I'm not sure if this has been posted;

www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm

I searched on "mini" or "cooper" individually, and "mini cooper".

 

It's funny how we were battling with one another last week regarding the use of profanity & personal attacks against fellow members. If there is a bright side to this situation it is the fact that all MCO members are now coming together as one!!!

 

We (MARK AND MCO) were just on Tech TV....

Congrats... This is just the beginning.

 

>>We (MARK AND MCO) were just on Tech TV....
>>
>>Congrats... This is just the beginning.

Just saw it and was a little disappointed, mentioned nothing about how long BMW was participating in the site, only that there have been a lot of people in the site, that there was a dispute about the domain name, that mark was required to turn it over, and that he hasn't come up with a replacement name, and that BMW "loves enthusiast sites but wont back down on the right to defend its trademark.

 

 

Its a teaser for the story that will air later... like the Kazaa Story today

I found Tech TV Lester I do have it! Way up in the 200's!
And read the Kazaa story on the TechTv website, which also mentions the MCO teaser, with links to here and the petetion... so get ready for lag.

 

I heard about this from a motoring advisor a couple of weeks ago and it has really irk'ed me since then. I think this is the definition of "shooting yourself in the foot". MINIUSA needs to know what BMW's legal department is up to, and more importanly how far they are willing to take this.

Mark, you have my support behind you. Just let us know what you need us to do. I wouldn't have any problem sending you a donation to help offset your cause. I will be sending my (spell-checked

 

Besides e-mailing 5 news organization who have reviewed MINI and BMWNA favorably in the past year. Here is my contribution to this endeavor:

The MINI club of St. Louis (and I'll use MINI to the end to refer to our club) recently raffled 2 prizes to compete against Eddie Cheaver and Buddy Rice in go-kart racing at Laclede's Landing (the night club central of St. Louis) this friday evening. They also raffled off 4 prizes to compete in a relay style go-kart race on Saturday against several other car clubs. At both events our cars will be prominently displayed adjacent to the race site. I'm sure the members competing in these events will have no problems displaying their displeasure vehemently on their cars those days as some of them have already posted here vehemently. And when people ask why I'm doing it, I'll tell them why I'm so hacked off at BMWNA.

Now for this sites creative!! What messages should be displayed on these cars for all attendees to read? I'm thinking in the effort to appear as their marketing campain it should read similiar my sig and the sigs of others.

Let's employ 800lb. gorillas for lawyers. Let's denegrade our customer base until we can't sell cars after 3 years. Let's be exclusive and not inclusive. Let's be like all the other corporations. Let's steal from the poor and give to the rich. Let's squash the little guy. Let's just be BMW.

Let's get our creative juices flowing!!!!!!

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fairly cool with the techTV attention. From the techlive website :



Links right back to this thread and to the petition!

I'll be watching tonight!

 

Just when I went back to basic cable... :evil:

 

>>Now for this sites creative!! What messages should be displayed on these cars for all attendees to read? I'm thinking in the effort to appear as their marketing campain it should read similiar my sig and the sigs of others.
>>
>>Let's employ 800lb. gorillas for lawyers. Let's denegrade our customer base until we can't sell cars after 3 years. Let's be exclusive and not inclusive. Let's be like all the other corporations. Let's steal from the poor and give to the rich. Let's squash the little guy. Let's just be BMW.<<

That's a great idea! :smile: Take some pics if you can! One thing though, and again I'll try to say this is nicely as possible, because I support what you're doing 100%. Check your spelling on any signs (it's 'denigrate'). It doesn't matter so much on this forum, but it matters greatly once you're trying to get as much exposure as possible, press and whatnot.

I really like "let's be like all the other corporations"!

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I think the real conspiracy here is that Mark has something that BMW wants, BAD. The http://www.minimotion.com domain name...

 

yeah, funny that. Originally I thought the http://www.minimotion.com thing was a side issue. However, the closer we have come to the launch of MINI Motion (gawd those puma's are ugly) the more hard nosed the lawyering has been. The two arcs seem to track each other pretty well. Conspiracy theory or not, it would seem to have more validity than I originally gave it.

 

Mark,

Your counter-proposal should include your charges to revamp, redirect and otherwise remarket your site. Quite honestly, the only thing business understands is money and how much it is going to cost them...

I'm surprised your counsel hasn't offerred this up.

Brian

 

Sig #912 here :evil: :evil:

 

Signature #26!

I just sent the following letter to Click and Clack of NPR's auto show Car Talk. They love to rag on lawyers and the "bone-headed" things thay do so this should be right up their alley. Stay tuned to see if they pick it up.

---

I really enjoy your show! I thought you would find this illconcieved legal move entertaining for yet another short on lawyer bashing.

Lawyers at MINI-USA have decided that the grass roots MINI enthusiasts site https://www.northamericanmotoring.com must relinquish their domain name or face legal action. Not surprisingly this has the over 9000 members up in arms and crying foul to the suits at MINI.

You can view the conversation thread at https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...98&start=0

It has also been picked up on other auto sites like this one
http://vintagecars.about.com/b/a/2003_08_05.htm

Regards,
Jim Wilson

 

sig #938 here

 

#955 Let's keep 'em coming folks!

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I'm growing older but not up. My metabolic rate is pleasantly stuck - J. Buffett

 

Has anyone given any thought to establishing a defense fund? Does the MCO have a paypal account, or better yet can you set one up just for a defense fund? You can prevail, but it takes money!

Good Luck Guys!

Joe

 

Just arrived home from a family trip to the beach to find my email and MCO full of this!!!! :evil:

I have already signerd the petition (#951) and read the first 11 pages of the thread...can't make it any further tonight.

I plan to catch up tomorrow and will definitely be drafting my additions to the email barrage.

Thanks for all you've done for us Mark--WHAT CAN WE DO FOR YOU???

Long live MCO!

 

MINI is promoting their new Web dominace model. Complete with new side markers

** Images deleted ** - PLEASE - Let's keep this constructive...while I understand everyone is angry, images like this will likely undermine the efforts being made by everyone to get BMW to reconsider their position.

Mark



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you have a cat and i have a dog that climbs trees
<img src="http://www.speakeasy.org/~shishkbob/....gif">

 

Fight Them! Do not let them bully you. You have ownership to these domain names and my understanding is that what they are attempting is not necessarily legally enforceble. Go public. When people hear how they are bullying you it could hurt their sales and public image. Make them Pay!

 

I refrained from something similar.....
hmmmm

 

>>yeah, funny that. Originally I thought the http://www.minimotion.com thing was a side issue. However, the closer we have come to the launch of MINI Motion (gawd those puma's are ugly) the more hard nosed the lawyering has been. The two arcs seem to track each other pretty well. Conspiracy theory or not, it would seem to have more validity than I originally gave it.

I thought it was interesting that when I went to the Mini2.com site to read the responses that someone siezed on the Mini-Motion angle within the first couple of posts.

 

1026 signatures