Nothing get my hackles up like receiving an email like this.
You are in trademark violation by using our trade mark, ******** in your search links. Google has already removed all references and sent and email to our attorney confirming this. Please cease and desist from using our trademark as links to your website.
Now besides the overall offensive tone of this email, the sender completely fails to identify the pages from the website that infringe on the trademark. Not only that, a quick search reveals that though they’ve submitted a trademark application, it hasn’t yet been approved. Also, as far as I can tell, Google hasn’t removed any links to the pages in question.
So is someone spinning a porky or are they just being a little bit flexible with the truth?
As an alternative approach you could try a letter like this.
Dear Webmaster,
we have recently submitted a trademark application for the words ******. A search on Google shows that your webpage http://****** contains content that may infringe on our trademark. Please be advised that unauthorised use of our trademark is an offense under [insert relevant law here] and may result in legal action if you continue to use our trademark in this way,
regards
Mr Anally Retentive Litigious Website Owner