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Be careful of how you use the word Backcountry! Especially if it's part of a business you're starting.

WaterGirl

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
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newboots

Angel Diva
What about all the small companies that they bullied and that have had to spend thousands of dollars to litigate and/ or rebrand? General feeling seems to be that the apology letter is BS and doesn't help out the 50+ small businesses they have harassed over the years.

I agree. Throughout reading the letter, all I could think of were the small companies who had already lost their suits, or settled, and had to give up their names. What a blow to a small business!
 

mustski

Angel Diva
The fact is that the general public has very little insight into the real nitty gritty of everything that goes on behind the scenes in any industry.
The reality is that trademark protection is part of business and litigation has been standard procedure for years. I think if you all do your research, there will be very few companies you can support. Check out some of Patagonia's litigious history.
 

lisamamot

Angel Diva

nopoleskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I agree. Throughout reading the letter, all I could think of were the small companies who had already lost their suits, or settled, and had to give up their names. What a blow to a small business!


My thoughts too
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
The reality is that trademark protection is part of business and litigation has been standard procedure for years. I think if you all do your research, there will be very few companies you can support. Check out some of Patagonia's litigious history.
Yes, but I still don't think it's right that they can file to cancel other people's existing trademarks. The others had them first. It would be different if the others had filed after backcountry.com, but that's not what happened, at least in several of the cases.
 

mustski

Angel Diva
I did a quick search. Perhaps because of how environmentally active they are their trademark suits have gotten buried pages back? I did find this, but it is against a giant and rightfully so....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/04/10/patagonia-anheuser-busch-this-lawsuits-you/
That's just the most recent one so it's big news. They've been suing for years on trademark issues. All were rightful lawsuits, but in one case they sued somebody who had made a whopping $25 profit. They are also suing to keep someone from selling Patagonia products on Amazon because they are not an official dealer of Patagonia products. It should be interesting to see how that works out. Disney is another huge offender in this type of lawsuit. When I was a theater teacher, I produced MANY Disney musicals - in fact all of them at one time or another. I was called into the DO and warned NOT to show the movies in my classroom. Even though I had purchased the rights to produce the musicals and had purchased all the necessary materials, it did not include permission for "public" screenings of their movies. The DO lawyers warned me that when Disney sues - they sue the individual as well as the entity and they do not stop until they have taken every last penny you have. I still produced Disney musicals for the next 20 years, I just was VERY careful. I love Disney, but I wouldn't want to cross them.
 

geargrrl

Angel Diva
I get where Disney is coming from but the word "Disney" is not in common usage. Disney is a whole different category of brand/trademark protection.

Patagonia has had a few trasgressions that have been possibly heavy handed, bit imsho nowhere near the level of what backcountry.com has been doing.
 

mustski

Angel Diva
I get where Disney is coming from but the word "Disney" is not in common usage. Disney is a whole different category of brand/trademark protection.

Patagonia has had a few trasgressions that have been possibly heavy handed, bit imsho nowhere near the level of what backcountry.com has been doing.
I'm not talking trademark issues with Disney. I'm talking about suing individuals within an inch of their life for a copyright infringement - ie: public viewing of a Disney movie in a classroom. Patagonia has more than a "few" ... they've been doing this for years. Look. My point is this ... by all means vote with your wallets. I do for sure. Just understand that there was some sort of coordinated effort here to shame Backcountry while ignoring what Patagonia has been doing, and Apple, and Disney.
 

Bookworm

Angel Diva
"They are also suing to keep someone from selling Patagonia products on Amazon because they are not an official dealer of Patagonia products."
THIS I understand. It's a way to protect the integrity of your products.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member

VickiK

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Maybe they caved looking ahead to the Black Friday/Xmas season. Whatever, this sounds like good news, I will be reading the latest news.
 

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