I'm slightly more sympathetic having heard their side--there is more to it than just random legal threats out of the blue. ..BUT.. This suit revolves more around "we felt wronged" than "this clearly infringes our trademark." The only similarity in the trademark is the word "who." The law is the law, your feelings are irrelevant.
Besides starting with the same keyword, Hear and Near have the same visual shape and sound almost identical. I think it's very similar, in my opinion, certainly enough to confuse a potential user. If you don't defend your trademark, you lose it.