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SearchThe Highlands Ranch Trademark
Last week we were made aware of the name "Highlands Ranch" being trademarked by Shea Homes - the main developer of the unofficial town/city of Highlands Ranch. Our basic understanding before was that a geographical area or name cannot be trademarked, but apparently a trademark was granted initially when the planning and development of Highlands Ranch began back in 1978. Looking at the situation, we kinda see the trademark in 1978 being granted as acceptable. A builder wanted to develop the area and secure the name for this development. However - as time goes by the development - well, it developed - and people started using the name like a city name. Everyone nowadays refers to the development south of C470 as Highlands Ranch - a geographical location. Even the local post office delivers mail to people using Highlands Ranch as the city name. We consider that "geographical".
It seems like that Shea Homes is now cracking down on the usage of Highlands Ranch as a name. A local real estate agent had to surrender his domain name "myhighlandsranch.com" to Shea Homes because of the Trademark. He rather surrendered and decided not to fight this trademark in court.
But how about all the other websites and business that proudly carry the name Highlands Ranch in their name? Who is next on the list? Who will get mail from the lawyer of Shea Homes? It might be this website providing free information about the community we live in. We have been promoting this community with our Highlands Ranch related websites since 2002. We live in Highlands Ranch since 1999. Are we facing a legal situation with Shea Homes about using the name of the unincorporated city we live in and that we have promoted using our own time and money?
The interesting thing is that Shea Homes has not even mentioned the Trademark on their own Highlands Ranch website until the last week. We did check their website last week and did not find the trademark notice anywhere. Now - a week later - we suddenly see the trademark notice in a small spot. We think this tells us a lot how Shea Homes is treating the situation.
If you live in Highlands Ranch and are interested in this topic, please let Shea Homes know how you feel about this. Do you like Highlands Ranch and refer to it as the geographical location you live in? What is your opinion? Should Shea Homes stop trying to enforce the trademark? Please use our comment system below to let us know.
To let Shea Homes know, please use the following information:
Shea Homes Colorado
9135 South Ridgeline Blvd, Suite 100
Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
Ph: 303.791.8180
Fax: 303.791.8558
9135 South Ridgeline Blvd, Suite 100
Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
Ph: 303.791.8180
Fax: 303.791.8558
Thank you for your support.
Regards,
Christoph Puetz
PS: Since we were made aware of this Trademark last week, we are now in the process of finding out what we have to do in regards to the trademark (or if we have to do something about at all). 2006-06-22 / 8.43 PM
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