When we recently wrote about a round of funding raised by RoundPegg, we dubbed it the ‘eHarmony for jobs’ in the article headline. eHarmony was none too pleased and actually wrote an email to us saying that the use of the name ‘eHarmony’ in such a manner could lead to genericization of the brand. Which tempts us to do it more often, of course.
Anyway, we were almost done laughing about the whole ordeal, but now RoundPegg has apparently come back for round two, requesting that we correct our article because eHarmony’s letter could lead to ‘denerdification of the RoundPegg Trademark’.
The Denerdification of the RoundPegg Trademark
Hello,
On March 9, 2011 you ran a letter from the eHarmony(TM) legal department improperly insinuating that RoundPegg has a mere one algorithm. I’m sure you can appreciate that the allegation of being mono-algorithmic leads to the denerdification of what we’re doing and therefore must be addressed.
As RoundPegg matches people to company culture, team dynamics and manager communication style, the use of a single algorithm would presume that we view ‘matching’ as one dimensional. Neither people nor companies are that simplistic.
We request that you correct the letter you received and pluralize the word in all future writings when referring to RoundPegg.
Respectfully yours.
+brent
co-ceo | founder
RoundPegg
In case you were wondering, RoundPegg is poking fun at the letter eHarmony sent us. For your background, this is it with emphasis ours (and we swear this one wasn’t written as a joke):
Genericization of “eHarmony” trademark
Hello,
On February 18, 2011, TechCrunch correspondent Leena Rao published an article entitled “RoundPegg Raises $1.27 Million To Be The eHarmony For Jobs.” While we appreciate the reference to our business and matching technology that were intended to be communicated via the title, I’m sure you can appreciate that such use of our eHarmony brand can lead to genericization of the brand, thereby affecting the goodwill and other intangible trademark rights we have so heavily invested in.
From that perspective, we ask that TechCrunch refrain from using the eHarmony brand in any way that would compare other companies’ products to that of ours, especially when it comes to their matching technology or algorithm (e.g. “eHarmony of ___________”).
Thanks for your attention to this matter.
Best Regards,
Steve
————————————————————————————————————
Steve S. Nikkhou || Sr. Director, Legal Affairs || eHarmony, Inc.
Hopefully RoundPegg’s letter will lead to defuzzification of the whole situation.