran the site as a personal hobby so he didn't want to fight a legal battle), and the site has been renamed to www.thedieselstop.com . IMHO it's really sad that auto manufacturers are stooping to this level. A guy I know runs a site similar to both of these sites for Dodge diesel trucks; when FD was ordered to change names, he took his website name (www.dodge-diesel.org) and changed it to DieselTruckResource.com just as a precaution.

Frivolous lawsuits IMHO...it's not like any of these sites were trying to make any money off of the name; they didn't even have a parts dealer like Fastlane here...