smokey4
>>What was your thread named and on which forum did you post, when I posted I didn't see anything so it might be gone already.

 

smokey4
>>What was your thread named and on which forum did you post, when I posted I didn't see anything so it might be gone already.

 

I just talked to a friend of mine about this whole crap: Turns out he is buddies with one of MINI USA's big cheese PR guys. He is going to call him tomorrow morning and ask what the hell is MINI USA's problem.

This is an excellent potential to express-train the problem right to the top!

 

I sent my emails....(greedy B@st@rds)


>>>Your corporate lawyers have determined to force Minicooperonline.com and its owner Mark Ferguson to abandon the use of the name MINI. This is an extremely short-sighted and foolish act that smacks of bullying and unfairness.

Minicooperonline has done more to promote the new MINI in the US and inform potential MINI buyers than you can imagine. I've followed the site since its inception and used information obtained in my decisions to buy THREE MINIS.

I owned the first MINI in Tampa. I supported my local dealer's efforts to obtain MINI. I was in SC for your MINI unveiling. I'm an active MINI and classic Mini/British car enthusiast. Many enthusiasts and strangers ask me about MINI daily. This tactic of your company makes me question my enthusiasm for your products.

In one act your legal department will undo all the goodwill created in your imaginative ad campaign. Like I said, how foolish. Greed makes people stupid.

John Wren
Seffner, FL<<<<<<

 

I haven't been here in a while, and I come back to find this out??? I am very disappointed in BMW for doing this to MCO. I found most of the info on the MINI from this site before I purchased her. Mark, you have done a fantastic job with this site and making a wonderful community that is full of great people and info on the MINI. Please everyone we need to speak up against this! Don't give up!! :evil:

-Digi

 

>>
>>I wonder how many people decided to go out and buy a Mini based on the information / help they found on MCO? I'm curious.
>>

That would be me, at least I'm waiting on an Oct. build and depending on the outcome of this legal battle, I may or may not cancel my order and look elsewhere for a car. I love the MINI more than any car on the market right now, but this has truly left a bitter taste in my mouth towards BMWNA/MINIUSA and if they do proceed in attempting to change the name of the site, I don't know that I want to be associated with such a company.

 

Terrible news, it looks like BMW realized that there was some money in keeping the MINI domain to themselves. Finding MCO last year is what gave me that final push to place an order and finally purchase a MINI. If it wasn't for this site I would be driving a Beetle, THANK YOU MARK AND MCO for saving me from making that choice. I've tried using the message boards in the MINI owner's lounge and it is nowhere near as pleasant as MCO is. Maybe BMW should hire Mark and have him take over the owner's lounge message boards. IMHO the boards here are more user friendly, and I'm pretty sure that more people visit this site for information. Why kill your best supporters when they had no desire to take over in the first place. We should probably have a rally to save MCO. Maybe cause up some motoring mayhem like the Italian Job premiere in LA.

Long live MCO

Slightly arrogant
yet
Desperately sincere
Edgar

 

Very sad.

Mark, you've done a wonderful job here and we're behind you in anyway we can be. I'm going to fire off some emails to all my lawyer friends - somebody's got to know something about this.

Hang in there!

haf :smile:

 

From the very beginning, BMW has portrayed the Mini Cooper as an enthusiast’s car. It was to be the reincarnation of a cult that while small in comparison to other automotive icons still relied heavily on the passion of the past and the imagination of the new members of this cult. The original Mini Cooper mystique was created and survived all these years through the continued support and promotion from clubs and the aftermarket manufacturers willing to market parts for a small contingent. All, one has to look to is the Corvette. For 50 years, the Corvette has stirred the emotions of generation after generation. BMW needs to take a good look at the Corvette and it’s success. Corvette clubs and the aftermarket manufacturers have been promoting the Corvette for many years and in no small way have helped elevate the marquee to what it is today. One of the most recognized automobiles in the world. If BMW wants the Mini Cooper to succeed long term, they’re going to have to rethink this attack on the use if the Mini name by clubs and websites. :???:

 

If they go through with this I'll never buy another thing from Mini USA.

I have forwarded this thread to Philip Powell in the automotive section of About.com (he edits their auto-related newsletters), Dutch Mandel at Autoweek Magazine, and Jay Leno at Popular Mechanics. Let's hope BMW/Mini gets some of the exposure they deserve on this. I'll forward it on to others too.

 

ZigZagN:

It's a shame it took this problem to bring you onto the forum for your first post. It should have been for other more positive reasons. Anyhow, I just wanted to say welcome to MINI COOPER Online.

Dave

 

I think a highly publicized rally, not a "sit-in" but more of a "motor-in", where we all bring our MINIs with protests on the windshields and black tape in an X over the headlights. Then we just circle slowly around the local BMW/MINI dealerships over and over again while we honk our horns. If you like this idea PM me and we can start another thread to organize local events.



My letter to MINI USA...

While I understand the need to protect your brand I think there must be a better way to do it. Taking a heavy handed position on a grass roots enthusiasts site like https://www.northamericanmotoring.com is poor image management for a brand that has been so carefully and creatively cultivated.

Please work a little harder to come up with a reasonable compromise on the site name lest you destroy the facade that the MINI brand is all about carefree fun and love of driving and instead is nothing more than another company pretending to be different in a callous dupe to make money. I thought better of you.

Regards,
Jim Wilson

 

If you go to BMWonline.com, you might get an idea where they are going with this. Does this mean that any vendors with MINI in their name are fair game as well? MINIPilo, Monster MINI, MINI Madness, Moss MINI, Helix MINIsports, Mini-motorsport, etc.?

 

Thanks I found it. I always have difficulty figuring out where to post a thread there.

I put mine in the "Joys of Motoring" how ironic

 

WOW..Sorry to hear this Mark. This really concerns everyone. As we speak we are most likely changing the desighn of our club's logo.

I can definately see their view on logos ,but how can they enforce the name? will they take legal action against all those " MINI Storage" locations and names?

Let us know how we can help.


louis Zamudio
Houston Mini Motoring Society, President

 

Mark, you've got my support 100%.

In addition to writing emails, we need to come up with some domain names as Mark requested.

HARMINI.com is still available They can't touch that one, I made up the word.

My email:

Ref: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...98&start=0

BMWNA has done a superb job of angering MINI Cooper owners. This fiasco could have been avoided as Mark Ferguson has made several gestures to resolve the issue diplomatically. According to him, the legal representatives of BMWNA have been inconsistent and vague in their recommendations to change the domain name of minicooperonline.

From hereon, I withdraw my support of the BMW and MINI brand. I will still be driving my 2003 MINI Cooper, but nowhere on the car will it say MINI or Cooper. I will cease my daily MINI recommendations to potential owners. I will not organize another MINI event (yesterday, I gathered 58 MINIs in Bucks County Pa. and the event was covered in a full page article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer). I will not buy another BMW/MINI product. You've lost me as a supporter, a customer, and an organizer of successful MINI events.

Kim LeMoon
New Brunswick, NJ
VIN TE15360

 

MCO was my final and most definite push to take the plunge and get a MINI of my own as well. I still had reservations about owning a BMW product from working as an independent mechanic and having to deal with various issues getting parts and service information, not to mention the arrogance of the parent corporation. It seems like the latter has raised it's ugly litigious head already.

I am still firmly of the belief that BMW is totally unprepared for the grassroots, personal enthusiast community and what it's capable of. Face it, people who buy BMWs are mostly doing so for their status in social circles more than anything else, and their personal involvement with the workings of their car stops at putting gas in the tank and plugging in their cellphones, with exceptions made for certain diehard M3 people. The MINI is completely different. Because of it's "heritage", price point, fun factor and tweakability, people are getting more involved in the inner workings of these cars than anything BMW has produced in the last couple decades. People are not buying these things as short-term investments and letting the dealer coddle them with service and attention. People are wrenching and modifying their MINIs themselves or through third parties, asking for specs and manuals, modding and reprogramming and redoing these things like crazy.

BMW/MINI still does not know what to do with that fact. Yes, it sells cars, but corporate has never had to deal with the unwashed masses and their demands like this. I still think that is part of the charm of this car, but there is no charm lost on headquarters; they are still the arrogant monolith which caters firstly to the high-end of their market. This latest fiasco only drives that point home even more.

The MINI and perhaps now my one particular MINI will be as far as I go in owning a BMW product. BMW has to rethink their strategies of the MINI as a stepping stone to their higher models.

I ain't buyin'.

As for MCO, I love it here. Seriously. I have found some fantastic people here that I consider good friends and I have yet to meet them in person. So whatever this site becomes if minicooperonline gets yanked from Mark, I'll be here. Regardless of the name. It's the people involved in this site at all levels that make it what it is. That will never change even if the name does.

Even if I have to type http://www.oo-ee-oo-ah-ah-ting-tang-...gbang.co.or.us each and every time to get here.

_________________
'03 MCS, Dk Silver, 17" R85s, NAV, DSC (often turned off!), Packs #1 and #3, Rally lights, etc, etc. Fulton, MD. FRS 7-21

 

this is all bad....I'm out for a day and this is what I miss?

bannerizing the blog and sig as I type this!

 

Mark, to quote the MINIUSA website...

"Goliath lost!"

Stay strong and do not hesitate to ask for our help.

Jim

 

Get out your hair dryers and let's have a national DE-BADGING party, sponsored by the MINI RENEGADE CLUB. I ain't advertising for them no mo'

 

Mark, please keep fighting.
MCO community was one of the reasons I bought my 03 MCS.
I was even thinking about MC for my wife. Not at this point anymore.
Calling and e-mailing MINI USA and my dealer tomorrow.
Please let us know how can we help. Willing to send money your way.

Sincerely, Josef

 

I mostly "lurk" here and spend more time at M2 as 'miniyup'. That said, I joined tonite to lend my support (I've gotten lots of good info off this site, as well as M2 and Roadfly and I'm certainly glad all three have a strong and consistent following).

Here is the text of the e-mail I fowarded to Customer.Relations@bmwna.com:

"I think you have taken a very ill-advised step in
going after MINICOOPERONLINE.com (MCO) and asking them
at this point to change their domain name AND not
support commercial advertising of MINI products. It
is the enthusiast community as represented on websites
like MCO and MINI2 that has made MINI what it is
today, and it is us, the enthusiasts and "early
adopters" who are selling these cars to the larger
world. I personally have sold at least 3 people on
MINI's after taking delivery of my MCS this past May.

Why why why would you turn around and attack this
community at this late date ? I just don't understand
it and I think it is a very cheap shot. The website
is in no danger of stealing the MINI Cooper name from
BMW, on the contrary the website only exists to revere
and promote the MINI Cooper and the brand.

Foolish stance, BMW. It is a sad day when the lawyers
run the company instead of the enthusiasts and
engineers.

I await your response."
~~~
Good luck Mark ! If you need some $$ to support this defense, please give us Paypal instructions !

Also, if you or someone can post a fax number for MINIUSA, I think it would be kind of neat to flood their offices with good old fashioned protest paper...

Thanks. I'm confident this WILL all work out in the end if enough of us stand up.

 

I went through this a few years ago with Porsche. They decided to do the same thing BMW is pulling here.
Long story short. Porsche won out. :evil:

I like MCO.com myself. They can't stop you for an acronym.

 

The Scientist - Great Signatures! As a trademark attorney, I really don't see MINI USA's problem as there is no way our site can be confused with the official one; a disclaimer that MCO is not affiliated with MINIUSA, etc. should suffice, especially since MINIUSA undoubtedly derives tremenous benefit from MCO's existence. The term "shooting oneself in the foot" seems particularly apt. Also, their position is strange since MINIUSA has been actively monitoring and participating in the forums. Can this be revenge for the occasional petitions that come up???

Even the commercial objections are bizarre as the products carried do not directly compete with the dealers and, absed upon a review of their latest catalog, MOSS seems to be an approved alternative outlet for official BMW/MINI stuff.

You've earned your headache - let's hope Pitney has the good sense not to alienate his strongest supporters. Not smart. I will, of course, continue to proudly wear my MINICOOPERONLINE T-Shirt!

 

Anything to support you Mark!
_________________