Justin:

I am the guy that makes the calls on the bigger issues at Bucknuts and JJ. Unfortunately, you are making this a "big issue" and the hole that you are digging gets deeper with every shovel-full.

You traded off our mark (JJHuddle.com), a mark we have to either protect or lose. You diverted customers and users of our site and continue to do that by using our name and still "transitioning" our customer base to one of your own. You might think that this isn't detrimental to us because you are not charging but the law says - very specifically - that we have to defend our mark on each instance of intrusion or we lose the right to the mark.

We have a lot invested in people and time with JJ Huddle and we will defend that mark or go out of business. Yes, we take this seriously and that's why we resent having to take these actions and spending this money on Matt Jenkins when any lawyer could tell you that we have to do this based upon your actions and that we will prevail no matter what your cursory look at the law might tell you.

If we have to file a legal action this week (and we will unless you cease and desist), we will ask for both damages and for our legal fees returned since what you are doing is so patently "illegal".

If you want to contact me, use this e-mail address...

Lee Schear

My response:

Lee,

I was trying to reach out to you personally in good faith as I know it costs you money every time your attorney and I talk. I am sorry to see that this is the attitude you feel you need to take with me but I can respect your position.

I do have to ask what hole I am digging, though? I am "giving in" by changing the name of my website. I am not trying to make this a big issue.

I've consulted with an attorney in Cincinnati who deals on these matters and it is in his opinion that I call your bluff. His stance is that you have no case and are trying to bully me into a corner. While I tend to agree with him I am not going to call your bluff. I am changing the name of the website and I will agree to stop redirecting from the freehuddle.com url. It isn't worth going to court over something that is nothing more than a hobby for me.

My intentions of reaching out to you were to ask for a compromise though from the tone of your email I am sure you will decline my request. I would like to request that I be given until the last day of March to use freehuddle.com to point my new url. It would be a static page with just a message that the site name has changed and a link so there would be no automatic redirection. I would also include a link to jjhuddle.com during that period. I feel that this is a reasonable request but I could be wrong.

Regardless of what your thoughts of me are I am a very reasonable person. I was an upstanding member of jjhuddle for 9 years and that site gave me plenty of enjoyment over the years. I think this whole situation could have been handled differently had you sought me out personally in the beginning.

I look forward to hearing back from you.

Thanks,
Justin Nethers

Sounds like a douche.....not surprised though.

As for his case against you, there has to be some other cases out there like this. I wonder what the verdict was in those?....just curious.

Guy seems like an ass and is really intent on playing the role of the bully.

Also, I would never concede anything or let him know what you and your attorney talked about. Tell him your intentions and play your side.

Fly4Fun wrote: Guy seems like an ass and is really intent on playing the role of the bully.

Also, I would never concede anything or let him know what you and your attorney talked about. Tell him your intentions and play your side.

I already sent him that email. I agree with your point, though.

justincredible wrote: Justin:

I am the guy that makes the calls on the bigger issues at Bucknuts and JJ. Unfortunately, you are making this a "big issue" and the hole that you are digging gets deeper with every shovel-full.

WTF? I mean, having dealt with legal issues almost monthly, the response is " contact my lawyer" not some bullshit like this.

and BTW... cease and desist.... cease an desist what?! Having a web forum?!

Wow, that guy is a dick.

Trueblue23 wrote: Wow, that guy is a dick.

word. Unfortunately, Bucknuts feels they can just out spend you and win. At this point it has nothing to do with whats "legal" and not, it's who can spend the most.

Mister Lee pretty much embodies why JJ's failed so miserably when they did that whole "EVERYONE PAYS NOW!!!!" thing. "I'm a big dick and you stop everything or else!!!!" Good job, dipshit...

I just read up on Lee Schear a little bit, the fuckin dude is LOADED

He's the owner of cashland? No comment, and that should tell you a lot.

"We started 18 businesses since 1981, some which have done better than others, and the constant seems to be … you've got to be better than all your competition."

or sue your competition out of business? I think so, Mr. Loan Shark himself....

He looks like the kind of guy that would own a line of car washes and gas stations.

Trueblue23 wrote: He looks like the kind of guy that would own a line of car washes and gas stations.

car washes and gas stations is more respectable than what he does. Coming from a line of large complex landlords....


FUCK HIM

Yep, fuck that guy.

Justin I really wish we all had the resources to fight this, but it is 100% understandable why you have taken the stance you have. I swear, I ever hit that Mega Millions, BuckNuts is mine! hah

The best hope is that Vorys or Bricker or some other law firm is pissed at him and wants to take him on.

That would be awesome.

I would how many other sites he has shut down by strong arming.

Trueblue23 wrote: That would be awesome.

I would how many other sites he has shut down by strong arming.

Sites? Probably not many. Start up businesses pertaining to check cashing? probably tons. He is choosing his battles wrong though. Aubrey McClendon probably files 100 lawsuits per year, but everyone he sues is earning a revenue of over 10 million per year, not people who have 1 hobby oil well that at best may break even.

His response:

Justin:

I appreciate your intent here and I am sorry that you didn’t like my “tone’. The fact that I came across to you as irritated is only because I am. Please understand that while this is a hobby for you, this is our business. And in addition to the five web sites we operate and the other larger businesses in which we are involved, this has taken a disproportionate amount of time and expense and taken away from those businesses. And that’s been precisely our point(s).

While you are on a voyage of discovery with your new site, our companies employ 25 people that try to make a living from these web site efforts. Our inference is that “Free Huddle” makes fun of our business model and attempts to persuade others to deride it, leave it, and not pay us for our efforts. We take attempt on your part very seriously. It feels to us as if the “free” in “Free Huddle” is used as both a verb and a noun. And in either case, it is a negative reference to us and a ploy to diminish our work. If we started a site addressed to your friends and colleagues and called it “We’re Not Nethers” and used any of your frailties or perceived vulnerabilities as the basis for the site, I think you would be motivated to protect your image and your body of work. Well, so are we.

The guys at JJ (including JJ himself) have implied that you are a good guy and a reasonable sort. That’s why we didn’t fire back with legal action from the get-go. Despite our painstaking and frustrating discussion with you (through counsel and now without…), you still don’t seem to take this seriously. You have converted over current and potential customers, damaged our reputation and image, implied that our product has negligible value and – after we had to spend significant money – now ask us: Can I do this just a little longer so that I can safely convert those customers to my new site?

The answer is “no”. If you want to pay us a licensure while you explore your hobby, that might be fair. But to continue to take our assets and make them your own is the heart and soul of a trademark (and overall legal) defense.

You say that your counsel “on these matters and it is in his opinion that I call your bluff”. I hope he a better counselor than a poker player! If he has access to Martindale Hubbell, he can ascertain how serious we take our legal standing. You already know that Matt Jenkins is our intellectual properties attorney. When we defended the Bucknuts mark (successfully) against intrusions from Ohio State, we used David Greer of Bieser Greer and Landis. When we instigated a class action suit (and prevailed) against Scout and Fox, we used the services of Charles Faruki and Jeff Ireland of Faruki Ireland and Cox. I realize you will think my “tone” is contentious once again but I am making my point: we are a business and we take this seriously.

So don’t expect us to wait while you continue to convert our commercial assets to your hobbyist ideals. Justin, I am copying our COO and our operations director on this e-mail to you so that you – and they – realize that we have one mission in this response to you and that I have lost my patience while you “educate” yourself at our expense. You seem like a good guy and I know that we are good guys but I don’t want to pay Matt Jenkins to sit on the sideline while you experiment in our business. If you haven’t stopped converting our registered members by end-of-business Monday, we will file against your site and against you. We will ask for damages and attorney’s fees since you have now been warned on multiple occasions, you have now corresponded directly with me and since your actions are patently seen as an egregious attempt to convert our assets.

We are asking you – again – to discontinue using the Huddle name and to quit using a Huddle-named landing page to redirect traffic to your new enterprise.

Lee Schear

Wow..so is he expecting you to just drop the website altogether? Or is his issue now with using 'freehuddle' to redirect?

Just freehuddle.com.

So what's your next step then?