Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002 11:50:15 -0500
From: Michael Callahan
Subject: Bed Bath & Beyond Infringement, etc.
I am Vice President - Corporate Counsel for Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. You
presently have on your site a link to a manipulated coupon purporting to be
a Bed Bath & Beyond coupon. Get it off now. It is not a valid coupon and
it is not being accepted.
Bed Bath & Beyond is a registered service mark. The presence on your site
of this link constitutes trademark infringement under Federal and State
law. Given the fame of our mark and the brazen nature of the
misappropriation, we believe treble damages and attorneys' fees will be
recoverable in any action to enforce our rights.
We also believe that the propagation of this purported coupon, which has
been materially altered from its source, constitutes mail fraud. The laws
protecting content providers from certain actions of their users, we
believe, will not apply on these facts, and you will be held accountable.
This e-mail is being written without waiver of our rights and remedies,
whether or not expressed here, all of which are expressly reserved.
We demand that the link and the purported coupon be removed immediately
from your site and all archives, including the "Old Pages" area. We
expect this to be done immediately. Send me an e-mail at the address below
by 3:00 pm Eastern Standard Time today, January 4, 2002, confirming that
this has been done.
Michael J. Callahan
Update:
A faithful visitor of this site spoke to the BB&B Corporate Counsel guy over
the phone. The caller told me that the BB&B guy was very polite and nice on the
phone, and was very helpful in smoothing out the situation. BB&B is aware that
companies stand to benefit from the traffic in the stores that are caused by
"hot deals" sites such as this one. It's entirely possible that the BB&B guy
was simply putting on his lawyer hat on because he had no idea how cooperative
this website would be. Regardless, it's safe to assume that the BB&B 20% off
coupon that was posted yesterday will not be accepted in stores.
I obtained a "real" copy of the BB&B 20% off coupon that was mailed out to
their customers recently. After comparing it with the scanned one that was
sent to us a few days ago, I discovered that the one sent to us was indeed
altered from its original. There was only one small but important difference:
in the fine-print, the scanned copy eliminated the text that read "No
photocopies please." This falsely made people believe that copies and
printouts of the coupon would be acceptable, only to find their local store to
deny the printout. In the future, if you feel like sending us a coupon or
promotion, please do not alter the original promotion details and fine
print.
Some people have reported success when they asked a store rep for a 20%-off
coupon in exchange for signing up for the BB&B mailing list.