The FCC recently launched an application to test mobile broadband speeds. FCC Consumer Broadband Test & Deadzone Report.  We would like to politely ask the FCC to stop using our trademark for a product that competes with our service Report Broadband Dead Zones.  Name it anything you want just don't use the term "dead zone" or "dead zones".

We are pursuing this matter through the press so we do not waste additional taxpayer dollars on lawyers that are not needed to resolve a simple issue.  Our request is similar to Verizon's violation of our trademark in 2008 using their Verizon 3G Dead Zones Commercial back in 2008 during the Super Bowl.  They kindly cooperated thanks to some helpful Verizon PR folks and the term has not been used in a commercial.

We request that the FCC name its' mobile measurement product anything other than Dead Zones, 3G Dead Zones, 4G Dead Zones, LTE Dead Zones, Dead Cell Zones, Broadband Dead Zones or Wi-Fi Dead Zones  as we have worked very hard to build our brand and don't need the government stepping on our efforts.  It should not be too hard to change the name since this is the first day in use and this is your first notification.  Their are plenty of other terms available to use that make the point such as: Slow Connections, Poor Connections, Dropped calls, Dead Spots, Dead Patches, Dead Areas, Poor Coverage would be terms that would be more appropriate and might be available without violating our trademark.

We have spent almost ten years building our brand and don't want it destroyed by big government and the lack of due diligence . The FCC has 1,900 employees and is supposed to act as an "independent agency" of the US government with an approximate budget of $466 million which is funded by $1 million in taxpayer appropriations and the rest in regulatory fees paid by the largest telecom companies in the US (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Cox, Comcast, TimeWarner, CableVision, etc. It doesn't sound too independent when 99% of your revenue comes from the companies you are supposed to regulate.  $465 million of your dollars are funded by organizations that don't like our service because it exposes their bullshit coverage maps.

We have offered to donate our data for free to the FCC yet they can't take our dead data because of political pressure from their customer the wireless carrier.  This lack of administrative accountability on behalf of the taxpayer is ridiculous.

As a side note, if you think using the term "Broadband" as a a loop hole you are wrong.  The term refers to cell phone connectivity according to Wikipedia (broadband). Dead Zones can also refer to Ocean Dead Zones (Ecology) but this is clearly under different context and not in violation.

We also have an iPhone in the approval process and guess what its called "Dead Zones" using our trademark