Newegg has been the better business disrupting Best Buy for years now

Ah, Best Buy. It's apparently decided to get into the trademark bullying business. The company sent well known online electronics retailer Newegg a cease & desist (shown below) because Newegg is running a marketing campaign called "Geek On" with the "O" in "On" made to look like a "power on" button. Best Buy claims that this is biting off its own Geek Squad logo, which similarly uses a power on button (though, with a tie):

The shirt is Newegg. The callout is Best Buy. And, yes, they look nothing alike. No moron in a hurry is going to be confused here. To make it even more crazy, Best Buy, in true conspiracy theory mode, decides that Newegg is also violating its trademarks because of the following commercial, which pokes fun at Best Buy:

The fake Best Buy employee is depicted as being slovenly and uninformed about computer products, in contrast to your employees who are portrayed as "experts."

Your misuse of our valuable trademarks and your negative portrayal of our employees violate our trademark rights and misleads consumers about our services, in violation of federal and state law. While we welcome fair competition, we cannot tolerate unfair competition that disparages our employees, confuses customers and damages our valuable trademarks and the goodwill associated with those marks. We take great pride in our employees and the high quality of customer service they offer and find your company's focus on our employees in this advertising campaign to be particularly offensive.

Of course, there are all sorts of problems with these claims. The logos looking nothing alike, as we've already discussed, but the whole thing about the TV ad is just ridiculous. There's clearly no trademark issue there, as competitors are absolutely allowed to poke fun at each other. No one is going to think that Best Buy "sponsored" the Newegg commercial. There's no consumer confusion at all. More amusingly, the fact that Best Buy thinks that Newegg is portraying Best Buy employees says a lot about how Best Buy views its own employees.

Of course, as many are pointing out, this whole thing has done the exact opposite of what Best Buy probably wanted. First, it's driven a ton of attention to Newegg's commercial, but more importantly, it's made Newegg supporters -- who are generally quite tech savvy -- really dislike Best Buy even more than they may have already. Newegg had posted the C&D letter on its Facebook page, and the response are almost universally anti-Best Buy:

Best Buy apparently believes it owns the colors black, orange, and blue in the context of the electronics retail industry. Seems a bit greedy for one company, doesn't it?

Ahahaha, the commercial never once said it was supposed to represent Best Buy, but now everyone is going to associate it with them since Best Buy obviously thinks it could only be them and who is going to argue with that? And to top it off they've filed such an obviously bogus lawsuit over it.

That symbol is a reference to an open/closed circuit, and has been associated with the 'power button' for longer than either of them has been at this.

"The fake Best Buy employee is depicted as being slovenly and uninformed about computer products, in contrast to your employees who are portrayed as "experts.""

Being uninformed is pretty much the default for BB employees, with as many items as there are in the store finding the guy that actually knows about the thing you are asking about is generally quite difficult.

If the logos did look sufficiently alike to be a violation, then I'm pretty sure the bb trademark shouldn't be valid since the power icon was around long before bestbuy.

The idea of Best Buy claiming trademark on the ubiquitous power symbol for a computer has my head reeling. If the people at Best Buy are so computer illiterate that they think that that claim makes any sense whatsoever, then they're obviously not fit to run any sort of computer store.

lol, I didn't even notice they both had the work "geek" until you mentioned it. They must have trademarked that word too! All I saw was a generic orange power button on one, and a logo made from a power button and a tie on the other.

Also, cracks me up that they are claiming infringingment because the guy in the video is wearing a blue golf shirt and acting like an idiot. Idiots in blue golf shirts *must* be bestbuy! that is *our* thing, you can't have that in your video!

I guess they need to sue Apple, who's been using that as power button for years. They also need to sue a bunch of TV stations, as the entire "Groupe TVA" uses that logo as well.

I used to love Best Buy but last year while checking out on their web site using my Best Buy credit card (which I'd used A LOT and always paid off quickly) and they wanted me to add yet another credit card #. That's when I said my good-bye's to Best Buy.

Newegg has been the better business disrupting Best Buy for years now. Best Buy is getting more desperate. Now begins some of the final maneuvers of a dying company, like the Lakers fowling everyone in the last 2 minutes of a basketball game.

I use it often and highly recommend it. They don't always have the best price, but the price is always reasonable and the experience excellent in my opinion.

Best Buy is doing fine. Up until 1998, their stock was always below $10, but has been above $20 ever since, and is now more like $30. They are a long way from death's door. This isn't Blockbuster video.

Geeks will always know what they want and seek out online deals and reviews from other tech-savvy communities. But impatient people, and people without a clue will still go to Best Buy to buy stuff. And yes, even to get advice from their clueless sales staff.

Reason being, an "expert" is anyone who the customer perceives to be better informed than they are. For the average geek, a BB rep is an ill-informed, poser douche. For the average American, he is that whiz kid who knows that an Athlon is from AMD and Core is from Intel. Wow! Where did he learn it all?! Which one is better? He'll make up an answer, and the customer won't know the difference.

The BB reps, as tech illiterate as they may appear to me, can actually help a customer who is completely clueless. I've overheard simple questions like "But can I use a Linksys WiFi card on my Cisco WiFi thingy?" The BB guy will know the answer. Someone on the thread suggested going to BB to videotape how dumb the reps are. Instead, if you really want a laugh, focus the camera on how dumb the customers are.

I only shop at WorstBuy if they are the only ones that have something a customer needs immediately. And, only if CompUSA doesn't have it.I hate their email policy too. (BB)

If it's for me, I wait for NewEgg's order to come in. Bare drive doesn't come with a manual or cable (or box)? Excellent, save me some money. I don't need them.

Now Newegg is giving out 5000 free "Geek On" shirts via facebook and their website. Great promotion, thanks to Best Buy! Striesand in full effect!

I think they JUST opened a will call in CA. Newegg has always been an online store. They ship FAST, though. If you order by early Wednesday, chances are you'll get it by Friday! Like their motto: Once you know, you Newegg! So true. I found them about 4 years ago and have gotten them so much word of mouth business. You just can't beat their prices! Their reviews are AWESOME because it's people like you and I doing the reviews. Just find something you're looking for and you'll probably be able to get a better one for the same amount of money you would spend elsewhere. Be sure to hit their mailing list where you get e-mail coupon codes on a daily basis! There's always memory or CPUs or something on sale.

Wonder if its just advertising if if Newegg is going to start competing with GeekSquad. That could be a big deal for WorstTry and cause some execs and lawyers to go ballistic start suing.

Anyone who truly knows anything about the world of building computers, gamers who custom build thier machines,for one example wold never buy from a place like BB anyways. The real issue here is not copywright, but the fact that there are too many lawyers working for these giant companies. They have nothing better to do than waste time with these stupid claims. It's like apple suing every company on earth for making touch screen phones. If these companys want to win customers they need to focus more on making their own prodcts and services better, and not trying to make the other companies look worse.

I will only use BB during Black Friday or if I already know what I want and they actually have the better price. Have been a loyal Newegg customer for a few years now. And thanks to where I live, I have another local option called Frys Electronics where I can get stuff fast and cheap when needed. Now I may not give BB any of my Christmas shopping money any more!

If you honestly didn't think that they were poking fun at best buy, you are an idiot or have never went into a best buy before. So to all that say I would have never put two and two together, stop lying because you know that is exactly what new egg was doing. Now with that said... I think it is an ingenious ad. A little compettion never hurt anyone. Grow up best buy and take it like the company you are. I am sure in the life span of circut you had to have ran an ad similar to this one.

They could have been poking fun at Walmart. But Best buy stepped up to the plate to say "we can't believe you would do such a thing!"