DVLA Accuses Me of Passing Off

This afternoon I received an e-mail from the DVLA:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I’m writing to you because your email address has been brought to our attention. You may not be aware but we have trademarked the acronym ‘DVLA’ along with several other logos, and by using ‘DVLA’ in your email address you are considered to be ‘passing off’ against our trademark/name.

I would appreciate your co?operation in this matter by ceasing to use ‘dvla’ in your email address.

Kind Regards

Now in common with every other supplier or Government agency I deal with, I have set up a specific email address for when I deal with them in the format of {suppliername}@{mydomain} so the only people who would see this address is the DVLA themselves.

I’ve told them not to worry their little heads about it. We’ll see what the two jobsworths – the sender and the person copied in on the email – make of it…