Yesterday a registered letter from the District Court of Zürich made my day. I had to laugh out loudly.
The letter informed us that Philipp Maderthaner had tried “by means of a precautionary measure” to prohibit us the use of the term Campaigning Summit in Campaigning Summit Switzerland and even demanded to shut down our website. As justification, he claims to own a registered trademark «Campaigning Summit». However, dear Philipp, if you read this, that trademark is valid only in the European Union… And we invested thousands of hours and Swiss Francs, of our own money, in building it up here in Switzerland…
Of course the court rejected his request! Did nobody tell Philipp Maderthaner that Switzerland is not part of the European Union? (And will never be…)
On top of that, they way the trademark was registered is a bit suspicious. At least one requirement was not fulfilled, according to our trademark lawyer. That lawyer is convinced that one could easily request its deletion. Anyway…
In 2013 we invited Philipp Maderthaner to collaborate and organize our own Campaigning Summit in Zürich. Because we changed the event’s name from Campaigning Summit Zurich to Campaigning Summit Switzerland he and his team first hijacked our Facebook page and then made Facebook even block it. We had to intervene on Facebook and demonstrate that he does not have the alleged trademark rights on Campaigning Summit. Only then we got our Facebook page back. And now he turns to the District Court of Zürich claiming the same misleading nonsense? Who is that guy? Shall I laugh or shall I cry?