FedEx has followed in the hare-brained footsteps of Apple by suing one of its biggest fans — blogger Jose Avila — who built all the furniture in his apartment out of FedEx boxes and blogged about it. Avila got a lawyer letter telling him he is in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (.pdf), or DMCA. He received a freaking cease and desist letter, instead of an invitation to appear in FedEx ads or a gift certificate to Ikea. His lawyer responded. Undoubtedly, he is now dealing with legal bills as well as sleeping on a cardboard bed.
As Slashdot noted, his work is pretty good, really. So what’s the damn problem?
The guy could be a priceless public relations asset to Fed Ex. What jerks!
FedEx, blogging. blog_legal_issues
FedEx Blows: They Sue Their Biggest Fan
BL Ochman | August 16, 2005 | Permanent Link | Comments (15) | TrackBack (
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He may soon have a cool new look: Yellow … as in DHL… better than (UPS) brown :-))
What a shame. The kid was begging to promote FedEx, and said he used their packing materials because they were sturdier than DHL, USPS, and UPS.
Their position is really beyond ridiculous. What could they possibly be thinking? Or not thinking?
BL
Yeah, bad PR move, definitely. This can probably be blamed on overzealous corporate lawyers.
Is there another type of corporate lawyer?
PR Bloggers Get Knickers in Twist Over FedEx Protecting its Mark
Let any corporation take on the little guy and tout le blogosphere (at least the please-let-me-be a PR pundit, Manhattan section) gnashes its teeth. I’m starting to see why some PR practitioners seem to have no large clients. This week’s
How about theft? Check out my post yesterday.
I’m surprised this is still getting buzz, since the Wired story appeared on the 11th – usually things die quicker in this age, but this non-story has legs.
Beyond Dumb
http://theheadlemur.typepad.com/ravinglunacy/2005/08/fffffffex_ex.html
FedEx Blows: They Sue Their Biggest Fan
We found this blog entry very interesting so we’ve added a Trackback to it on our site.
Does FedEx need a guy like this help them get business? Prolly not. Does this guy have a weird desire for attention? Probably.
In the time it took him to glue his house together, put up a web site and try to take FedEx hostage with it he could have worked on his resume, gotten a job and not have had to worry about living off of someone else’s IP.
Joel: You are absolutely right about that. But once he did all this, they could have had a sense of humor about it. If they did, it would have gone away quickly.
BL
PR Miscellany – August 18, 2005
These days I find it increasingly hard to be shocked or surprised at the stupidity of some of our “colleagues”. [Thanks to Alice Marshall for the link] George Beres writes in the Oregon Daily Emerald that PR has no place…
Joel says: “Does FedEx need a guy like this help them get business? Prolly not.”
I have to take issue with this attitude. I really hope FedEx isn’t thinking that way, although it definitely appears that they might be. But what is it that makes a company think they’re getting so big and successful that they don’t need to be nice to their customers? That is EXACTLY the attitude that will make people run as fast as their legs can carry them to the competition. Customers are what make a company big and successful in the first place and they can take away your success just as they gave it to you, by voting with their feet and their wallets. Heck, considering how many options are out there for couriers, I probably won’t use FedEx anymore.
I surely feel the your dismay Joel but in the long run Fed Ex has not only hurt itself by not using your talent but it may also have given its competetors ammunition! I recently had a ridiculous experience with them myself. My experience has led me to believe that if you insure something you are treated as if you are the one at fault when the package arrives damaged. My tv set is a great example. The customer service is far worse than any I have ever deal with, its unbelievable.
Note the explosion of DHL commercials about customer service. Figuring that these guys are not just randomly producing ads and buying expensive air time, I conclude that the express shipping industry has some problems taking care of customers, problems large enough to show up on surveys.
Then I see this, and I don’t have to do any complex calculations at all. This is lunacy.