|
DOMAIN
STRUGGLE
|
|
 |
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The
Right To A Domain / Ford vs. ClassicVolvo.com
|
|
ROUND
2
|
|
|
The
complete story.
The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing But.... Volvo! |
|
|
I
want to start by saying thank you to all of you that has given support
in this cause.
Thank You! I also want to state that all this law-business comes on top of my already too large work load. This can make me sag a bit behind at times. The ordinary bread and butter must come first. Once the text below is produced and ftp:d I shall go through all tips and hints that I have got via e-mail and billboards. Thanks again! |
|
|
|
|
| ClassicVolvo.com
is basically a one man show. At times I work together with partners
and other associates but it is mainly a one man act. From the html-codeing
down to the rust-welding on the shop floor it is me, Hans
Rekestad, that is ClassicVolvo.com Volvo has been in the bloodline since childhood. I bought my first PV444 as a twelve year old in 1964. Commercially I have been dealing in the Volvo world since 1970. ClassicVolvo.com has existed on the web since October 1996. |
|
|
|
|
| Working
the web is for most actors not too profitable. A lot of work and hopefully
some return. The Internet is a new, fascinating media and my love for
the web is almost as strong as my obsession for Volvos. The main force
behind the many non-paid html hours has been, and is, the idea that I
can build a world wide center for (guess what?) "Classic Volvos".
A center that will be able to serve all owners of old Volvo models with
all that they need. This center shall physically be established in Sweden
(where else?). Materially there will of course be all the restrictions
that materia lays upon us. Information-wize the web center will be able
to serve every client on earth. And information is a LARGE part of the
classic Volvo business. These were, and are, the thoughts in my head as a web business builder. |
|
|
|
|
| I
have been reaching out to draw more energy to my project in a number
of ways. So far not too successfully. One way has been to search for capital
the ordinary way, to seek for investors into my idea. This can be seen
at www.classicvolvo.com/risk.
(unfortunately only in Swedish). Another attempt to interest people with
capital was to put the domain out for sale at www.greatdomains.com.
If somebody was interested to buy the domain, the concept of investing
into my business idea must seem like a bonanza! To find somebody that
would buy it for the price I asked ($ 150 000) was definitely not realistic
at all, since ClassicVolvo.com´s real value is almost totally my
knowledge, my experience and my ideas. Here is where Ford Motor Company comes into the picture. By offering my domain for sale I have committed "cyber piracy", "cyber squatting" and a couple of more nasties. I still think that looking for investors by offering my domain for sale was basically a good idea. If I had known about Fords attitude I had, of course, never done anything like it. I have probably done another thing or two, while cruising the web, that can be, ripped out of its context, used to accuse me of something bad but with the whole picture taken into consideration I think that the Ford lawyers should be happy if I do not sue Ford Motor Company for slandering and for dragging my good name in the dirt. |
|
|
|
|
| The
next thing that of course comes to mind is the whole concept around
trademark. I have no training what so ever in any law, Swedish, American
or for any other country. I do not even have an insurance policy that
covers a law suit with FoMoCo and I will NOT spend a lot of hours on trying
to understand all the technicalities of this matter. To the average human, the handling of the trademark concept by FoMoCo (and other multi-nationals) must seem a bit like an exercising ground for its lawyers. Classicvolvo is NOT Volvo and so are neither many of the other domains that FoMoCo has sued. Where does one draw the line? Will ClassicVolov pass? ClassicRolov? If FoMoCo´s legal machinery gets its will, maybe even the domain ClassicCarsFromSwedenNotSaab.com will be ruled out. Basically I am of the opinion that Classicvolvo is my own domain. It is NOT some property of Ford or Volvo and it is not the same as their names. BUT if I will use my company, named classicvolvo.com, to slander Volvo, to destroy business, to drag the name "Volvo" in the dirt, then I shall of course be stopped. But I have not. On the contrary. My domain and myself can be seen as a valuable asset to AB Volvo during my whole web carrier! And as such I can do with my domain/property exactly what I want. Pronto! |
|
|
|
|
| Above
was the words of the lay man. Here comes some information from a lawman: Attorney of law Mr. Mats Björkenfeldt in Stockholm, Sweden, rang me up one day in another Volvo trademark matter. He has a client that has been sued by Volvo Sweden for using the domain volvo-tuning.com. Mr. Björkenfeldt, that offered to handle my case against FoMoCo at a cost of $110 an hour, (by the way, FoMoCo wants $100 000 plus expenses for damages...) insisted that my case and most other similar cases are crystal clear. It is NOT a matter of trademark infringement. Using the word "Volvo" in a domain on an active web site/company/project is merely a matter of information. Information about what you/your company are doing/selling/buying/repairing. Mr. Björkenfeldt had taken cases up to the High Court of Sweden and won his case. He also said it had the same crystal clearness with VIPO (FoMoCo refers to VIPO but does not use this institution to handle this case....!). The same crystal clearness applies in European Union Law. This is NOT trade mark infringement. But why should FoMoCo care.... If you are one of the biggest companies in the world it is natural to try to set your own standards. I would! |
|
|
|
|
| Volvo
in Sweden is tradition. Sweden is full of Volvonians. Volvonians that
drive, own, sell, buy, deal, scrap, repair, crash, race, compost, customize,
exhibit and artify Volvos. Sweden is full of major and minor companies, firms, clubs, societies, web sites that concentrate on Volvo. It has been like this since 1927 and it is constantly raising. Amongst the more serious actors on the field there has always been a lot of question marks about why AB Volvo have handled their older aftermarket in such a negligent way. AB Volvo has seemed to be a company full of old-fashioned hierarchy and full of people watching their positions. This way they have lost contact with spare part suppliers, lost control over tooling for spare part manufacturing, given away rights of manufacturing in dubious ways, poorly updated their data systems and done a lot of other things that one shall not do if one has a successful company strategy. It is understandable though, these acts of AB Volvo. Until recently they have been a midget car company in a giant car world. A midget that could have been erased by one slight mistake in the next years models. No wonder they considered the older after-market a "nothing". AND they had all these more or less serious actors to cover over the mistakes made by the leaders of the company. For example, the Swedish Volvo 444/544 Club has defenitely saved a lot of AB Volvo executives asses with its 23-year old, heroic, idealistic crusade for ClassicVolvos! |
|
|
|
|
| Ford Motor Company has a reputation in Sweden as being one hell of a tough s.o.b. Long before the birth of the web, FoMoCo made it clear in Swedish motor press that any use of logo or trademark similarities, meant legal activities. Now the Volvo informal grapevine in Sweden and USA says that FoMoCo will apply its old-fashioned, hierarchic, centralized way of acting upon anyone using "Volvo, Ovlo, 444, 544, Sport, Amazon, 850, Ord, Vord or what ever". Being a 47-year old mechanic in the Volvo/Ford/Web-world I can believe these rumors. That might be one of FoMoCo´s bigger mistakes. To start hassling e. g. the Swedish Volvo PV 444/544 Club, a club that has invested at least 250 000 man-hours for free, for using "Volvo" in their name is nothing but a grand mistake. The battle with ClassicVolvo.com will probably seem like a whisper in comparison...... | |
|
|
|
|
Ford
Motor Company should cherish the Swedish (and elsewhere) Volvonian
culture instead of trying to oppress and uproot it. Instead of seeking
to destroy and wipe out they shall nurse and take care. To use a major
group of lawyers for hunting down people and companies that want to
call themselves something Volvoish or Fordish is very old-fashioned
and dumb. It is a outdated streak from the "old economy" and
I will be extremely surprised if this way of acting has any sanctions
in the FoMoCo top. |
|
| Instead
FoMoCo continues in last century, old-fashioned style and starts up
something that can escalate into a long guerilla warfare situation with
enthusiasts and consumers. The classicvolvo.com struggle is a good example
of this. This, so far, one month-long hassle with this little midget,
classicvolvo.com, has already cost FoMoCo the profits
of at least on one car sale and a fair bit of bad consumer vibes.
There is nothing to gain for FoMoCo because there is nothing to take (except
a domain...). For classicvolvo.com there is only a lot of non paid keyboard-hours.
FoMoCo has created a true "lose/lose" situation. Congratulations! |
|
|
|
|
|
You
have come to the end of Round 2 as far as it goes for classicvolvo.com.
The punches from FoMoCo are still to come. I hope you have had an interesting
time and that some question marks have been straightened out. Flood their inboxes! Please send me more addresses if you have any. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |