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Tabberone is pronounced tab ber won |
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Seven For All Mankind and VF Corporation Hall Of Shame Members Added August 9, 2010 |
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Last updated - August 9, 2010
| What does "VFC" stand for? Do we really care? According to their self-promotional blurb on their website www.vfc.com, |
"Today, VF is a $7 billion-plus apparel powerhouse, with an incredibly diverse, international portfolio of brands and products that reach consumers wherever they choose to shop." |
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It seems that this "powerhouse" lacks the mental agility to find the right person for the right job. At least in Delaware. It appears that
VFC has stolen the idiot from some unsuspecting village and placed that idiot in front of a live computer, belonging to the H.D. Lee Company, in
Wilmington Delaware, without adequate parental supervision.
That idiot, going by the name of Payam Mosbat, is now trolling the internet looking for perceived infringements of trademarks that belong to Seven For All Mankind, LLC (www.7forallmankind.com), a company that sells blue jeans at a ridiculously high markup to people who never received money management classes. Seven For All Mankind, LLC has anointed this idiot with the official corporate title of "Director of Special Projects", which, as far as we can tell, means he gets this title in lieu of being paid more than minimum wage. At this point let us say that we are immediately skeptical of any company that takes on a lofty and over-blown name that even remotely associates them with God or some Universal Goodness as a selling technique. True Religion Brand Jeans, another member of the Tabberone Trademark and Copyright Abusers' Hall of Shame, uses an image of Buddha playing a guitar, supposedly representative of that "Good Old Time Religion" we guess. Seven For All Mankind is just too self-centered. |
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So much for the introduction of the antagonist in our little tale. On to the protagonist.
In its on-going efforts to be all things to all people, eBay encourages people to write "reviews" of products and to post product "guides". In trying to copy some of the look and feel of Amazon, eBay promotes these "reviews" and "guides" as available resources for prospective purchasers. A product review would be more opinion-based than a product guide. The review would be based more upon the look and feel of the item, if it worked, cost versus value, etc. This particular product guide, posted by the eBay seller idalis62, is titled "Authentic or Fake Seven For All Mankind pictorial guide", was designed to assist prospective buyers in how to tell if the jeans they were thinking of buying on the internet were genuine, over-priced Seven For All Mankind jeans. This guide, seven pages worth in PDF format, goes into detail with pictures on how to spot fakes. The guide is freely available to anyone who wants to read it and it does not attempt to advertise or sell any product. |
| So, as you reach for your mouse to go to another web site, you wonder what is this all about? What does the village idiot working for Seven For All Mankind have to do with this product guide? We are glad you asked. The village idiot, Payam Mosbat, sent a cease and desist email to idalis62 demanding that the product guide be removed from the eBay site within three days or 7 For All Mankind will destroy idalis62. |
"If it is not removed within this period of time we will contact eBay and suspend your account for copyright infringement." |
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That's cold. Especially since idalis62 is not guilty of trademark infringement nor of copyright infringement. Any first-year law student who did not sleep through
Intellectual Property 101, and there are few who have not, can tell you that trademark infringement requires that the use of the mark be "in commerce". That is, it must
be used to sell, or offer to sell, something to someone. Using the name of the product, and pictures of the product, in a product guide that is distributed
free to anyone who wants it, is not trademark infringement.
Copyright infringement requires the material be copyrightable before the use can be considered infringement. Product descriptions are not copyrightable. There is nothing in this product guide that violates copyright laws. And, even if there were, the First Amendment trumps copyright considerations when dealing with expression. |
| Why does VFC and Seven For All Mankind feel it is necessary to hire people off the streets and then put them in positions that require some level of intelligent thought? Will the adults at VFC and Seven For All Mankind step in and get this corrected? Are there any adults at VFC and Seven For All Mankind? Is there any intelligent life at VFC and Seven For All Mankind? Inquiring minds and NASA want to know. |
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Rebuttals
In an effort to provide a balanced view, we make the following offer to anyone who feels they have been wrongly accused on this web site. If you, or your company, have been referenced on these pages, and you would like the chance to post a rebuttal, we will post your rebuttal (provided it is in good taste) so others can read it. The rebuttal must be submitted in a format that can easily be converted into HTML. We reserve the right to alter the rebuttal to make it more readable. However, we will not alter the content (unless there is offensive material to be removed). We also reserve the right to comment on any rebuttal received. Emails protesting the content of this web site may be treated as rebuttals by us at our discretion. |
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Federal Statutes Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 5 | Digital Millenium Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 12 | Lanham Act 15 U.S.C. 22
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