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Tabberone is pronounced tab ber won |
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 Really! | At the bottom of this page are Cease and Desist letters we have received concerning a variety of "crimes" we are alleged to have committed. Some are reformatted but content has not been altered. We take every Cease & Desist demand we receive very seriously. | We do! |
| Cease and Desist Letters |
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There are a variety of companies that interfere with the legitimate operation of small home-based businesses. These
companies use legal jargon and various maneuvers to illegally shut down mom and pop businesses that have not violated any
laws.
They have no real legal basis for stopping anyone from using copyrighted fabric to manufacture fabric items and then offering them for sale. The only time a legal basis arises is when the crafter, either intentionally or unintentionally, misrepresents the product as being a licensed product as opposed to being made from licensed fabric. The use of several disclaimers helps avoid this problem. We're going to go over the terms in the threats and explain them and why the don't apply. Bear in mind, we are not lawyers nor have we attended law school, so our opinions here should not be construed as legal advice but more along the lines of what we have learned over the last years fighting these companies while representing ourselves many times in federal court. Typically, they begin with a "Cease and Desist" letter in which they make their case. These letters are intended to intimidate the receiver into compliance. Your average lawyer will look at the letter and tell you to comply. Why? Because the cost of fighting them can run to $30,000 and up and there is no guarantee that you will recover legal expenses. Small home-based businesses cannot afford this sort of financial outlay, so, they cave. In some cases, the company claims that the fabric item is a "derivative" and therefore violates the copyright held by the company. Numerous federal court decisions refute this as well as the federal court standard for determining if something is in fact a derivative. Another approach is for the company to claim the use of the fabric in this manner is "unauthorized" and therefore a violation of the trademark. This falls short because the Lanham Act uses the word "authorized" in conjunction with counterfeit trademarks and/or products. They are attempting to use the term out of context. Most cases will revolve around either the derivative issue, or copyright violations, or the "unauthorized" issue, or trademark violations. The other terms that are thrown in are done so to make the case look far more complicated and more serious. Dilution, unfair competition, likelihood of confusion, infringing merchandise, are often used. However for these to be relevant, there first has to be a copyright violation or trademark infringement. You can protect yourself. Make sure you include the wording "hand-crafted" or something similar in your description. Refer to the items as being made from XYZ fabric. We are now including a disclaimer, "This item is not a licensed XYZ product. It is however, made from licensed XYZ fabric. Tabberone is not affiliated with XYZ in any manner." Their lawyers will argue that this disclaimer is not adequate and does not protect you. However, remember that should the conflict go into court, it is not their lawyers who will determine what is adequate. The courts use the "reasonable person" rule. How would a reasonable person interpret this disclaimer? Would a reasonable person be confused? Additionally, you are permitted under trademark law fair use of a company's trademark when selling and item made by them, or in the cases here, items made from their fabric. This means you have a right to a reasonable use of pictures of the item even if those pictures include copyrighted images. However, you cannot use images or pictures not directly related to what you are offering. Example: you cannot use an image of Mickey Mouse to sell a pillow that has Tinker Bell on it. You can use pictures of the actual pillow. Chilling Effects has some good FAQ's and advice about cease & desist letters. Don't Post This Cease And Desist Letter Or Else.shtml , by Greg Beck, October 5, 2007. Just because you have received a cease & desist letter and you do not want to stop your alleged infringemnt, your failure to stop is not always and indication of willfull infringement. |
| Purina Dog Chow, whose motto should be Your Pet, Our Passion®: Our Asshole Layers, is a textbook study in the type of cease and desist letters we mentioned here. |
| We take every C&D |
Cease & Desist Letters Received By Tabberone | we receive seriously! |
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Lawyers seem to love Cease & Desist Letters but they don't seem to put much research into the facts behind them. It seems their primary concern is the billable hour they get for the piece of fiction. We have received Cease & Desist letters alleging defamation about postings on our website from lawyers representing Grand West Financial, Rocky Mountain Construction, Summit Crest Homes, Re-Bath, De Novo Legal, and Sykel Fabrics, to name a few. We include all of the cease and desist letters here because they are so similar. We also have a Colorado Court of Appeals decision directly concerning our website and how it falls under the First Amendment as protected speech. It seems that Barbara Robbins (now Barbara Asbury) did not like us saying her nickname was "peanut butter legs" and so she sued us for defamation. In the Kangaroo Court proceeding presided over by Judge Kenneth Plotz, Barbara cried on the witness stand and her lawyer, M James Zendejas, suborned perjury from his client. Judge Kenneth Plotz anounced his retirement two weeks after the decision by the Court of Appeals. |
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Grand West Financial
Michael E. Hendricks HENDRICKS, HENDRICKS & SHAKES, PC |
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Letter from Grand West Financial, dated January 27, 2001. Neither Grand West, Kevin Marks, or his lawyer Michael Hendricks, have ever taken the issue to court. Our First Reply to Grand West and their idiot lawyer, Michael Hendricks, dated March 15, 2001. The reply we received from Michael Hendricks was along the lines of "leave him alone". Our Second Reply to Grand West and their idiot lawyer, Michael Hendricks, dated March 16, 2001. Unlike Kevin Marks and Michael Hendricks, we did follow-up our threat to take the issue to court, and we won. |
 Monica |
Rocky Mountain Construction Lending
Jeffrey W. Ludwig |
 Wasden |
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Letter from Jeffrey W. Ludwig for Rocky Mountain Construction, dated May 31, 2001.
Our 6-page Reply, to Rocky Mountain Construction, dated June 5, 2001. Neither Rocky Mountain, Monica Wasden, or her nitwit lawyer, Jeffery Ludwig, have ever taken the issue to court. |
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Summit Crest Homes
Beth Morrison Klein Purvis, Gray & Gordon, LLP |
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Letter from Beth Morrison Klein for Summit Crest Homes, dated October 12, 2001.
Our Reply, to Summit Crap Homes, dated November 5, 2001. Neither Summit Crest, or their dimwit lawyer, Beth Klein, have ever taken the issue to court. |
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Colorado Court of Appeals Barbara Robbins, et al vs Meadors and Dudnikov |
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On October 9, 2003, the Colorado Court of Appeals unanamously ruled in our favor concerning this website.
In Case 02-CA-1331, Barbara Robbins, et al vs Meadors and Dudnikov, the Colorado Court of Appeals stated: "(Meadors and Dudnikov) contend that the website constitutes protected speech or press under the First Amendment. We agree." |
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Sykel Fabrics & Sy Garfinkel
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Who is Sykel Fabrics and their moron president, Sy Garkinkel? Sykel markets a variety of fabrics. They don't want their fabrics re-sold on the internet unless the re-seller uses a specific disclaimer and they, Sykel and Sy Garfinkel, hound and threaten re-sellers into complying. But, there is no legal requirement for anyone to comply with the outrageous demands of Sy Garfinkel and we have told him so. We also nomintated him for the Pompous Twit of the Year Award, which we are happy to report, he was the unanamous winner for 2005. We also put Sy and his company on our Trademark Hall of Shame. Sy had his New York lawyer threaten us. |
 Hey Darren Kiss This! |
Darren Cohen |
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De Novo Legal, LLP
George Rikos, Esq Law Offices of George Rikos |
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Letter from George Rikos, Esq,, of San Diego, CA,
representing De Novo Legal, LLP,
member of the Tabberone Trademark & Copyright Abusers' Hall Of Shame, and Pollie Gautsch, whom we call
a bottom-feeder, received on March 28, 2008.
Our Response to George Rikos, Esq,, on March 31, 2008. We have no idea why Geoge thought we would stop saying nasty things about Pollie. What we do not understand is why De Nove Legal hired this loser, George Rikos, Esq, when both Maria Johnson, Esq. and Pollie Alisa Gautsch, Esq., are lawyers? Do they consider themselves to be incompetent? |
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Re-Bath, LLC
David Rosenblum David Rosenblum & Associates |
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ReBath never contacted us after we complained to them but they did contact some nimrod, half-baked lawyer, David Rosenblum of
David Rosenblum & Associates, P.C., based in some Pennsylvania town called Trevose. lawyer
who sent us a threatening letter on January 23, 2007.
We do not know what we said in our response that bothered Davey, but we never heard from him again. We certainly hope we did not upset him. |
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| We also received a cease and desist email from Precious Moments in 2002. They objected to us using their licensed fabrics to make and then sell items. We never heard from them again after we emailed them back pointing out that they had already lost that issue in 1997 in federal court in Precious Moments vs La Infantil, 971 F. Supp. 66 (D.P.R. 1997). |
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General Articles | Cease and Desist Letters | Federal Court Cases | FAQs & Whines | Glossary | Hall Of Shame | Contributions
Corporate Lawyers |
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Definitions |
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Federal Court Cases Alphabetically | by Federal Circuit | by Subject | by Court Quotations |
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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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VeRO (Verified Right's Owner Program) VeRO Commandments | VeRO-Verified Rights Owners Program | Counter Notice Letter Counter Notice (pre-2003) | Counter Notice present | On-Line Survey from 2004 | Articles about VeRO | What To Do If You Are Veroed |
