Sab

I beleive in order to sue someone for trade mark infringement one needs to proof damages.

AO

Quick, everyone call Monty's cell (909-821-2199) and say... "X-pipe X-pipe X-pipe X-pipe X-pipe X-pipe X-pipe" or "Let's make a deal!"

worf928

Interesting. As cease and desist letters go that one is actually very nice. (He writes 'please' as opposed to 'you are hereby required to')

What is very interesting is that he is VERY specifically notifying you of the patent. Have you looked at his patent? Does your design plausibly infringe? (Seems hard not to?)

Big Dave? Please chime in.... does it look like Mr. Campbell is setting up Louie (and others) for another, nastier, letter? One that says "you were notified last year about our patent, yet you continued to market your device...." I just find it surprising, perhaps ominous, that he would complain about usage of the mark but not about striking similarities to his patented device?

Jim_H

How can you trademark X pipe when the term has been being used by an industry for so long? It's like me getting a trademark for hotdog or beer.
Hell, Louis doesn't even make or sell these anymore so this is a retroactive threat?

Do not give in to the evil forces.

worf928

Mr Campbell may not know that Louis is concentrating on getting his car running rather than churning out x-pipes(tm) by the 10's of thousands. Mr. Campbell may be too busy searching for usage of his mark and writing letters by the 10's of thousands to consider prioritizing his activities based upon a reasoned ROI analysis.

If I was a serious evil azzhole Mr Campbell's apparent strategy makes sense: notify users of the mark that a patent exists. It is expensive to get money back through trying to quantify damages from use of the mark. So, next year, go back through all of those 'infringing' mark users, sue them for patent infringement as it is a lot easier to subpoena tax returns to use as evidence of damages. After all Mr Campbell looses a X-pipe sale every time someone else sells one. Right? (NOT!)

Big Dave? Plausible? Or not?

Big Dave

The way I read it is that he's putting folks on notice. After doing that, he becomes entitled to treble damages in the event of ongoing infringement. Treble damages are one of the advantages of obtaining federal trademark registration.

Even registered trademarks can be attacked, however. The best argument is to prove that you were using the mark in commerce before the registrant. He claims first use back in 1982, so you'd have to either show you were using the x-pipe mark before then, or show he wasn't using it when he said he did. The first verifiable use wins. Trademark registration just provides a presumption that must be rebutted.

I'm not a patent attorney, so I can't really comment on that aspect.

Jim_H

Can he sue, lets say vendor X, for vendor X's customers continually using the term X pipe? I don't see how.

MGW-Fla

I say just change your web site to call it the Ott-X pipe like Magnaflow calls their's the Tru-X pipe. He didnt list Magnaflow on his "okie dokie" list & they are one of the largest producers of aftermarket exhaust systems for a very long time now. Surely if he had a leg to stand on, he'd of already given them the "cease & desist, or pay up" letter. Maybe he tried & their lawyers told him to stuff his trademark up his X-Pipe!

Fabio421

Patents aren't as hard to get as most people think. And just because you have one doesn't mean a whole lot unless you are prepared to defend it. Mr. Campbell probably doesn't have the funds to go after Magna-Flow. They will lawyer up on his @$$ and drag it out long enough that he will go broke fighting it. What I have seen other companies do, is to go after the smallest infringing company first and get a settlement or judgement to set precedent. Then it gets a little easier every time they go after another slightly larger company. For something like this it would cost both companies more to fight it than they would gain in profit from the item. My company went through a similar situation. We spent 3/4 mil. fighting a BS patent suit for an item that only netted us 1/2 mil. in its entire time we sold it. We just settled and designed a new item that didn't infringe on the BS patent. It was cheaper to do it that way. Its a shame we didn't realize that before we spent all that $$$.

Louie928

He says you can't use "X-Pipe" in publication(s) or editorial content. It's basically a form letter. What I see is that anyone can talk about "X-Pipe", or write about it in the context of this forum, or personal correspondence, etc. all they want to. You just can't publish something, and maybe a web site is considered a publication, and mention "X-Pipe", or comment about "X-Pipe" if it's not his "Official X-Pipe". What a weenie. Oops, he may have that trademarked too.

Louie928

Oh No! I left his cell phone number on the letter! I meant to strike it. My bad...

EB338

Perhaps not trademarked, but certainly perfected.

Yet another shameful use of the legal system to infringe upon and profit from the population it is supposed to protect. What has happened to this country?

AO

Fabio's right. Remember, it costs money to sue (although it appears he's a lawyer). Louie, no offense but, would he really be able to get much? Would it really be worth his while? Me thinks not. I would not worry much. Especially if other people are selling your wares (they're responsible unless you gave them direction to call it an X-pipe). To be safe, I think you could forward a note instructing your vendors to not use the term "X-pipe" in their marketing campaigns, and instead wither call it a Cross-over, X-flow, Ott-X, the cat's @$$, or whatever (depends on your marketing strategy). Then tell the guy you have complied with his request, then tell him to go suck a lemon!

Alternatively you could just ignore him and make crank calls to his cell phone every 3 minutes (I'll help). What a turd!

Jim_H

Are you kidding?? Louie is filthy stinking rich from selling X pipes. He's rolling in dough. He may buy the Trump Towers and put an X on the top of each.


What a photo shop opportunity!

Jim bailey - 928 International

Maybe call them Hott Hex pipes ! I rather like that