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  "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"
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Continental

Enterprises
Continental Enterprises

Half-Assed Cyber Cops
Hall Of Shame Members
Added December 27, 2007
Darlene

Seymour

(Since Continental didn't have a logo we could locate when they were inducted into the Hall Of Shame, we designed one for them. Since then they have acquired one, or two, or more. See below for examples)


Last updated February 18, 2010

UPDATE - February 18, 2010 -
Is this page getting cluttered or what? Just as we suspected, Continental Enterprises is using untrained staff to troll the internet for victims. We have a copy of the CE "Confidentiality and Non-Compete Agreement 'Outside Investigator' " contract used by Continental Enterprises and a "general responsibilities" agreement which stipulates the CE Investigator gets a $20.00 bounty for each new victim they locate. We also have a copy of a want ad by Continental Enterprises on the Craig's List web site. The question we ask is why was it listed in the Washington, DC area? Does Continental Enterprises believe there is there something wrong with the intelligence of the work force around Indianapolis? Or is it that the Indianapolis employees can easily come by the office if there is a problem with their bounties? We mention problem because it appears that these "virtual" employees get paid by the infringement they locate. It is one thing to pay an employee a commission based upon sales but when the home office is the determining party:

"With regard to compensation, as mentioned, it is project based. As an example, please review the attachment and consider that there are unlimited responses to each of the questions. Successful candidates will be provided with projects similar to the example provided. Each of those responses would be thoroughly reviewed to ensure it meets all criteria set forth by our clients. The contractor will earn $20.00 per each qualified response."

So, Continental Enterprises determines what is a "qualified match" and pays accordingly. Or do they? How does the "virtual" employee know they are not being cheated? FYI - we have a copy of the Continental Enterprises Online Research Test as well as emails concerning it and the job.


UPDATE - October 17, 2009 -
The Wicked Witch of the West, Darlene Seymour, General Counsel for Continental Enterprises, is so stuck on stupid she has out done herself, again! We did not think it was possible. She has sent a threatening letter, on behalf of her lowly client the Hansen Beverage Company, to a web site that does on-line beverage reviews because the web site dared to use a picture of the product they were testing, Monster Energy drink. BevReview.com posted the letter and comments asking the eternal question, "Hasn't Continental Enterprises heard of the 'fair use' doctrine?"


UPDATE - May 21, 2009 -
Continental Enterprises named in a federal lawsuit alleging trademark extortion and violation of Indiana's Rules of Professional Conduct (Rule 5.4(a)) as a representative of Heckler & Koch. Case is Gunbroker.com LLC v. Heckler & Koch Inc., Case No. 09-cv-00051 (M.D. Ga. May 14, 2009).

In our opinion, Continental Enterprises qualifies as the personification of a Trademark Extortionist. This Indianapolis-based company has taken trademark extortion to a new level. It appears to be their only source of revenue. They are so busy they don't bother with sending out professional looking and legally informative cease & desist letters, they send out form letters. Saves time and money. We have gathered an assortment of demand letters and such sent out by Continental Enterprises and re-done them in HTML format for easier reading and so we could annotate them..

Basically, in our opinion, Continental Enterprises persuades companies to use Continental Enterprises to police the internet for alleged trademark and copyright violations. Continental Enterprises does not let "fair use" or the first sale doctrine get in the way of demanding money from an alleged infringer. In fact, Continental Enterprises will dismiss any fair use or first sale claims as not being relevant and spout a lot of meaningless verbiage supporting their claims.

We support our opinions with documents, picture, letters, emails, and case histories. Our personal opinions of those who are engaged in this sort of unethical and we believe illegal behavior is also stated many times. Trademark Extortionists should be put out of business and fined heavily. For the most part, modern trademark and copyright law was written for the post-WWII era or hastily thrown together to combat the internet era. The internet has opened up completely new vistas and opportunities for small businesses. The problem is that trademark and copyright isn't really taught in school (besides law school) so many emerging small businesses have little or no idea what really constitutes infringement. It is upon these unfortunates that Trademark Extortionists prey.


What To Do If Contacted By Continental Enterprises

Update December 26, 2008 - we have added a page titled "What To Do If Contacted By Continental Enterprises" as a quick informational guide for those wonder what their options might be. We will soon be adding more information. We have also added a page where we point out the errors in 07-CV-1054 in the Heineken Brewery vs. G.I. Apparel, Panama Jack and Kohl's complaint. We count 14 stupid errors by Darlene Seymour. And she calls herself a lawyer?


Continental Enterprises has a number of employees who troll the internet looking for anything they can remotely claim is infringing. The advantage Continental Enterprises has is that many targets don't know how to fight back or have the resources to fight back. Continental Enterprises often wins through fear and intimidation. We're not saying that every demand letter sent out by Continental Enterprises is unjustified. Some are. We hear about many that were not justified in our opinion. And that is the reason for these pages.

Click here to view samples of the different letters that are sent by Continental Enterprises. We also point out the lies contained in the letters as well as the legal misrepresentations made by Continental Enterprises. There are many.


UPDATE September 2, 2008 - Continental Enterprises isn't happy with its extortion business take so it has expanded it's horizons. In an article printed by the Indiana Business Journal, August 23, 2008, they have conned local high schools into joining their extortion schemes. Warning: take an antacid before reading this self-serving piece of garbage. The IBJ fell for every lie told to them. Do these schools really want to be associated with the sleazy and unethical tactics of Continental Enterprises and Karl Manders? Is money that important to the local high schools? What a civics lesson for the kiddies. We also have added a lengthy list of articles from the internet about Continental Enterprises and what bad little kiddies they are.

Based upon the information sent to us about Karl Lee Manders, we wonder who in their right mind would do business with him?


UPDATE August 14, 2008 - someone who fought back sent us a copy of the settlement agreement they signed with Continental Enterprises. Seems that Darlene Seymour, general counsel and head whack-job, wanted the usual extortion money and settled for nothing, zero, zilch, nada, once an attorney for the other side got involved. Click here to see the settlement (edited version). It's amazing how they gave up their extortion demands when confronted by a lawyer, don't you think? The original extortion demand of $4,750 isn't mentioned anywhere. In fact, no money is mentioned anywhere.

Ryan Strup, or does he prefer Ryan L. Strup Associate General Counsel, as of October 2008, this pea-brain was hired as Associate General Counsel (a.k.a. Darlene Seymour's gofer and liar-in-training and another attorney who cannot get a job with a real law firm).


On October 21, 2008, we dedicated a Tabberone Trademarks and Copyright Abusers' Hall of Shame individual listing for Continental Enterprises. Our counters show that Continental Enterprises is an easy first in Cyber Cop interest. They get more page views than all of the rest combined. Naughty, naughty. Continental Enterprises, is, or was, located at 1292 East 91 Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46240. The building is empty but they still use that address on their stationery. Click here for pictures of the world headquarters for Continental Enterprises.


The companies that we know about that they represent, or have claim to have represented are Home Depot, Peeps (Just Born), Heineken Brewery, Cowparade Holdings, Larry The Cable Guy, Jack Daniel, Textron Innovations (Cessna Aircraft), Robert Bosch Co, Hansen Beverage Company., Black & Decker, Fruit of the Loom and Heckler Koch. None of these companies appears to be picky about whom they hire to police their trademarks since they are using what we call scum-bag cyber cops. Continental Enterprises does have an About Me page on the eBay site. Continental Enterprises is what we call a Trademark Extortionist. According to a press release, Barrett Firearms joined the merry troupe in June 2009 but we lack any evidence in the way of documents to back the claim by Continental.

Continental Enterprises did get some publicity but it seems to be self-generated and self-serving.

One reason they are on these pages is the Cease & Desist letters they sent on behalf of their clients and the lawsuits they have filed. As part of the C&Ds, they want to be paid a certain sum of money or else the issue would be turned over to legal for a possible federal infringement lawsuit. In our never to be humble opinion, that qualifies as extortion, which makes Continental Enterprises extortionists.

In-house counsel for Continental Enterprises was one William M. Mansfield. What's the matter, Bill? Couldn't you get a real job with a real law firm? Instead you threaten people, like in Heineken and Peeps, to pay up or be sued? You could have gotten a real job that fits you, like Ed Norton, working in the sewers; the smell would be the same.


So, just who is Karl Lee Manders, owner and head jerk of Continental Enterprises? Click on the link to read more. Why anyone in their right mind would do business with him is beyond us.

Click Here to see the lawsuits we have located that Continental Enterprises has filed defending their clients. Seems Continental Enterprises has hired one Darlene Seymour as their in-house bottom feeder. Looks like she can't get a real job either.

What Continental Enterprises doesn't get is that only 51% of all trademark infringement cases that went to trial between 1947 and 2005 ended in a verdict FOR the trademark owner. Half of the time the trials found NO infringement. While some of her cases may be infringement, from what we've seen they are ALL for the purposes of Trademark Extortion. Darlene has a standard extortion amount of $4,750 per infringing item for smaller infringers. She claims this amount covers the expense of searching and proving infringement as well as compensation to the trademark owner for losses. So, why is it always the same? It's a scam, that's why. But, she will barter down the amount to $4,000 or even $3,000, if you are nice to her and ask her very sweetly. We think being nice to Darlene Seymour is like having your leg broken by a mob enforcer and then thanking him for only breaking one leg.


Update: April 16, 2008
Darlene Seymour, in-house bottom feeder for Continental Enterprises, must be desperate for extortion money. She is mailing out lots of extortion demands. So many, that to save time and money, she now has it in a form letter format and doesn't even bother to put the alleged infringer's name on it. This is as of July 2, 2008. Perhaps she's going for quantity instead of quality? And, cheap as Continental Enterprises is, she files federal lawsuits in Indiana State Court. Is she an idiot or trying to save money? Darlene, inquiring minds want to know. Tell us! Federal Trademark issues can only be heard in Federal Court you nitwit. But we think you already know that. We think you're hoping for a default judgment under state rules because state service requirements are less than federal service requirements.


Known Employees of Continental Enterprises have a page dedicated just for them.

More information to come as we locate it.


The Putrid Plecostomus Award

                               

We are pleased to announce that Continental Enterprises, of the Indianapolis area, is our Third Award Winner of The Putrid Plecostomus Award to those corporate firms that go above and beyond the call of duty. They can thank their General Counsel, Darlene Seymour for this honor.

                               


UPDATE May 9, 2008
It appears that Continental Enterprises has acquired a logo, shown at the right. This was lifted from another extortion demand letter by Darlene Seymour, in-house bottom feeder for Continental Enterprises. Missing from this demand letter was a return address so it looks like she canned the old stationery, finally, and is using something new. Considering all else, we wonder where she "acquired" this logo? Did she buy it or lift it from some clip art? As cheap as Darlene Seymour is we can't imagine she paid for it.


UPDATE December 6, 2008
Continental Enterprises is using the logo to the left on their web site (now that it is actually up and running). It reminds us of an electron that wishes it were larger.

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