When Classmates.com rebranded as MemoryLane.com, users who were angry at...
When Classmates.com rebranded as MemoryLane.com, users who were angry at the social network for its marketing practices -- the subject of a settlement (WID March 2 p7) -- instead bombarded a sports memorabilia company with the same name, according to…
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a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif. Memory Lane Inc., which operates MemoryLaneInc.com, said its reputation was tarnished because of the Classmates.com rebranding. Classmates.com customers have contacted Memory Lane Inc. “on numerous occasions” starting in February, claiming the company has “defrauded them or is the source of credit card charges they wish to dispute,” the lawsuit said. Memory Lane Inc. said Classmates.com misappropriated its name “in a willful attempt to piggyback off of plaintiff’s good will and reputation in the memorabilia industry,” and it has suffered economic and good-will losses from customers. It asked for a permanent injunction stopping Classmates.com from using the “Memory Lane” name. MemoryLane.com redirects to Classmates.com but the landing page is dominated by the Memory Lane business, which offers access to classic movies, albums, magazines, video and celebrities going back to the 1940s, in addition to a social network based on old yearbooks. Though United Online owns Classmates.com, it’s not named in the lawsuit. We couldn’t immediately reach United Online for comment. The Senate Commerce Committee has said Classmates.com was the biggest beneficiary of so-called datapass marketing, in which websites’ customers unwittingly sign up for third-party marketing offers during the checkout process and have their payment information handed over without their knowledge (WID Nov 18/09 p1).