Bonanzle changes it's name to Bonanza?

[LittleOnlineStore]

So, if "Bonanza" is a registered trademark, how can they rename their company Bonanza?

It's a registered trademark of Bonanza Ventures Inc.

[mandy]

The Bonanza Ventures Inc trademarks only apply to >insert cowboy TV and films and related licensed products smiley<

Bonanza is a common dictionary word so the multiple trademarks given for the word only apply to the specific use (industry) specified in the trademark applications.  Bonanzle can use Bonanza for an online marketplace but they can't use it: to sell aircraft or aircraft parts (trademarked by Hawker Beechcraft), to sell fresh fruit and vegetables (trademarked by Bonanza Farms Inc), to provide educational services and seminars in the field of finance (trademarked by Bonanza Holding AB), to provide prepaid debit cards (trademarked by Marcatel Com), to sell Tequila, to sell dietary supplements,  to sell equine hoof care products, to sell insecticide baits, to sell fresh and frozen meats, to provide bus services, or any of the dozens of other uses that have been trademarked.

Interestingly enough, one of the previous owners of Bonanza.com tried to trademark "bonanza.com" in 2000 but abandoned the application in 2002.

Word Mark BONANZA.COM
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: On-line exchange services, namely, bartering of goods and services for others
Mark Drawing Code (3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS
Design Search Code 09.01.13 - Braids; Clotheslines; Rope; Shoe laces; String; Tightropes
Serial Number 76005666
Filing Date March 21, 2000
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition February 27, 2001
Owner (APPLICANT) Bonanza.com, Inc. CORPORATION TEXAS 301 N. Market Street, Suite 400 Dallas TEXAS 75202
Attorney of Record CARLA B OAKLEY
Description of Mark The drawing consists, in part, of the depiction of a lasso encircling the word "BONANZA". The drawing is lined for the color yellow.
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date April 20, 2002

Bonanza.com Inc also applied for in 1999, and were granted, a trademark to use the word "bonanza" for an online marketplace.  Their  registered trademark was cancelled in 2008.

Word Mark BONANZA
Goods and Services (CANCELLED) IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: On-line exchange service, namely bartering of goods and services for others. FIRST USE: 20000401. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20010201
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 75826481
Filing Date October 18, 1999
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition June 6, 2000
Registration Number 2480752
Registration Date August 21, 2001
Owner (REGISTRANT) Bonanza.com, Inc. CORPORATION TEXAS 301 Market Street, Suite 650 Dallas TEXAS 75202
Attorney of Record CARLA B OAKLEY
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Cancellation Date May 23, 2008

[bargainbloodhound]

The first owner Bonanza.com Inc actually applied for 8 trademarks in '99-'00:

http://www.trademarkia.com/company-bonan...9-page-1-2

They were one of the many companies that didn't survive the dot com crash.

Here's an old article about them:

Bonanza.com Inc., a Dallas firm that plans to run an online "bartering space for businesses and consumers," is raising $8 million in equity financing. The firm has already garnered at least $5.96 million...

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1...a-inc.html
The pre-launch Bonanza in early 2000.  Love the flash intros  tolensmiley:
http://web.archive.org/web/2000051019122...nanza.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/2000100201040.../main.html
The marketplace in 2001:http://web.archive.org/web/2001051600084.../exec/main

At one time Bonanza.com Inc  also owned the domain lasso.com

1000markets.com

1000markets raised $500K in funding from investors last year (source: TechCrunch http://www.crunchbase.com/company/1000-markets ).  That's $500K more than any PHP Pro Bid site raised from investors last year.  tolensmiley:

[regic]

The $500,000 1000markets raised last year was seed funding - i.e. money raised to start the business. It would be interesting to know how much of that they burned through in the past 1 1/2 years.  My guess would be most of it.

1000markets' CEO Trifirio has a very long resume and like Bonanzle's CEO he got his start in the tech industry as a game designer
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mtrifiro

The Bonanza Ventures Inc trademarks only apply to >insert cowboy TV and films and related licensed products smiley

Cowboys but not Indians?  :twistedevil:

edited to add: there is actually a 3rd marketplace that will be impacted by this acquisition: Trifirio's other marketplace, Bixbe.com, which will be shutting its doors on 9/27
closing notice: http://www.bixbe.com/message
about: http://www.bixbe.com/docs/About

Bixbe allowed users to embed their listings into blogs and Facebook, and I'm assuming Bonanzle will at some point add some of Bixbe's widget technology to Bonanza.

Traffic comparison of the Bonanzle/1000Markets/Bixbe sites.  The flatline graphs of 1000markets and Bixbe are one possible reason they were willing to sell out to Bonanzle:
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/bonanzl...bixbe.com/

[LittleOnlineStore]

Thanks for the info.

I wonder with all of the trademark issues, how many limitations they will have to put on what is listed? Maybe no one will be able to list equine products etc?

[sneakymagenta]

To spend two years pushing your customers to help you get your site branded, only to change the name is a bad call.

very unhappy about this change, I spent 2 years marketing Bonanzle and my booth and now we are changing to a TV program Bonanza

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blo...67391.html

FLASHBACK TIME..........

September 1995- Some bozo named Pierre starts an auction site called AuctionWeb and the site's customers spent 2 years getting his site branded.  In February 1997 CNET wrote an article about AuctionWeb (see hear http://news.cnet.com/Going-once...sold-o...g=mncol;6n), and then guess what happened...HA HA HA HA HA! OMG YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS! THE ROTTEN MISERABLE NO GOOD LEECHES AT AUCTIONWEB HAD THE NERVE TO CHANGE THE SITE'S NAME IN SEPTEMBER 1997!

[LittleOnlineStore]

Not to mention all of the Bonanzle sht they made up with the company logo and everything. Now I guess that stuff gets tossed in the garbage?

No, Bonanzle wasn't a common easy to pronounce name, but didn't it fit with their slogan? WTF is it? Everything but the ordinary or something like that?

They may see it as a good thing, but seems like the copyright issues alone will be enough for a headache.

I started checking around and seems the once kool-aid drinkin Bonanzlers (the ones with all of their Bonanzle sht) aren't so happy to have to toss their yellow, green and orange stuff. It's also amazing to see so many from PSU that would argue and beat the dead horse a thousand times that Bonanzle was the best place ever have left the site or are not selling there much anymore. I guess maybe they had to give in to their denial eventually.

[bargainbloodhound]

we know that some of you are looking for ways to promote the new site as well as promoting your booths and products

...and my advice for people who are looking for ways to promote Bonanza is the same advice I gave to kool-aid drinking eBay users who ran from forum to forum singing eBay's praises 5 or 6 years ago:  "spend your time promoting your own business not someone else's business"

question: http://whois.domaintools.com/bonanza.com  Why is the registrant of the domain still listed as Edward Yim of Blue Moon Ventures Inc?  The last change was on 9/5 (changing the name servers over to the the ns1/2/3.blueboxgrid.com servers bonanzle.com uses and changing the MX records to the Google apps mail servers used by Bonanzle).  I think I would have waited for all of the paperwork to be finalized and processed and for my company's name  to be listed as the registrant before opening the new domain to 1/4 million users.

2nd related question: is the corporate entity that owns Bonanzle called "William Harding LLC"?

their slogan? WTF is it? Everything but the ordinary or something like that?

"Find everything but the ordinary".  They applied for a trademark in 2009 and then abandoned it.
http://www.trademarkia.com/find-everythi...62210.html

Goods and Services: Computer services, namely, designing and implementing on demand web sites in the nature of turnkey packages allowing customers to create ecommerce web sites for the purpose of uploading photos and creating gifts

creating gifts?

edit: he also filed to trademark "Bonanzle" in February 2007 (1 1/2 years before the site opened) and abandoned the trademark this January.
http://www.trademarkia.com/bonanzle-77104653.html
Did he originally plan to offer auctions?

Goods and Services: On-line trading services in which seller posts products to be auctioned and bidding is done via the Internet

edit again: the original Bonanzle slogan (never used in commerce):
http://www.trademarkia.com/real-people-r...79753.html

[amy]

[quote author=bargainbloodhound link=topic=19080.msg76063#msg76063 date=1285209443]

we know that some of you are looking for ways to promote the new site as well as promoting your booths and products

...and my advice for people who are looking for ways to promote Bonanza is the same advice I gave to kool-aid drinking eBay users who ran from forum to forum singing eBay's praises 5 or 6 years ago:  "spend your time promoting AND BRANDING your own business not someone else's business" [/quote]
I corrected your advice.

[mandy]

It's also amazing to see so many from PSU that would argue and beat the dead horse a thousand times that Bonanzle was the best place ever have left the site or are not selling there much anymore.

One of Bonanzle's biggest early supporters is now a paid shill for Boocoo.