RE: #46

Takuan, I respectfully disagree with you about Ford not being obligated at all. I'm certain that at some level they have to protect their legal marks or risk losing them as has happened to other corporations such as Kleenex.

To me it's a question of how aggressive do they have to be in terms of protecting those legal marks? Do they really have to risk losing the loyalty of fans over something as simple as a calendar for a forum?

I'm not even sure why CafePress is so concerned about this. I've sold items with Ford legal marks on them via CafePress on and off for many years and CafePress has never raised any objections.

Takuan said, "they want your money, not your love"

When it comes to car enthusiasts (models and 1:1), love of a product often brings the company money for said product, and invaluable advertising; both via word of mouth and, in the case of my forum, thousands of eyeballs a day seeing the legal marks.

I understand the need to protect legal marks. But how far should a company be legally obligated to go in order to protect those legal marks?

Sadly things like this are all too common. Several years ago then Daimler-Chrysler (DC) served a model car forum I run with a cease and desist letter demanding I remove all member's avatars that had DC legal marks in them such as logos and photos of the member's own cars. Although I have an IP attorney, largely for other websites, this particular website is not monetized so I decided it just wasn't worth it to fight DC and removed all their marks. In return DC turned a number of loyal fans into angry former fans.

What is this world coming to when loyal fans can't even express their enthusiasm for a company without risking a lawsuit?

@MacBastard

Thanks for the information. I'll check with the funeral director my sister and I plan to use when our father dies. I hope that won't happen for a long time, but he's 86 years old. I'd rather pay a reasonable price for a casket since, according to his wishes, he doesn't care how we handle his funeral, so long as its dignified.

Death is part of life. Funerals are a business.

Has anyone come across a funeral director who won't let you use your own casket?

There appears to be a bug in the posting system. I was logged in, posted a comment, saved it, and was told anonymous replies could take a very long time to be posted. So here I go from scratch...

Articles like the one in Forbes are typical. They point out eccentricities without mentioning how much these same people donate to charities and other philanthropic causes.

Not everyone needs bling to prove their self-worth. Sometimes just working hard and living ethically is enough. Too bad more people don't feel the same way.

Does Miro support podcasts? For example, can I download and listen to TWiT on Miro? If so then I'm ready to do away with WMP and iTunes. Thanks.

The Edsel has always been an inspiration to me.

Unlike most people, I think of the Edsel as being oddly successful.

That's because the really smart people learn more from failures (aka experiments and research) than from successes.

When I'm stuck on a problem all I have to do is look at the model Edsel I keep in my office and suddenly I'm thinking in new ways. Voilà, my problem is solved.

I know it's weird but it works for me!

~gary.

If the allegations are true is it intelligence gathering or an invasion?