Secular Thought for the Day

I am the brand protection manager at BBC Worldwide, the Commercial arm of the BBC. The BBC Corporation is the exclusive owner of various intellectual property rights. These rights include copyright and trade mark rights in the phrase "Thought for the Day" amongst others.

BBC Worldwide licenses these rights internationally and co-ordinates litigation against infringers.

It has been brought to my attention that you are running a website at secularthought.org which relies on our trade marked name "Thought for the Day". This site infringes our intellectual property rights.

You have stated in previous correspondence that by using the name "Secular Thought for the Day" you have managed to avoid infringing our intellectual property rights. This is incorrect. Trade mark law is infringed if first, you have incorporated the phrase "Thought for the Day" (which you admit you have) and secondly the resulting name is considered close enough to the original trade mark name. In my view there is no doubt that you have infringed the BBC's trade mark.

Moreover, there is also the question of international trade mark rights. These trade marks will be infringed in various countries if the mark “Secular Thought for the Day” is considered to be close enough to be confusingly similar. In my view there is no doubt that the court would find these confusingly similar given the very close similarity between our trade mark name and yours. I also think that the nature of your site means it is highly unlikely that a court would have much sympathy for your argument.

Furthermore, we consider it wholly inappropriate that a website of this nature should be on the internet. Although you claim that your site is secular, the majority of our listeners, who have a faith perspective and regularly engage with the comments and ideas expressed by our programme, may encounter your site while searching for the genuine Thought for the Day website and be denied their uninterruped interlude of spiritual reflection.

Given that you are infringing our rights in the manner set out above, we now require you within the next seven days

1. To remove from your website:
   • any reference to the phrase "Thought for the Day" and any similar phrases thereto;
   • any references to the phrase "Secular Thought for the Day", or any name similar thereto including but not limited to "Secular Thought for the Day";
   • any reference to any contributor to the programme "Thought for the Day" including but not limited to Anne Atkins, Lionel Blue, Rhidian Brook, Tom Butler, Akhandadhi Das, Richard Harries, Rob Marshall, Indarjit Singh, Angela Tilby or any names similar thereto;
   • any reference directly or indirectly to the controller of Radio 4 Mr Mark Damazer.
2. To provide us with written undertakings concerning any future use of the materials referred to above at 1.

Should you fail to comply with these requirements, I will be recommending that we consider taking legal action against you for your infringement of our intellectual property rights.

If you are in any doubt as to the contents of this letter I suggest that you take professional legal advice.

Yours sincerely