I've received my fair share of C&Ds during my career. Usually they are, "this is what we have issues with, fix it by this date or else." This one was different. They want the site completely taken down and killed by the 21st. I created a review site, and dug up dirt on every competitor and posted it. All the info is legit and they are stating it is not true and are a HUGE law firm. We're talking about 500+ lawyers. I was smart enough to register the domain overseas and host overseas as well. I represent the little guy and seems they are fully focused on Trump's latest executive action which does not force financial advisors to act in the customer's best interest. They clearly do not.
Looking for advice on how you have proceeded on C&Ds with a tight turnaround time. This is probably not something I could get my attorney to look at so quick and do a response. My gut just wants to fire up XRumer with the attorney name and spam Google so when he types his name "goat ****er" appears after it. Yeah, childish I know, but I SO want to do it.
Let's have a good discussion, yes?
The billion-dollar chemical company that went after me backed off for a bit when I had Poyner-Spruill send them a Go-F*ck-Yourself reply on their 500-lawyer letterhead. 'Course, that cost me $1200 (or was it $1800? I'm getting old). Still, I figured they were going to regroup and come after me until one of us ran out of money, so I sold the domain to the chem co for $9k and rights to use the disputed trademarks phrases in similar domains. Not bad for a domain in 1995, but I'd have rather kept it.
RCJordan,
Well played! I'd rather tell them the Go-F-Yourself route. This campaign is pulling serious $$$ and we got a little too aggressive with our finger pointing. Granted, the money making domain is not the one they fingered. I guess they are just stupid, but it is a matter of time until they hit that one too. My understanding of the Lantham act is that it just protects trademarks.
Has anyone here used the "our site got hacked" as an excuse and did it hold up?
Maybe I PM you and get the name of that law firm. Or I create my own letterhead of
"The Law Partners of Go-F-Yourself"
I found the personal email of the lead attorney. I am so tempted to do an XRumer run on it.
I've had too much to drink and still pissed as hell.
http://www.poynerspruill.com/Offices
I've used the Raleigh office for intellectual property. I don't really have good contacts there anymore, though. All of them retired young on my money.
I can make recommendations for lawyers...
I have used Taylor Wessing a lot. They're a "big city" firm but the partner I dealt with didn't charge that way, although he did charge well - as such they do have presence in the US East and West coast.
However, I've also used and can vouch for a few smaller one man band legal firms, where the solicitors are ex city firms guys.
With that said, I think practical answers are the possible better route to go down... if only as a place holder.
Something along the lines of....
Dear sir
I acknowledge receipt of your letter dated XX.XX.XXXX.
I am responding not to give you a definitive answer to this problem, but to let you know I am currently in the process of taking legal advice and my lawyers will respond more fully in time. While acknowledging you have given me a hard deadline to respond, my lawyers may not get back to you within that time frame.
Whatever course of action you decide to take, is of course your decision; but I ask for courtesy and respect of the real world and timescales within.
As such here are my current thoughts. Please appreciate I say these views as a layman and not a lawyer and any advice I am given by my legal team that I agree with, will supercede any and all views below. I also stress the following is without prejudice to any future contact from myself or my advisors.
I send this response to open a dialogue with you. No more and no less..
f### you!
f### you in the butt!
f### you in the butt with lube laced with sharp sand!
f### you in the butt with lube laced with sharp sand and a large truncheon!
We provide a service to the internet community in ensuring that truth prevails and understanding of real world experiences are shared. As such we trawl the web to find information, sometimes negative, sometimes positive, so consumers are informed and can make a decision on their provider with a balance of experiences from their past customers.
This collection of information from external sources is no different to Google crawling the web and finding information then displaying it within their site. Other organisations do this too, such as the Better Business Bureau who report and score organisations and their successes, failures and differences with their customers and clients.
If the allegations and complaints are false, then this is a matter for the person who stated them, not us, as we are merely reporting on them and simply a conduit for others to find this information.
However, I do believe I am a fair person and want to offer to you without prejudice, 2 options.
1. I am happy to include your response to the allegations alongside the allegations and complaints made by others and once received will include it alongside the complaints.
2. If you can provide me notarised copies of retraction from the original authors then I will remove the content as it would then be clear the original creator of the words and statements no longer believed in them.
If you agree to this please let me know and I will enact it.
If you do not, you will have to wait until I have received advice from my lawyers, who I am pretty confident will tell me that the fr## sp##ch given to American citizens under the 1st Amendment prevails in American's rights to report on other's views and comments.
However, as your letter to me shows you know and understand, please be aware that I am not American, not a citizen of the United States, not based within the United States and neither is my server.
As such your threats of XXXXXXXXX are unenforceable against me even if you were to succeed through litigation with them, which I very much doubt you would for the reasons stated above and the US legal system not having jurisdiction in this matter.
I look forward to hearing from you and thank you in bearing with me while I wait to hear from my notoriously slow lawyers.
Yours
Cabo
>something
Art. Pure Art Jason. I enjoyed that.
Okay, so I thought I'd give an update because it has been a week from hell.
The biggest lesson is always have a great (not good) attorney in your back pocket. He fired off a "fuck you" letter to opposing counsel and then had a nice talking to me. We did take the sites down for two days and then put them back up. Google is still a bitch and not all of our rankings are back, which caused us to generate ZERO leads for the week. I HATE not making money...
But here was the conversation between myself and my attorney:
Him: "Take down the content."
Me: "No, I won't be bullied."
Him: "Is the content making you money?"
Me: "No, I just wanted to air their dirty laundry and rank for their trademarked term."
Him: "Take down the fucking content, put back up your site and get focused on making money again."
Me: "Okay."
Him: "And try not to be such an asshole."
Me: "Not possible."
Him: "I know."
This is by no means over, we are just in a much better position than we were in a week ago. Bottom line, companies like to threaten with big time attorneys. Fire back with a big time attorney. Mine is full partner at a NYC firm. I'm pretty sure if you used Legal Zoom you're gonna have a bad time.
I'll give the full summary once this is put to bed.
> Art
thank you
> Good lawyer
Good man and glad you took his sensible advice!
Had one once, got quite heavy.
These cunts were ripping people off, saying they were from Google. They were not.
I outranked them for their name.
In the end they went for my host, who is a friend, he did not need the hassle. I had to back down.
>I just wanted
Once, when I was puffing up and blustering over an escalating legal situation, I muttered to my lawyer "It's the principle involved." The lawyer, a good friend of mine who is a wealthy, successful attorney quipped seriously; "Ahh! You know, RC, It's the principle is a lawyer's favorite phrase. It means we're going to make a whole lot of money representing you for a long time."
Mad Mick Gammage once said to me, principles don't make you any money though do they. I think this was self taught lesson he had picked up along the way :-)
> It's the principle is a lawyer's favorite phrase. It means we're going to make a whole lot of money representing you for a long time.
True dat.