[thelist] designer's rights

[deke]

On 14 Nov 2001, at 9:25, Adam posted a message which said:

> 1: Does he really have the right to ask me not to reference his trademarked
> name in my portfolio (which incidentally isn't finished and only accessible
> from an SE,- damn the power of google!) Remember- no trademarked imagery is
> used only a text reference.

Take a look at any issue of any trade magazine.

When someone does a comparison between themselves
and the competition, they usually mention the competition 
by name, and put a disclaimer at the bottom of the page
saying that Hoozit is a trademark owned by Whatzit, Inc.

 
> 2: He still owes me $675.00. Which makes him a dick considering his enormous
> wealth and my overwhelming poverty at the time. I also think that since we
> never discussed my use of created materials in a self promotional context,
> that any rights he may have had  end where our agreement became unfulfilled
> (he received no work, I received no $).

The fact that he's a dick is immaterial. 
The fact that he owes you money is immaterial.
If you get into the business of paying a lawyer to defend you,
you can ask him to file a countersuit asking for that money,
but that would only cloud the issue. 

Why don't you send him a letter noting that you are aware
that he has property rights in his trademark and you would
never infringe on them, and by the way, you still show a
balance of $675, and noting that prompt payment would
avoid a lawsuit which could adversely affect his credit rating?

As long as you have to deal with the creep, you might as
well get paid what you are owed.

deke




*Any great truth can -- and eventually will -- be expressed as a cliche
-- a cliche is a sure and certain way to dilute an idea. For instance,
my grandmother used to say, "The black cat is always the last one off
the fence." I have no idea what she meant, but at one time, it was
undoubtedly true. --
                       Solomon Short