Quote:
Originally Posted by todeen
In the mid-90s, Marlboro sponsored the Billings MT fair a couple times. Some local yokel was selling gag gifts, and one of them was a silly cigarette product in Marlboro colors and design. My dad provided a cease and desist letter for encroachment on brand identification. Another time we were in Mexico, and we saw knockoff Marlboro stuff being peddled by sellers on the beach. My dad looked at me and said, "You don't know how much time is spent trying to eliminate stuff like this."
Sometimes it seems like mega companies don't care about money, they are willing to tie up litigation in the courts for years and years instead of paying a settlement. They don't save any money and their lawyers just keep ringing up the billable hours. And then at other times, they are going after mom & pops because every dollar counts.
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Not surprised at all, and your Dad was right about the surprising and sometimes illogical things companies will do to others to stay on top and squelch any and all competition, even if it is only perceived and not truly real. Just look at a lot of the biggest names in business out there, that people often seem to adore, emulate, and want to be. They turn out many times to be the biggest a--holes on the planet, who behind closed doors (and on some rare occasions right out in the open) are truly horrible people who will stop at nothing to advance their interests and wealth to the detriment of all others. And that kind of thinking permeates down through companies and leads to things like the harassment and threats that MA couple got from Ebay employees.
I think that sometimes businesses view spending all that time, expense, and effort as not frivilously just throwing money away, but more like paying for insurance. They go over the top against someone or some entity to send a message to everyone else out there to not even think about ever doing or saying anything to go against them. Because if they do, they'll stop at nothing to fight back and try to destroy whomever they feel posed a threat against them.