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Holtz Communications + Technology

Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Stupid lawyer tricks

I’ve heard all manner of ridiculous stories about corporate lawyers sending cease-and-desist letters. There was the one Mattel (a former employer of mine) sent to a Quebec restaurant called Barbie’s, named for the Australian word for barbecue. There was Porsche, which wanted to remove a website called Portia, which was the name of the woman who owned the site. But this one has to take the cake. Visual artist Don Stewart drew a picture of a Volkswagen bug and posted it to his site. The image is now gone, thanks to Volkswagen lawyers. In its place, Stewart has posted the tale along with a request to write Volkswagen of America CEO Frank Witter to “thank him for his company???s indulgence over the past fourteen years in allowing us to use their trademark image to spread good will and good humor around the world.”

I’m going to write, but I’m not going to thank Witter for anything. I’m going to suggest his lawyers are bigger morons than Porche’s. (Wait…doesn’t Volkswagen own Porsche?) You should write, too.

Hat tip to Lot 49.

01/13/06 | 2 Comments | Stupid lawyer tricks

Comments

  • 1.This stuff always makes me laugh and brings back not so fond memories. I once worked for a CEO who gave me trouble for both defending and not defending our trademarks in interviews that I gave to the media on two very different topics.

    In one instance, someone was making a bit of a light-hearted joke about a subject that was in the news and used our very popular logo to get their point across. All in good fun, no harm to our reputation and no way anyone would believe the company was behind it.

    In the other instance, our legal department was challenging some trademark applications and it got into the media. The optics were bad, but we were doing what we had to from a legal standpoint. I did my best to explain our situation, but the media liked the David v. Goliath story better.

    Damned if you do, damned if you don't sometimes...at least with that guy.

    David Jones | January 2006 | Toronto

  • 2.Porsche, as well as being the most profitable car company in the world is also the biggest shareholder of VW, not the other way around.

    Andrew Marritt | January 2006 | Zurich, Switzerland

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