Specialized Sue War Vet For use of Roubaix??
12-08-13, 06:13 AM
#51
You can trademark a city name? Really? That sounds ridiculous.
And outrageous. The limit of my Specialized purchases has been a Toupe a few years ago, but I will never purchase a Specialized product again, and will definitely go out of my way to dissuade other people from purchasing anything from the company.
And outrageous. The limit of my Specialized purchases has been a Toupe a few years ago, but I will never purchase a Specialized product again, and will definitely go out of my way to dissuade other people from purchasing anything from the company.
There is the product, good or bad..generally a mixture of both, the vast amount of people that create said product and then a handful of corporate puke lawyers that decide to litigate because they can and feel a need to which is totally disconnected from the integrity of the product and the people that create it. If I had this attitude and did my homework thoroughly, I would be living in a tent except dam Omar I just found out sued some guy because his tent stakes were similar...so now I must live in a tree fort.
Average Joe has no idea about the world of law suits. If there is a grey area the public is completely ignorant about, it is the companies...and this includes name brand companies that ship safety critical product, knowing that on a statistical basis, there is no such thing as a perfectly safe, safety critical product. There is no ideal world, just shades of grey.
12-08-13, 06:38 AM
#52
I always love the 'boycott' attitude. I will never buy an Apple product...or I will never buy another Chevy because...
There is the product, good or bad..generally a mixture of both, the vast amount of people that create said product and then a handful of corporate puke lawyers that decide to litigate because they can and feel a need to which is totally disconnected from the integrity of the product and the people that create it. If I had this attitude and did my homework thoroughly, I would be living in a tent except dam Omar I just found out sued some guy because his tent stakes were similar...so now I must live in a tree fort.
Average Joe has no idea about the world of law suits. If there is a grey area the public is completely ignorant about, it is the companies...and this includes name brand companies that ship safety critical product, knowing that on a statistical basis, there is no such thing as a perfectly safe, safety critical product. There is no ideal world, just shades of grey.
There is the product, good or bad..generally a mixture of both, the vast amount of people that create said product and then a handful of corporate puke lawyers that decide to litigate because they can and feel a need to which is totally disconnected from the integrity of the product and the people that create it. If I had this attitude and did my homework thoroughly, I would be living in a tent except dam Omar I just found out sued some guy because his tent stakes were similar...so now I must live in a tree fort.
Average Joe has no idea about the world of law suits. If there is a grey area the public is completely ignorant about, it is the companies...and this includes name brand companies that ship safety critical product, knowing that on a statistical basis, there is no such thing as a perfectly safe, safety critical product. There is no ideal world, just shades of grey.
12-08-13, 06:43 AM
#53
Professional Fuss-Budget
It really does come down to the shop owner not being able to foot the bill to defend the name.
12-08-13, 06:46 AM
#54
Professional Fuss-Budget
...what would be cool would be if the town of Roubaix were to file suit against Specialized, Inc et al for assuming trademark rights to the name of their town....
Originally Posted by rousseau
You can trademark a city name? Really? That sounds ridiculous.
Nope. You can trademark the name of a city, for specific purposes like this.
If it was just a coffee shop, there'd be no lawsuit. The guy builds wheels, thus he has a problem.
12-08-13, 06:47 AM
#55
Senior Member
Let's have a fundraiser to help him fight the soulless corporate giant.
12-08-13, 06:49 AM
#56
Professional Fuss-Budget
It misses all this stuff too:
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/?s=roubaix
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/?s=roubaix
12-08-13, 07:05 AM
#58
Senior Member
in Ottawa, Canada has its own patent trolling company. Yes indeed, Canada does do that kind of business. Wi-Lan.
12-08-13, 07:06 AM
#59
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And nobody forget Coke, the brown fizzy liquid that is. Now there is a soulless corporation. Always beating up on defenseless, but careless restaurants that try to fool clientele into drinking Pep..., uh Peps..., uh Pe.... Nope no matter how hard I try, I just can't utter the name of that foul pretender to the throne of soft drinks. What's a guy to do? Support the evil of litigious yet delicious Coca-Cola, or boycott the big C and drink the undrinkable. Augggh! Is there any justice for the conscientious beverage consumer?
Oh yes, but before I exit this post, I must offer the requisite emoticon, just in case anyone misunderstood:
Oh yes, but before I exit this post, I must offer the requisite emoticon, just in case anyone misunderstood:
12-08-13, 07:07 AM
#60
Professional Fuss-Budget
do you suppose it's a reasonable expectation that a company, whose primary goal is to acquire customers and make a profit should manage it's attorneys actions in a way that promotes goodwill? hell, i'd argue that (apart from their mostly uninspiring products) the fact that they can't leash their attorneys is as good a reason to boycott them as any.
12-08-13, 07:56 AM
#63
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I wonder if he could just rebrand his wheels and keep the shop name.
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12-08-13, 07:58 AM
#64
that's wonderful, because YOU know better and (apparently) WE didn't do our homework, you get to assume the exalted position in judgement of our purchase decisions. do you suppose it's a reasonable expectation that a company, whose primary goal is to acquire customers and make a profit should manage it's attorneys actions in a way that promotes goodwill? hell, i'd argue that (apart from their mostly uninspiring products) the fact that they can't leash their attorneys is as good a reason to boycott them as any.
What you overlook is John Q Smith doesn't know $h!t about Specialized pending lawsuits. They go to the bike shop to buy the best bike and Specialized is probably the premier bike company today. An example is they have been sue happy before and it didn't diminish sales, nor will it this time or the next 500 times. Same applies to other companies.
12-08-13, 08:01 AM
#65
I think his point is that almost every company does this kind of thing. Trek sues people all the time for using the word "Trek" in a business name. Cannondale has trademarked terms such as Daytripper, Hooligan, Perp, Prophet, Rush, Scalpel, Slice, Synapse, Fatty, Jekyll, Gemini and Lefty; use any of these in a bike context, and you can expect a nastygram from a lawyer.
Again, that's not how trademarks work. If you want to keep a trademark active, you have to protect it. You don't have the right to infringe someone else's trademark just because you're a small business.
Again, that's not how trademarks work. If you want to keep a trademark active, you have to protect it. You don't have the right to infringe someone else's trademark just because you're a small business.
Those that can...and especially with deep pockets because they can afford to...do...if they feel they have a case.
12-08-13, 08:04 AM
#66
And nobody forget Coke, the brown fizzy liquid that is. Now there is a soulless corporation. Always beating up on defenseless, but careless restaurants that try to fool clientele into drinking Pep..., uh Peps..., uh Pe.... Nope no matter how hard I try, I just can't utter the name of that foul pretender to the throne of soft drinks. What's a guy to do? Support the evil of litigious yet delicious Coca-Cola, or boycott the big C and drink the undrinkable. Augggh! Is there any justice for the conscientious beverage consumer?
Oh yes, but before I exit this post, I must offer the requisite emoticon, just in case anyone misunderstood:
Oh yes, but before I exit this post, I must offer the requisite emoticon, just in case anyone misunderstood:
Peps-pee is awful.
12-08-13, 08:43 AM
#67
I feel for a small business person but have to side with Specialized. They own the rights to the name and the guy is also marketing wheels under the Roubaix name. It's no different than Giant, Trek, etc. if they don't protect their trademark, they lose it.
It is ironic that Specialized is so litigious. Aren't they the company that got their start by sending a Breezer bike over to Japan to get copied and mass produced? They stole the design but at least they didn't copy the name!
It is ironic that Specialized is so litigious. Aren't they the company that got their start by sending a Breezer bike over to Japan to get copied and mass produced? They stole the design but at least they didn't copy the name!
Last edited by Dannihilator; 12-08-13 at 09:31 AM.
12-08-13, 08:46 AM
#68
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While not a direct donation, it seems like a number of people are buying Cafe Roubaix t-shirts, as it is the easiest way to support them:
https://www.caferoubaix.ca/on-line-st...=0&sort=normal
I think the merino wool jerseys look sharp as well...
https://www.caferoubaix.ca/on-line-st...=0&sort=normal
I think the merino wool jerseys look sharp as well...
12-08-13, 09:05 AM
#70
Senior Member
What needs to happen so they take seriously to all the people who wants to support this war vet is to just go, box your spech cr@p and send it by mail to their corporate office with a letter or a card inside reading "You guys suck!! this is the way you guys threat veterans? This is the way you guys threat LBS owners with your bulling ways?. I'm through with your company forever!!!, here you have your stuff and and shove it up your bu t t . have a nice day!!.
After box number 50 they will realize they screwed up big time, USPS and any Currier if they get enough boxes to fill up trucks going to the corp office with cr@p it will get to the news and the embarrassment will be way to big for them to do nothing, besides they can't stop people from sending their cr@p to them. Just flood them with all the specialized cr@p you have, that will teach them. The biggest issue I see is that was so easy to send a letter to the guy in canada saying... "dude we have rights over the word but you can use it for a dollar per year" and everybody happy, just wonder if spech tried to force the guy to be their dealer and he said no and the thing started from that situation.
I have my shoes and 2 spech saddles boxed and ready to go next week.
After box number 50 they will realize they screwed up big time, USPS and any Currier if they get enough boxes to fill up trucks going to the corp office with cr@p it will get to the news and the embarrassment will be way to big for them to do nothing, besides they can't stop people from sending their cr@p to them. Just flood them with all the specialized cr@p you have, that will teach them. The biggest issue I see is that was so easy to send a letter to the guy in canada saying... "dude we have rights over the word but you can use it for a dollar per year" and everybody happy, just wonder if spech tried to force the guy to be their dealer and he said no and the thing started from that situation.
I have my shoes and 2 spech saddles boxed and ready to go next week.
12-08-13, 09:08 AM
#71
Senior Member
Would Pinarello sue this poor guy if he had named his shop (and wheels) The Dogma Cycle Cafe? I sincerely doubt it. Suing people seems to be Specialized other business.
The English language is full of words that were once trademarked words, such as refrigerator, elevator and escalator. The trademark owners failed to protect the trademark and the word entered into the language's common use. It is the right, indeed the obligation, of the trademark owner to strongly protect its intelectual property.
It seems, however, that in this particular case Specialized would have had little to lose by letting the man continue to run his shop using the Roubaix name. What would be the downside to Specialized? The name Roubaix is already part of the common language. That name does not grany any special (specialized?) to their bikes or other products. Slapping the name Roubaix on one of their bikes is like Trek using the name Domane for one of its bike line. It is simply an effort to connect a cycling product to a region rich with cycling history.
If Specialized wanted to be a decent, responsible corporate leader, it could have chosen to sell the shopowner a license to use the name Roubaix. Companies do this all the time; for example the Star Wars people sold a license to the Lego people so Legos could sell its SW line of building toys.
Specialized could have sold the license for a nominal fee, say $1 a year, and then everyone would've been happy. The shopowner could have continued to operate his business and the trademark would have been protected.
Instead, Specialized chose to act like the a r s e-holes they seem to be and decided to hammer this poor guy (giving the Canucks one more reason to hate us).
I have no desire to buy any Specialized product. BUT IF I was in the market for a new bike this would be enough to persuade me to kook elsewhere.
The English language is full of words that were once trademarked words, such as refrigerator, elevator and escalator. The trademark owners failed to protect the trademark and the word entered into the language's common use. It is the right, indeed the obligation, of the trademark owner to strongly protect its intelectual property.
It seems, however, that in this particular case Specialized would have had little to lose by letting the man continue to run his shop using the Roubaix name. What would be the downside to Specialized? The name Roubaix is already part of the common language. That name does not grany any special (specialized?) to their bikes or other products. Slapping the name Roubaix on one of their bikes is like Trek using the name Domane for one of its bike line. It is simply an effort to connect a cycling product to a region rich with cycling history.
If Specialized wanted to be a decent, responsible corporate leader, it could have chosen to sell the shopowner a license to use the name Roubaix. Companies do this all the time; for example the Star Wars people sold a license to the Lego people so Legos could sell its SW line of building toys.
Specialized could have sold the license for a nominal fee, say $1 a year, and then everyone would've been happy. The shopowner could have continued to operate his business and the trademark would have been protected.
Instead, Specialized chose to act like the a r s e-holes they seem to be and decided to hammer this poor guy (giving the Canucks one more reason to hate us).
I have no desire to buy any Specialized product. BUT IF I was in the market for a new bike this would be enough to persuade me to kook elsewhere.
12-08-13, 09:18 AM
#72
Senior Member
I just visited Dan's Facebook page. The outpouring of support is overwhelming!
12-08-13, 09:21 AM
#73
Professional Fuss-Budget
I appreciate the difficulties the owner is facing, but that doesn't empower him to do whatever he wants.
12-08-13, 09:27 AM
#74
well hello there
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I hate Specialized. But unfortunately my butt loves the Toupe.
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Two wheels good. Four wheels bad.
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Two wheels good. Four wheels bad.
12-08-13, 09:40 AM
#75
There are courts of law and courts of public opinion. Specialized may well win this case in the court of law but lose customers as a result. And while people will overlook this & continue to buy their products, reactions like you currently see on the Specialized facebook page can have an effect on future behavior. It's funny to say that Specialize is ok because every company does this but that overlooks that it's lawsuits like these that cause people to choose the little guy to build their bike, the little LBS to support for supplies. Saying everybody does it doesn't make it right, nor does it make me want to support that behavior. This is a black eye for Specialized if enough people believe it's a black eye.
