LONDON — British pro domme LadybossUK has received notice from Microsoft lawyers filing to stop her move to trademark the name "KinkedIn." The burgeoning entrepreneur was attempting to claim the name for her new online BDSM community.
“The kink scene in the U.K. is pretty poor, pretty behind the times and cloak-‘n-dagger,” LadybossUK said. “There are only a few sites worth their salt and none of them seemed to have everything I wanted: instant chatting, uncensored photos, video chats, a public verification process, chat rooms and an optional ghost mode to hide.”
So LadybossUK teamed up with a technology-minded friend to create 'Kinkedin,' which she says has found popularity in Los Angeles as well as the U.K.
“We wanted to keep this as a personal site, built for the users and their requirements — we want your feedback,” LadybossUK said. “And we want to address the fact that there’s a real shortage of ladies on kink sites, so we’ve given all women free access to the site’s premium areas. Lastly, we wanted to be affordable so we charge an optional premium fee of $5.50.
“So far there’s been only one hiccup,” LadybossUK explained, “we seem to have encountered the Microsoft lawyers along the way.”
The issue arose when Microsoft filed a formal opposition in response to LadybossUK’s August trademark application filed with the U.K. Intellectual Property Office because of similarities to the name of its site, LinkedIn.
LadybossUK says that she tried to contact Microsoft for a compromise but was unable to reach its lawyers after a number of attempts.
She says time is of the essence as she has only a matter of weeks to build a case arguing for the trademark's legitimacy — namely that they target different clients in a different market.
“Any Kinky IPO lawyers out there than can give us some pro- boner — sorry, pro bono — help,” LadybossUK jokes, “feel free to get in touch.”
Follow 'Kinkedin' on Twitter and Instagram. Registration for the site is now open at KinkedIn.one.
