Nothing like alienating your target customers. Even though it doesn't mean
much, the archives will provide a date as to when the page in question was
truly posted.
I don't personally believe they have a case, neither you or Rob are selling
them, your just stating how Rob fabricated a home made set. Patent laws when
never intended to prevent people from fabricating items for personal use.
However, they still have the right to file a lawsuit over intellectual
property. I don't think they would have a snowball's chance in Hell of
winning, but let's face it, it's not who's right or wrong or who came up
with the idea first, it's who could afford the better lawyer. The system
sucks!
Respond to him and give him two options.
(ONE) Ask him to allow you to leave the page up with modifications.
Basically offer to remove some of the design details while recommending his
product on the page. Even offer to provide links to his site.
(TWO) Replace the current page in question with one that contains the full
text if all the emails from Trail Sport Unlimited as well as your side of
the story. Plus at the top of the page in VERY BOLD letters a message that
states, "The 800+ members of the DML are boycotting this product by Trail
Sport Unlimited for this reason and ask you to do the same. If you are
interested in purchasing a superior item, we recommend Cal-Trac bars" and
provide a link to Cal-Trac.
The DML has 800+ members and Dakota-Truck.NET has had nearly 200,000 hits to
date. We have the ability to persuade alot of potential customers. Make
sure he understands it's not just 2 guys here, but a large, international
club with many members.
Walt Felix
88½ Dakota Sport 4x4, 2000 Ram 1500 QuadCab Sport 4x4 and a 67 Barracuda
Coupe 340/4Speed
Walt@Walt-n-Ingrid.COM
http://WWW.Walt-n-Ingrid.COM
http://WWW.MoparsinMotion.COM
> -----Original Message-----
>From: Jon [mailto:jon@twistedbits.net]
>Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2000 1:19 PM
>To: Dakota Mailing List
>Subject: DML: DML and Patent violation problem
>
>
>
>
> I thought I would post this here to see if there is anyone on the
>list with any experience in this realm, so I can figure out what to
>do. What do you folks think?
>
> The short story is:
>
> I got a message from this guy saying Rob Cobb's homemade traction
>bars on the web site are in violation of their patent. I did a search
>on www.uspto.gov but couldn't find their patent. I wrote back and
>they said it was pending. (See the text included below for the full
>correspondence.)
>
> The page in question is:
>
> http://dakota-truck.net/upgrades/TBARS/tbars.html
>
> I am not sure of the exact date, but I do know that it has been
>on-line since March of 1997 at the latest. According to them,
>Rob's traction bars are "an exact replica". If they are just getting
>their patent now, do they have a case? Does anyone have any
>suggestions?
>
> Thanks very much in advance!!
>
>
> -Jon-
>
> .---- Jon Steiger ----- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@twistedbits.net
>- ------.
> | Affiliations: AOPA, DoD, EAA, NMA, NRA, SPA, USUA; Rec & UL Pilot -
>SEL
>|
> | '92 Ram 150 4x4 V8, '96 Dakota V8, '96 Intruder 1400, '96 FireFly 447
>|
> `------------------------------ http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/
>- ----'
>
>- --------------------------------------------
> > > >Jon,
> > > >We would like to notify you that the traction bars illustrated
> > > > in the page that we have fowarded, are an exact replica of
> > > >our traction bars. We would like to inform you that you and
> > > >the author are infringing on our patent rights.
> > > >Please remove this item from
> > > >your page immediatly. This is just a friendly notice, as you
> > > >were probably unaware of this. We consistantly check different
> > > >pages to ensure that none of our exclusive products are being
> > > > duplicated in any way.
> > > >
> > > >If you have any questions please e mail or call 909 825 2818.
> > > >Thank you,
> > > >Julio Monroy
> > > >Trail Sport Unlimited, Inc.
> > >
> > > Julio,
> > >
> > > Thanks for writing. You are correct, I was unaware that there were
>any
> > > patent claims for that traction bar design. However, I have been
>unable
>to
> > > find any patents filed by yourself or Trail Sport Unlimited. (I am
> > > assuming it was filed under a different name.) Could you please write
>back
> > > to me with the patent number to assist me in locating it? Thanks very
>much!
> > >
> >
> > Jon,
> > Thanks for your e mail. As of today, the patent is pending. It
>will
>be
> > issued any day and at that time our company plans on
> > enforcing it to it's full extent. This means that both you and Rob will
>be held
> > liable for any damages. Just for verification do a search (you probably
>already
> > have) under traction bars or Trail Sport and you will see that this
>corporation
> > owns the product Rob copied.
> >
> > Thank you for your time,
> > Julio Monroy
> > Trail Sport Unlimited, Inc.
>
>------------------------------
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