Just Creative Design

Beware of the Net Trademark Registration Scam

I have recently been contacted by a domain registration company (HK N R S) from Hong Kong who said that I would lose my domain name if I didn’t register it with their “net trademark” system.

At first I took this quite seriously however after a bit of googling I found that I am not the only one who has received an email like this. Anyway, I went along with their ploy to see how it would fold out and below you can see some of our email communication… thought I would share this with you guys so something like this does not happen to you.

You may also want to read about my experience of being banned from my own website or David Airey’s experience of being hacked via the Google Email Phishing Filter Scam.

Dear Just Creative Design,

HK N R S Ltd creates high-impact and professional services for intellectual property right of users. Our center protects company profile and their internet products information by protecting net trademark and domain name.

An organization submitted a formal application to our auditing department to apply for this word “justcreativedesign” as their net trademark on 14 May,2009.

According to the above facts, I send you this Attorney Letter to confirm the ownership rights for this net trademark. We checked that you are real trademark owner. This is why we inform you. You have a priority to register the net trademark. If you give it up, the applicant will get the registration and own it legally for ever. I request that you must make a confirmation in fifteen business days. Fifteen days are our auditing period from the day you receive this letter.

If you wish to gain further information about HK N R S Ltd, its activities and net trademark information, you may view web site at www.hkh.hk.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation about this matter.

Sincerely,

Schacter.ji
Schacter.ji@hkh.hk
www.hkh.hk
HK N R S Ltd

I then replied:

Hello Schacter.ji,

I confirm that justcreativedesign and the trademark is owned by me and I have the ownership rights to it.

Please do not sell or give ownership of this to anyone else. Can you please clarify what you mean by this phrase: “You have a priority to register the net trademark.”? Do I have to register it?

Thanks.

Regards,
Jacob Cass

Then they replied:

Dear Jacob,

Thanks for your reply.

We know you are the trademark owner, so you can register earlier than the applicant. Registering is good for you. Net trademark and trademark are different. Trademark is registered under the government’s check and ratify. If any organizations and individuals didn’t register, you can register. Net trademark can be registered and used openly in the world. First register first get.

In this situation, I offer two ways to deal with this matter:

1.use law to protect your own intellectual property rights. Start a lawsuit against applicant and pass the court’s rule. But it needs lots of time and money.

2.ask us to register for you to protect. You are the trademark owner, so you have the priority to register the net trademark.

Usually we suggest clients choose the second way. Thinking of time and money, the second way is the best.

In accordance with the regulation of our country, we are working for the protection of intellectual property with our clients. Net trademark is part of intellectual property rights, so I strongly suggest that you register to protect this net trademark. If you confirm to register, I will send an application form to you. If you have any questions or requirement, please contact me.

Best regards,

Schacter.ji

I then replied:

Hello,

Can you please send through this form and what country is this for?

And what actually are we registering, just the name “Just Creative Design?”

Regards,
Jacob Cass

They then replied:

Dear Jacob,

Now I send you the registration procedure and service fee.
The price is 1118USD/one/5years, 2000USD/one/10years, 3680USD/one/20years.

The registration process of net trademark as follows,
1, You confirm to register this net trademark. Then we will send an application form includes a remit account number to you.
2, Fill out application form and send it back to us by E-mail.
3, Once getting your payment, we would immediately repeal the third-party’s application and start your registration. The registration will be finished within 15 business days. After that, we send you net trademark registration certificate.
Please contact us if you have any questions.

PS:Sorry. I can’t offer the applicant’s information because you are not our customer now.

schacter.ji

I have not since replied. I will update this page if anything else comes from it.

Have you ever experienced something like this? Please do share.

12 Reasons To Switch To Gmail

Do you still use Microsoft Outlook or Eudora for your emails, or maybe something else? If you do, you probably are not having the most productive and user friendly experience that you could be having.

Up until about a month ago I had been using Outlook entirely for my emails, then I trialled Gmail (Google’s Free Email service) for 2 weeks and since getting to know Gmail, I have not turned back… there are just so many more features that make Outlook (and other similar email programs) seem just unworthy. Even Darren Rowse from Problogger has made the switch.

Although it may take a week or two to get used to gmail, over the many years to come, it will literally save you weeks of your time. I highly recommend to switch to Gmail and below I give 12 reasons why.

12 Reasons To Switch To Gmail

1. Gmail spam filters block 99% of the spam that usually makes it to your inbox. Although Outlook 2007 had a good spam filter, I still usually got around 2 or 3 emails a week sneaking into my inbox… not with Gmail.
2. With Gmail you get to keep your old email account, and all incoming emails will be forwarded to your new Gmail account . Also, emails that you send from your new account will have your old email account in the from area.
3. You can create Word docs, PDF’s and spread sheets with Gmail via the use of GoogleDocs.
4. Gmail allows you to schedule events with the Google Calendar that will notify you by email to remind you of an appointment or meeting. It can also send a reminder to the person or persons that you will be meeting with.
5. Gmail has something called ‘Stars’ and which allows you to tag emails you find important. You can actually do a search for ‘Starred‘ emails and they all pop up, and as quick as a normal google search!
6. Your emails are tabbed into a thread, which means you no longer have to look for old emails… it is more like a conversation window.
7. You can archive old emails or whole conversations so that you can keep your Inbox clear.
8. You can set up filters and labels to keep your Inbox organised and clutter free.
9. It has a fast, easy search function which means you will never lose an email again. The search is as fast a normal google search which is ace.
10. All your emails are online which means that you access your emails from anywhere, not just one computer.
11. Update: Forgot to mention how much space there is with Gmail… you will never have to delete an email again.
12. Update: The ‘Canned Responses’ aka drafts feature is great. When you need to email something over and over, this function will save you a lot of time.

Learn About Gmail

Below are some great videos to get you started with Gmail. If you have a website and an email related with your website you should be using Google Apps to set up your Gmail Account… the videos below will explain.

Using Gmail - Part 1 (5m 38s)- Learn about the basic features of gmail in this video.

Using Gmail - Part 2 (7m 50s)- Learn about how to retrieve other (ie. your old email address) email into Gmail, setup labels and filters, explain the Archive function and Gmail conversation.

Using Gmail - Part 3 (4m 39s)- Explore the more advanced settings options and some of the features coming out of Google Labs

Further Email Tips

• Want a rich text signature in your gmail account? Now you can.
• Are you getting too much email? Learn how to get a grip on email.
• Not getting enough email from clients? Learn how to get more email.
• 10 Tips to writing effective emails.

Anyway I hope you give Gmail a try… it really is worth it. What other email programs / sites do people use and why?

Don’t Read This If You Do Not Want More Email

Over the past few weeks I have been trialling having contact forms on all the main pages of my site and boy has it increased the amount of emails I have received, not only from potential clients, but also from people just wanting to say thank you or a friendly hello, and let’s face it, who doesn’t like hearing compliments?

So I ask, why should we have only one contact page? There are so many more benefits from having more than one contact page;

• Potential clients have an easier way to contact you.
• You get more email. (Good or a bad thing, that is for you to decide.)
• More clients mean more money.
• Less clicks for the user to find your contact details.
• People that may not have went the extra click will now more likely contact you.

What pages should you put contact forms on?

You should look at your site statistics to see what page/s are your most popular and you also must take into consideration what the page is for, for instance you may not want a form on your ‘Featured Articles’ Page as it is not appropriate.

Where to place each form will vary from blog to blog but personally I put them on my five main pages which are my About Page, my Hire Me Page, my Design Portfolio page, my Contact Page, and my Testimonials page.

You will also notice on my contact page I use a standard form however on my hire page I ask questions about budget, deadlines, etc that relate to my profession.

How do I get a contact form?

I personally use a Wordpress Plugin called Cforms which is great however there are many more out there! With Cforms you can customise a variety of forms very easily and then easily place them onto any page with a click of a button.

Track What Pages People Contact You From

With the Cforms plugin (and most others) each email you receive looks like the screenshot above. It will tell you exactly what page the form has been sent from along with other details such as the date and IP address of the sender. You will notice the email above has been sent from my testimonials page along with the answers to each question. This is very useful as you can see what pages people are sending the most emails from.

So… why have just one contact page?