A social media startup called KinkedIn might be stopped by LinkedIn, owned by the tech-behemoth Microsoft. Lawyers for Microsoft sent a legal notice to the operator of KinkedIn when the BDSM startup tried to register a trademark in the UK.
When a dominatrix called LadybossUK looked around through the British BDSM cyberspace she was quickly disappointed. In an interview, she said: »The kink scene in the U.K. is pretty poor, pretty behind the times and cloak-‘n-dagger. There are only a few sites worth their salt and none of them seemed to have everything I wanted: instant chatting, uncensored photos, video chats, a public verification process, chat rooms and an optional ghost mode to hide.«
That’s when the dominatrix decided it was time to fill the gap herself. That’s when the idea for KinkedIn, a social media community for BDSM enthusiasts, was born. »We wanted to keep this as a personal site, built for the users and their requirements — we want your feedback. And we want to address the fact that there’s a real shortage of ladies on kink sites, so we’ve given all women free access to the site’s premium areas. Lastly, we wanted to be affordable so we charge an optional premium fee of $5.50.«
Everything seemed to go along smooth up to the point lawyers from Microsoft stumbled over the startup’s plan to register a trademark under the name of KinkedIn, admittedly close to Microsoft’s own networking social media specialist LinkedIn. LadybossUK said: »So far there’s been only one hiccup. we seem to have encountered the Microsoft lawyers along the way.«
According to the dominatrix, her attempts to contact Microsoft’s legal team to negotiate a compromise have failed. She didn’t reach anyone to make her case. Now she is looking for legal help among Kinksters: »Any Kinky IPO lawyers out there that can give us some pro- boner — sorry, pro bono — help, feel free to get in touch.«
If you are interested to register to the site’s services go to KinkedIn.one. So far the startup company can also be followed on Twitter and Instagram. If you are a lawyer and want to help out, click here and drop LadybossUK a line.