eFax (fax service)

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eFax is a service of j2 Global Communications that allows users to receive and send fax documents in digital format (e.g., in one's email) rather than at a traditional paper fax machine.

1 History
2 Trademark Claim
3 Customer Service
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

eFax began as a service of JetFax, Inc., which in the 80s and 90s manufactured and sold JetFax fax machines. In early 1999, JetFax changed its name to eFax.com, Inc. and began to offer the eFax electronic fax service. During the dotcom boom, their stock shot up but fell during the bust and they ran out of funds. eFax.com was acquired by rival JFAX.COM, which had offered a similar electronic fax service, in late 2000. Upon the purchase, the company changed its name to j2 Global Communications. It has been estimated [1] that the company as a whole has a few hundred thousand paying customers and several million who use its free advertising-supported services.

[edit] Trademark Claim

j2 Global Communications, Inc. claims the exclusive right to use eFax® as a trademark and servicemark to identify the source and origin of its fax products and services. EFAX.COM, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of j2, owns the U.S. Trademark Registration for E-FAX®, which has been registered on the Supplemental Register since April 23, 1993. [2] j2 also claims exclusive rights and has registrations for other marks within the eFax® family of marks. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

The term "E-FAX" is the subject of a 1999 trademark registration application in the USA by E-Fax Communications Inc. ^[1].

Applications for "e- prefix" trademarks have sometimes been rejected as being descriptive, ^[2]. However in its May 12, 2003 U.S. Trademark application filing for the registration of eFax® on the Principal Register, j2 asserted that eFax® had become a distinctive identifier of its products and services as a result of j2’s use and promotion of eFax® in interstate commerce for at least 5 years immediately before the date of the application. j2 submitted evidence in support of its claim. [9] The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) agreed that eFax® had become a distinctive identifier of j2’s products and services and that it should be placed on the principal trademark registry pending publication for opposition. On May 11, 2005, the USPTO published the mark for opposition. [10]. Three entities, all competitors of j2, filed Petitions to oppose the registration. Two of those Petitions were subsequently dismissed with prejudice. One Petition is still pending.

While certain benefits result from a trademark being placed on the USPTO principal trademark registry, federal registration is not required to establish trademark rights. [11]. Common law trademark rights and ownership arise from actual use of a mark and j2 claims such common law rights [12] based upon its use of the marks since at least as early as 1989.

It is worth noting that the Unix/Linux program called "efax" has been produced since 1993 [13] (which is after the date of first use of j2’s predecessor in interest), and the term is also sometimes used to refer to computer-based faxing in general; see examples at [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]. In two cases j2 and eFax.com (prior to j2 acquiring it) initiated domain name disputes against two parties holding domain names containing the word efax or e-fax. [25] [26]. j2 later acquired efax Limited, which was the subject of one of these disputes, as well as its efax.co.uk domain name.

j2 continues to police its rights in the eFax® marks, pursues what it believes are infringing uses and routinely educates and instructs the public regarding the proper usage of the mark. [27]. In addition, j2 uses the eFax® marks around the world and owns registrations for eFax® in the following countries: China (Reg. No.1479915), Germany (Reg. No. 1162245), South Africa (Reg. Nos. 1999/15533, 19999/15534, 1999/15535), and the United Kingdom (Reg. No. 1465992).

[edit] Customer Service

Many customers feel that eFax makes it intentionally difficult to cancel accounts. There is no option to do it online, customers must use the activeX based "livechat" feature. Often customers are billed an additional month of service even after cancelling. See http://www99.epinions.com/bsrv-Office_Services-Online_Fax-All-eFax/display_~reviews