Comments on: Why I’m Not a Frugalista and Monavie Sucks

By: Lazy Man and Money

Lazy Man and Money — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:47:45 +0000

Wow, I’m coming late to the game on reading this and you linked me. (I wish Technorati worked as it used to so I could track links.)

Anyway, the frugalista thing sucks and I hope she can prove in her trademark that she was the first to use the term, which I’m pretty sure she can’t as I know other blogs were using that back in when I started in early 2006.
Lazy Man and Money´s last blog ..“Debt Crisis in America” & JCR Advertising are Evil

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:01:47 +0000

From a legal standpoint, I have been following this because of the work I am doing in establishing social media policies, etc. but I wanted to add that Mona Vie is NOT suing lazy man and money. That is a complete sensationalization of a C&D letter that was sent. Yeah, that was stupid and some poor schlepp in legal has egg on their face, but LazyMan and Money is also guilty of blowing this way out of proportion. I think its also completely ridiculous to libel an entire organization or leadership, both against LM&M and MV.

At what point will social media authors and contributors police themselves and their content from rampant, and often false, emotion?

By: JacksonFrugalGal

JacksonFrugalGal — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:24:49 +0000

Hi! I am the Artist Formerly Known as Jackson Frugalista.

I caved and changed the name — my “buy cool stuff cheap” blog is now http://frugalmississippi.blogspot.com. I ma looking forward to posting info about garage sales in Pelahatchie, MS, without the threat of a lawsuit.

THAT SAID — I am not willing to let the issue die. So I created a second new blog, “Really Dumb Trademarks.” Its address is http://reallydumbtrademark.blogspot.com.

I CAN’T believe I am the only person this has happened to — other people have had their online freedom of speech cut off because of some ridiculous trademark filing. I’d like us all to have a place to go and vent.

I also want to post resources for site visitors who wish to fight the fight.

Ideally, this new blog will catch the attention of some organization that works to protect individuals’ rights online. If I can get someone like that interested, I’d like to see all the people who offered ME money to help in a fight against Trademark Girl in Miami direct those funds to a larger effort to make trademarks work fairly for everyone.

Those of you who have spoken out on the plain craziness of this trademark, I hope you’ll stay interested in the topic. Maybe we can continue to make some noise, get some things changed, and then I CAN CHANGE MY NAME BACK. And laugh maniacally towards the general direction of Miami.
JacksonFrugalGal´s last blog ..GO TO NEW BLOG

By: Roger

Roger — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:50:20 +0000

Good lord, there are some lawyer happy people in the world. Frankly, neither the ‘frugalista’ nor Monavie seem to have much of a leg to stand on, legally speaking. That said, American jurisprudence is an interesting and unpredictable thing, and sadly, it’s not impossible that a judge or jury might rule in their favor, should either of these situations ever go to court. Hopefully, that won’t actually happen, but only time will tell…
Roger´s last blog ..When Companies Get Really Creepy: ‘Dead Peasant’ Life Insurance

By: Cheapskate Sandy

Cheapskate Sandy — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:43:10 +0000

Wait. Are we talking about the same woman who took and image from my site and used it on one of her posts well after I commented on her website? This same person is suing someone else?!!!! Are you serious? I need to get my own CDL out.
Cheapskate Sandy´s last blog ..Finance 101: What the Heck is Peer-to-Peer or P2P Lending?

By: Dad

Dad — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:13:47 +0000

Wayne Elgin’s comment reminded me of an incident a few years ago. Most of you have heard of Caesar’s Palace in Los Vegas. They were intending to build in Atlantic City. So they tried to register their name in New Jersey and failed because of a Caesar’s Palace Barbershop which was already registered. They sued claiming ownership of the name. They lost. First the barbershop had used the name longer than they had. Second, the barbershop was known in New Jersey (or a small part of it) and they were not. So while they use terms such as palatial and royal concerning Caesar’s of Atlantic City, they do not use the Caesar’s Palace (although google offers Caesar’s Palace to either LV or AC). The little man won. I think he must have had friends to get the legal representation needed to fight such a big corporation such as Caesar’s (or Harrads) must be.

By: Wayne Elgin

Wayne Elgin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:24:46 +0000

As far as I know, trademarks such as “Coke” are relevant for the market that Coke operates in, such as food and beverages. As big as Coke is, it’s highly possible they have secured trademarks for all manner of products, but since that isn’t their main line, it’s not a prime example.

A better example might be, “I could not make running shoes and call them Nike,” because Nike operates in that arena. However, it’s probably fine if you created an vehicle company named Nike Motors, because consumer confusion would be low.

That said, bigger companies have little trouble throwing around C&Ds because they have more lawyer power than their opponents do. It’s usually much easier to just change your name, even though you may not have infringed any trademarks.

By: plonkee

plonkee — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:24:00 +0000

This is all violating the right order of things.

Lazy reviewed a product that he didn’t like. They haven’t got a vaguely believable case – as you say, they have more possibilities with something like libel. Perhaps we shouldn’t be giving them ideas!

As for the other, unless she made the word up I struggle to see how she could reasonably trademark it – it’s related to the type of thing that it is. Who the hell is she anyway, and how rubbish is her brand if no one has heard of her?

I should trademark plonkee. It’s going to be annoying if someone else does so first – clearly I should win. The law, however, is not written in the way that I think it should be.
plonkee´s last blog ..do what works, because done is better than perfect

By: PF Bloggers: Trademark your frugal names quick! | Mighty Bargain Hunter

PF Bloggers: Trademark your frugal names quick! | Mighty Bargain Hunter — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:09:52 +0000

[...] Many of my colleagues have heard about the recent cease and desistery regarding the trademarking of what I thought was a fairly common term for a frugal woman which, by the way, rhymes with barista. (Here’s some context.) [...]

By: Dad

Dad — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:22:23 +0000

JD Your style of writing suggests you are a partisan in the issue without identifying yourself. I could be wrong. The evidence I found in a quick search of the web suggests that the terms Frugalista was in *common* use before she started using it much less applied for a trademark. Very big companies probably have specialists monitoring trademark applications for possible conflicts. Blog writers do not have that resource.

I’ve watch the software industry closely for a while and the issue of ‘Patent trolls’ who use a poor patent claim or one that can be upset by prior art try to get a chunk of the profit out of the innovations of others. Little of it shows any innovation of itself except in the legal speciality.

Overall, I favor limited patent rights and reasonable trademark enforcement. But there needs to be some public ombudsman to help the little person when faced by legal action by someone who has legal resources.