Welcome back to Legal Geek. This week, we review what has become a trend in sending demand or cease and desist letters, a softer edge that is just as much marketing as it is legal.
A couple months back, the main show and this segment covered a story about Netflix attorneys sending a cease and desist letter to a pop up Stranger Things themed bar with a lot of humor and in jokes from the show mixed in, instead of the usual threats and legalese. This resulted in positive press for Netflix and their attorneys, as evidenced by our own coverage of the event, while also resulting in the other party complying with the demand from Netflix. This softer approach is becoming more prevalent, as evidenced by a Town Crier sent by Budweiser to another brewing company last month:
INSERT TOWN CRIER FROM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=hCvPtSxxVkU
Turns out, even Dilly Dilly can be made into something funny and enjoyable in this context. As with the Stranger Things letter, this Town Crier demand went viral online and in news coverage, with positive press happening for Budweiser rather than the negative feedback the public often gives when brands are pushy about enforcing their rights. Plus, the Minnesota brewing company agreed to comply with the demand and stop selling the Dilly Dilly Mosaic Double IPA after the initial run was sold.
Other examples recently of this trend include TGI Fridays sending a box of buttons and other flair to a Chicago bar with a letter asking that the bar's plans to hold an event mimicking the Friday's restaurant be limited to a one-time thing. That certainly makes it easier for the bar's employees to look like Friday's servers for the event, and it struck a good balance between enforcing a trademark, which is required to keep those rights, and being reasonable about fan service or parody in this case.
In another case, Dole responded to an Instagram meme from a New York branding agency using their company logo for a Halloween joke about receiving bags of fruit instead of candy, but not with a takedown notice. Instead, Dole added to the meme by making some more small bags of fruit and asked that the other company refrain from future unauthorized use of the trademarks so that they didn't have to come take all their candy away.
This trend for demand letters is certainly a response to the negative feedback other companies have gotten on social media and in the news for facing down fans with formal legal threats. This is a smart way to jam some positive marketing into legal responsibilities. Considering that nobody really wants to add more costly litigation to their dockets, the softer approach has proven to be effective enough to protect most brands while avoiding legal escalation and bad press. In other words, a win-win.
The Bottom Line is, the old adage of "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" appears to be working in this context. In my own practice, I often recommend a softer edge from content creators and brand owners at the beginning, as it can't hurt to try being somewhat nice before escalating to full conflict. You just might end up with more friends and business partners that way, too. In a society divided by politics and a lot of other stresses, it should come as no surprise that this approach is more effective. I look forward to covering more fun legal demand letters as the trend continues.
INSERT TOWN CRIER FROM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=hCvPtSxxVkU
Turns out, even Dilly Dilly can be made into something funny and enjoyable in this context. As with the Stranger Things letter, this Town Crier demand went viral online and in news coverage, with positive press happening for Budweiser rather than the negative feedback the public often gives when brands are pushy about enforcing their rights. Plus, the Minnesota brewing company agreed to comply with the demand and stop selling the Dilly Dilly Mosaic Double IPA after the initial run was sold.
Other examples recently of this trend include TGI Fridays sending a box of buttons and other flair to a Chicago bar with a letter asking that the bar's plans to hold an event mimicking the Friday's restaurant be limited to a one-time thing. That certainly makes it easier for the bar's employees to look like Friday's servers for the event, and it struck a good balance between enforcing a trademark, which is required to keep those rights, and being reasonable about fan service or parody in this case.
In another case, Dole responded to an Instagram meme from a New York branding agency using their company logo for a Halloween joke about receiving bags of fruit instead of candy, but not with a takedown notice. Instead, Dole added to the meme by making some more small bags of fruit and asked that the other company refrain from future unauthorized use of the trademarks so that they didn't have to come take all their candy away.
This trend for demand letters is certainly a response to the negative feedback other companies have gotten on social media and in the news for facing down fans with formal legal threats. This is a smart way to jam some positive marketing into legal responsibilities. Considering that nobody really wants to add more costly litigation to their dockets, the softer approach has proven to be effective enough to protect most brands while avoiding legal escalation and bad press. In other words, a win-win.
The Bottom Line is, the old adage of "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" appears to be working in this context. In my own practice, I often recommend a softer edge from content creators and brand owners at the beginning, as it can't hurt to try being somewhat nice before escalating to full conflict. You just might end up with more friends and business partners that way, too. In a society divided by politics and a lot of other stresses, it should come as no surprise that this approach is more effective. I look forward to covering more fun legal demand letters as the trend continues.
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