'Gaymer' trademark owner sends Reddit cease and desist (update: site down due to DDOS attack)

Gaymer.org owner Chris Vizzini sent a cease and desist order to Reddit, claiming its r/gamers subreddit is copyright infringement on his trademark of the word "gaymer."

Gaymer.org owner Chris Vizzini sent a cease and desist order to Reddit, claiming its r/gaymers subreddit is copyright infringement on his trademark of the word "gaymer," according to a Reddit forum thread.

Vizzini trademarked the word "gaymer" in 2008, which specifically applies to the hosting and maintenance of video games-oriented websites. Reddit does not plan to ban the subreddit, which has over 16,500 members, but realizes it must find a solution with Vizzini, meaning it may need to change its name.

"I informed the mod team of /r/gaymers that we'd received a cease and desist letter for infringement of the 'gaymer' trademark and that our legal counsel had informed us that the letter presents a real threat that they would sue Reddit," subreddit admin spladug wrote in the thread. "I let them know so that they could start planning how to respond (including seeing if there's any way for them to work things out with the owner of the trademark)."

Vizzini wrote that he emailed Reddit twice asking the site to rename the subreddit, but received no response. He claims that he must defend the use of the trademark in order for him to keep it.

"I started Gaymer.org in 2003 and began to build Gaymer as a brand," he wrote in another thread. "That's why I trademarked and word marked the name."

"I cannot stress this enough. I have no problem with other gay gaming sites," he added. "I think it's great others exist. The only problem I have is when the Gaymer name is used. That infringes on the word mark."

Vizzini has not claimed infringement from programs such as GaymerCon because the event is not an online community.

Update: Currently Gaymer.org is offline due to "a DDOS attack resulting from all the bad press," Vizzini told Polygon in an email, stating his internet provider terminated his account.

"One thing I would like to add is that I never asked for a ban or that the site to be taken down," he said. "Nor did I threaten to sue anyone. I asked that the sub reddit be renamed. Someone leaked the wrong information that I was trying to close them down and sue. That was never the case. It blew up from there. I'm currently working on getting the site back online."