Cease and desist request - So-Cal Speed shop VS So-Cheap

I was looking for some info on building some cupboards and I just stumbled across these CHARISMA CARPENTER PICS... honest...

Hey DrJ, maybe next time I'm in the US we can have a SlayerFest!!!

 

Can't beleive it
Here in Europe, So-cal is very famous! It's a Must for all the ''Vondutch '' guys
for sure i'm going to order So cheap teeshirt now!
and wear it for big meeting!!!!

Fuck the factory customize

 

I say we wear the patches upside down like they did with
Harley Davidson... Fuck the factory..!!

or the tried and true circle/slash, or how about BOTH..!!!

I think SoCal SS will get more bad publicity than anything,
but as we all know, ANY publicity is good publicity......

 

went to midway diner on the way to carlile ordered breakfast and a large tomato juice, waitress brought me a large canadain goose, i just wanted in on this thread Flatdog

 

My dream ride is STILL Jenifer Aniston on top of a dryer at the local laundromat...dripping with sweat...

 

....

 

I was hoping that pic would come out...

Play with fire and get burned. And yes, we drive an import and shop at Wal Mart. It's America, get over it.

Jay

FWIW, I love the so-cheap stuff. And corporate greed sux. I hope that it works out for ya, so cheap...

 

I dont know nuthin. I just think its funny that Sowhat Clarks name keeps getting used for So cheap.

 

no, no, no...sowhat's on "second"!!!!

 

So Gay's on third
CLARK

 

I may be mistaken.......but I believe they have to sue you where this offense/violation occured. In PA. I do not see them coming to PA over a few shirts. I was sued by a low-life, lying, check forging SOB a few years ago and he lives elsewhere......he had to sue me in my hometown. He got $500.......just because the jury wanted to go home......could not agree and gave him $500.It cost him more than that.



Talk to the lawyer......

 

Hmmmm... 13 pages and all I can think about is Jennifer Anniston and a laundry mat... I feel SO CHEAP

 

more

 

After plowing my thru 13 very enjoyable pages of banter, I'd have to say FUCK big business and business man with little dicks!!

Time they all loosened up, and saw the humour in what was an indirect plug for their "SO-COOL" ploy to get the gold chainers to part with their green so they can get into their SO-GAY clone and eat shitty burgers with their fellow small minded SO-GAY clone owners.

fuck - can;t even say "your fired" 'cause some guy with a bad hair do has made a claim on it!!! Get real!!!

What's next - you can't use a tube crossmember in your duece chassis, 'cause it looks a little like the one that some-one else markets??? Or you can't use Buick Brake Drums as it looks a little like the ones we produce.

I'll order any number of the upside down "NO SO_GAY Spoon Shop" tm logos.

To get around the problem - look into registering your company off-shore, and use a series of companies all headed up by a dog to hide the real ownership of the "So-Cheap" logo. Just a thought.

 

So you folks that want a so-cheap shirt just go buy a tee and get the so-cheap logo printed on your own shirt. You're not selling anything or makin a profit if you make it for yourself. I guess I can fuck off at work since my boss can't tell me "you're fired" since its copyrighted now...

 

Big A tires (a tire shop with multiple stores) is suing my place of employment over our house brand Big End...

BECAUSE IT USES THE WORD 'BIG' IN THE TITLE!
(different fonts, different colors... ours is in all caps there's isnt... and

BIG END DOESN'T SELL TIRES!

(see phrase below...)

 

I don't know law. I do however have some clients that are lawyers. I believe (feel free to correct me with great enthusiasm) that lawyers are paid based on their legal actions... in that if they bust someone for trademark or copyright infringment, then they can bill their client time for their work.

Their client doesn't even have to be aware of the law offices' activity... in other words the client doesn't have to say "sic em!". The law office does some leg work, finds someone "guilty", gets some damages or a settlement from them, and then bill's their client for protecting their interest.

Maybe Alex doesn't know? My basic business belief system: "When in doubt, follow the money". Who's making the money on trademark/copywrite infringment cases? The lawyers...

BTW, Charisma?... i'd hit it, and then take a pill and hit it for 4 more hours. If I hit it for more than 4 hours, i'd contact a physician immediately...

 

I just read the first page, and on account of having to get up early tomorrow for work, bypassed the next 13 or so pages of Hamb Banter (TM)...forgive me if I repeat anything that's been said but...

Having just jumped through two years of hoops with Dorf Motor Company and their "ownership" of the adjective "Boss"...all I can say is be prepared.

You have a leg to stand on on the grounds of parody, which is legal, and you have a leg to stand on, if you can prove it, about not creating "confusion in the marketplace" which needs a really good lawyer. Be prepared, if you go forward, to spend some cash, and wrangle with law crap for a few years.

Dorf Motor Company's law jerks filed every extension they could, dragging out both my time, and their ability to bill Dorf Motor Company for every step. Basically all that to fill out two pages of writing. Took a year and a half. This was a protest of a trademark application, but it was an infringement just the same.

Basically, they will bleed you to death, and if you continue to operate after you have been served the cease and desist letter, and then you are found to be in the wrong, it is my understanding that they can then sue you for "damages".

It sucks.
It's life...bring a truck load of cash or go home.

Good luck.

Here's a link if you haven't already been there:

http://www.chillingeffects.org/trademark/faq.cgi#QID250

and this is a good place for most everything:
http://www.nolo.com/

 

If this is on the level and the So-Cal folks know about it (its not just their lawyers running amok) they have just lost my business. I fully understand a business protecting its name and trademark from serious infringment but this is a bit over the top. So-What and So-Cheap both are not major business threats to So-Cal commercially or in any other way. For a shop that started out small years ago, that was started by hot rodders to serve fellow hot rodders to now go after guys who are do it themself hotrodders just sticks in my craw! I hope that saner heads at So-Cal will prevail and stop this thing in its tracks, if not they have not only lost my business but a fair amount of my respect for them as business people, or should I say as just plain old rational thinking people period! I'm afraid the legal profession has a lot to answer for in this country for what they have done to help stifle small business etc. with the looming shadow of liablitiy and the threat of legal action or suit against you from large corporate interests....

 

Not the point, or really that relavent, but I don't think anyone buying a SO-Cheap shirt would be buying anything from SO-CAL in the first place.

Deke

 

Why am I still not understanding what the problem is with SoCal?....Dude, you intentionally misrepresented their logo and name, that they, not you, invested time and money building up a reputation for......I just don't understand why you are getting upset, or why anyone else on this board would be upset, about them protecting their domain. Parody or not, why can't you just come upwith an original idea of your own?...... someone a few comments back stated that MY point of view was one of the things making America weak. I really took offense to that. I don't think there are too many people here that are more patriotic than I try to be. I'm NOT sticking up for big business, I'm NOT saying the little guy is wrong here either, what I AM saying is that we need more ORIGINAL ideas, and too many folks take the easy way out of situations. The gag was humourous at first. SoCal asked you to stop.....what's the big deal?..... you guys are going to boycott a company with quality stuff, which IS expensive, because you think they are trying to keep the LITTLE GUY down?...... open your eyes here....... I would be embarrassed if the only original idea I had was a parody of someone elses idea........Is there ANYONE ELSE on this board that sees my point of view?.... please tell me if I'm wrong here....and please state an intelligent point of view...... not a just because 'they charge too much for parts' and I'm a broke-ass loser so I'm mad at them reasoning........

 

Dennis, I completely agree with what you just said, and with what you said about this earlier. Quote:

I'm going to play devil's advocate here. As mentioned before, a couple weeks ago HAMBers were ready to hang people for art that was "kinda" close to Keith Weesner's. And although your art is "technically" different from So-Cal's, it's quite OBVIOUS that the "gimmick" of your logo was to intentionally resemble the So-Cal name and logo. I have nothing against So-Cheap or anyone affiliated with it whatsoever, so please don't take this as a personal attack. But I say hey, if you made a few bucks off shirts, consider it a good run and cut your losses now. If So-Cheap is a legitimate business or shop then you should have no problem whatsoever creating your OWN logo and corporate identity. Why would you even want to have something associated with your company that even faintly resembled anything else unless you purposely intended on riding on someone elses name?. That's where the ripoff is. I would suppose you could rightfully argue that the art IS TECHNICALLY different enough, but the intent of resemblance is blatantly obvious. Now, that being said, this is NOT a little guy versus big company thing at all. These copyright laws and artistic licenses are put in place to protect everyone - even companies that make more money than you. Justice is blind. I have wondered how long it was going to take for awhile now anyways, and I almost said something about this when the Weesner post came up. Principles mean nothing if you only stick by them when it's easy to do so.

 

Good luck if you choose to fight it. Have some defense fund t-shirts made. I'm in line to buy one. Tim

 

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Is there ANYONE ELSE on this board that sees my point of view?....

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I do

 

Last look for me on this one.Seems to me that so cheap is NOT bitching that he got the letter, just metioned it here. EVERYONE ELSE is bitching! His later post said he didn't want to piss em off anymore (make more trouble for himself) Time for tech week yet?? Jalopy Showdown next week!!

 

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Is there ANYONE ELSE on this board that sees my point of view?

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Me too!
I cannot comprehend some of the responses to this. What makes SoCal who they are is their image, where they have been and what they have done. That logo is a big part of their image. They don't want anyone capping on that image and they have the right to protect it. This isn't big vs. little, it's about right and wrong, legal and not. The "let's stick up for our friend because the bully is picking on him" sentiment is misguided.

 

I agree with McPhail, but I do know this. My buddy owns a sign shop. He does billboards and all kinds of stuff, but he also sets' up at shop and sales those silly stickers like Calvin pissing and what-not. Well I asked him how that works because he sales stikers that look like COKE, or CHEVROLET and he said that all he has to do to be "legal" is slightly alter the image(like slant it a little), and he's free and clear. My 2 cents.

 

No matter what else has been said on this subject , in my opinion McPhail was right with his first post two days ago and he's still right now. Any thing else is double standards -------just my opinion

 

As far as the parody thing goes, So-Cheap seems right on to me. As far as trying to claim it as an original design or something, that is ridiculous. I agree with McPhail, in that they said "stop", so stop. BUT... I TOTALLY disagree with the way they handled it. If they truly are "hot rodders", and not just a bunch of cash whores, how hard would it have been to make a phone call?

Seriously SO-CHEAP, if you got a call:

"Hey man, this is Alex from So-Cal. I saw your website... Those shirts are pretty funny, but we're a little concerned that people might get your company confused with ours. Can I get you to change the design?"

Would this have even been an issue? Would anyone on the HAMB still be pissed?

 

You are right Dennis, but it IS a PARODY. I think it can still be successful and relate to SoCal just by the name. He just happened to use the MOST recognizable logo to copy for the parody. They have about 7 other ways their name appears. Just use one of them. Or come up with something different. The name itself really is the parody. They want you to stop using that logo. Fine. No problem. They don't say anything about the name itself. Talk to your attorney, and develop a new logo for SoCheap. It still is a valid brand and parody and I would still buy one. You don't need the oval shape for it to continue the sentiment. The name itself achieves that.