Good job man, good job. I got this story off reddit and read the entire sucks website. Very impressive that one person can go up against big business and come out on top. Grats
@breakglass991 Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you enjoyed the film -- and I'm VERY impressed that you actually read the entire site! You're either very tenacious or you have entirely too much time on your hands. :)
@wittenbk Well, "hero" may be a little strong, but if my situation can give some hope to someone who finds themselves trapped in a legal morass like I did, then I'm a happy guy.
@tanham007: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. I'm sure there's a fascinating story behind the fact that you "used" to have a store there, can you share it? Either here or in private? No reason, just nosy... :)
we just talked about this case in my business law class. i'm from plano and had no idea this whole thing happened. it's really quite amazing the lengths taubman went to in order to shut down someone who initially was paying them a compliment by making a site to share the greatness that is the shops at willow bend.
@sallen1190: Interesting that you're studying the case from right here in Plano -- maybe you could organize an extra-credit field trip to find out for yourself whether the mall really does suck. :)
(Actually, I happen to like the mall, despite my domain name that says that it sucks, but I don't go there too often because has it mostly high-end stores and I'm not really a high-end kind of guy. But I'm always up for a pizza at CPK and some dessert at Haagen-Dasz. Yum!)
I spent 2 hours and just reading the site itself was mind boggling. I live in plano, and occasionaly went window shopping, now i do domain names. Interesting stuff!
Just wanted to say as a web junkie, thank you for fighting this battle. I learned about you through my Legal and Social Environment of Business course, your my first homework question!
It wasn't a hard problem. Just our opinion on the case. It was one that I have had prior experience dealing with. I've felt your pain of when people with more resources and a legal time enjoy throwing their weight around :S Oh well, life is life :)
I just happened upon this when I was viewing the Taubman Art Museum website, forgive me for not catching on to something that may be obvious, but does the same Taubman have to do with both the mall and the museum?
Anyway, I was so entertained by this that I have indeed passed it along, a true gem of a combination of creativity, humor, disgust, justice and triumph! I loved it! The effects are really well done and they really draw the viewer into the story, nice job!
The Taubman Art Museum is named for donor Nicholas Taubman of Roanoke; the Taubman Company (owners of the mall) was founded by Alfred Taubman of Detroit. As far as I know, there is no connection.
I'm glad you enjoyed the movie -- but I should point out that, although the movie is based on a lawsuit in which I was involved (and I'm the "star" of the film), I didn't make the movie, which is the work of writer/director Theo Lipfert.
oh yea see i dont know the fine print on the situation. i have to say i dont agree with some of the things the company does..like the recent backing of purposal 2 in michigan..but overall i think its a good company. but yea i think since u used the word the before shops.... it wouldnt matter. and if people saw it wasnt the official site, not that hard to find the real one. another note, the video is very well done! almost looks professional. thank you for the congrats!
I should point out that I had nothing to do with the making of the video (other than being its "star"), which was the creation of filmmaker Theo Lipfert of Singing Pictures.
domain you chose, the shops at willow bend was trademarked before the mall was even built. Taubman does this with most of their malls because of the tough competition they face from other retail giants like Simon. your fist website was a great intention though.
secondly, i hope that your experience with the Taubman company and the entities it employs , although it was anything from favorable, hasnt tainted your overall views of the Taubman Co itself. i am very proud of the work my father
I responded to the first part of your note before I saw the other parts, sorry.
I understand that Taubman trademarked "The Shops at Willow Bend" for use with the mall. However, my understanding of trademark law was that their trademark did not prevent me from using a large piece of their name in my domain name. And after a long battle, the federal court agreed with me.
my father is the vice president of planning and design at the Taubman Co. he designed the shops at willow bend and came up with the name. i have two comments.
first is, i feel like the maturity of this statement is evident when you title anything with the word "sucks". the Taubman Co. is private firm anymore and that means they do have corporate lawyers and i will not argue that corporate lawyers are not always the most pleasent people. unfortunately for the website
1. The lawyers didn't work for Taubman, they were from a separate law firm.
2. Although I'm sure that you're too mature to ever stoop to using it, the word "sucks" perfectly and succinctly expresses my opinion of what your dad's company did to me.
3. Please pass my congrats along to your dad. I think that TSaWB is a beautiful structure, I've never said anything but good things about the mall in the video or on my website (other than in the domain name itself).
The thing is that for any conceivable entity in existance, there will be someone who will think it sucks, and be convinced of that enough to want to make a website about it.
Also it would be interesting if you had any comments from someone from taubman on this.
thanks for setting this precedent, and for making this film. wow. that was really insightful, well done. i'm trying to think of how i can work this into one of my courses on communications.
If you mean that you'd like to use the lawsuit itself (and/or the website), I know of a college instructor who's using it in what I think is a business communications class, I could put you in touch with him. If you're talking about using the video, I could put you in touch with filmmaker. Either way, let me know if you're interested, I'd be happy to get the relevant info to you.
I'm reading this in my business law class right now and writing a paper for a sociology class on the change in communication because of the internet. I'm using how freedom of speech has changed to domain names because this is the modern way we communicate with each other and as stated in the case the modern way we "shout from the rooftops"!
Awesome work! Very refreshing to see a fellow activist who doesn't just roll over and play dead when the ruling class tries to squash them. Please keep it up.
Just read the case. An assignment for my MBA class. Loved it !! It was a long battle, but I am glad to know that you won. Even though Doug lied, I was more upset about Julie. I am sure she still doesn't understand why you did just get scared of her threats and take everything down after the first letter...lol
I love it when people let the big guys with all their lawyers and money know they can't crap on the so called little men (and little women) among us. Good for you, HMishkoff.
Thanks, Hank! Thanks to you, I won't get sued for my own domain name and have to go through all of this crap. Woohoo! In thanks, I'm adding Public Citizen to my charity account. Any other charities you'd like to see donated to? Or would suggesting donating to a charity be grounds for further court action by Taubman? :).
I created a website on my experience with ProActiv Solution and shortly after, Guthy-Renker's lawyers contacted me asking me to shut down my site for infrigement. I since changed the images, but my website is still up. PROPASSIV dot COM
u suck douchebag
MrCaptaincommando 1 month ago
@MrCaptaincommando Thank you for your thoughtful and perceptive observation.
HMishkoff 1 month ago
Good job man, good job. I got this story off reddit and read the entire sucks website. Very impressive that one person can go up against big business and come out on top. Grats
breakglass991 5 months ago
@breakglass991 Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you enjoyed the film -- and I'm VERY impressed that you actually read the entire site! You're either very tenacious or you have entirely too much time on your hands. :)
HMishkoff 4 months ago
@wittenbk Well, "hero" may be a little strong, but if my situation can give some hope to someone who finds themselves trapped in a legal morass like I did, then I'm a happy guy.
HMishkoff 6 months ago
Wow! Stumbled upon this video - very interesting! I like it.
r!
recklesswhisper 6 months ago
@recklesswhisper Cool, thanks, I'm glad that it's still meaningful to some people, even after all this time.
HMishkoff 6 months ago
Excellent work...This is very near and dear to me... I USED to have a store there...
tanham007 1 year ago
@tanham007: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. I'm sure there's a fascinating story behind the fact that you "used" to have a store there, can you share it? Either here or in private? No reason, just nosy... :)
HMishkoff 1 year ago
we just talked about this case in my business law class. i'm from plano and had no idea this whole thing happened. it's really quite amazing the lengths taubman went to in order to shut down someone who initially was paying them a compliment by making a site to share the greatness that is the shops at willow bend.
sallen1190 1 year ago
@sallen1190: Interesting that you're studying the case from right here in Plano -- maybe you could organize an extra-credit field trip to find out for yourself whether the mall really does suck. :)
(Actually, I happen to like the mall, despite my domain name that says that it sucks, but I don't go there too often because has it mostly high-end stores and I'm not really a high-end kind of guy. But I'm always up for a pizza at CPK and some dessert at Haagen-Dasz. Yum!)
HMishkoff 1 year ago
@sallen1190 I got here because I am currently reading this case for my Trademark Law class
marinegrunt0341 11 months ago
I just stumbled onto this video.
Excellent!
davehorne 1 year ago
@davehorne: Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
HMishkoff 1 year ago
way to go! i loved the clip. You are a fine example of how the country should be operating in the face of big business with lawyers on retainer.
What's next on your agenda, and if nothing FIND SOMETHING!
barre1ro11 1 year ago
@barre1ro11 Glad you enjoyed the video.
There's nothing next on my agenda, THIS wasn't even on my agenda, I just got sued.
HMishkoff 1 year ago
just stumbled upon this on wikipedia. good for you for fighting back!
paddedpencil 1 year ago
Hmm, never would have thought my Business LAw class would lead me to YuoTube. lol! Good for you for fighting the fight!
loulougal 2 years ago
It's a conspiracy between me and your teacher, it was the only way we could stop you from falling asleep in class. :)
HMishkoff 2 years ago
lol- exactly!
loulougal 2 years ago
alot of there malls look the same.
meplayvgalot 2 years ago
I spent 2 hours and just reading the site itself was mind boggling. I live in plano, and occasionaly went window shopping, now i do domain names. Interesting stuff!
samDOTtravel 2 years ago
Just two hours?? You must be some kind of world-class speed reader... :)
Thanks for writing, it's always a treat to run into a local guy. Glad you enjoyed the site.
HMishkoff 2 years ago
Just wanted to say as a web junkie, thank you for fighting this battle. I learned about you through my Legal and Social Environment of Business course, your my first homework question!
vashstampede31 3 years ago
Cool. I never much liked *doing* homework, *being* homework is much better. :)
HMishkoff 3 years ago
It wasn't a hard problem. Just our opinion on the case. It was one that I have had prior experience dealing with. I've felt your pain of when people with more resources and a legal time enjoy throwing their weight around :S Oh well, life is life :)
vashstampede31 3 years ago
Hi,
I just happened upon this when I was viewing the Taubman Art Museum website, forgive me for not catching on to something that may be obvious, but does the same Taubman have to do with both the mall and the museum?
Anyway, I was so entertained by this that I have indeed passed it along, a true gem of a combination of creativity, humor, disgust, justice and triumph! I loved it! The effects are really well done and they really draw the viewer into the story, nice job!
DonnaD123 3 years ago
The Taubman Art Museum is named for donor Nicholas Taubman of Roanoke; the Taubman Company (owners of the mall) was founded by Alfred Taubman of Detroit. As far as I know, there is no connection.
I'm glad you enjoyed the movie -- but I should point out that, although the movie is based on a lawsuit in which I was involved (and I'm the "star" of the film), I didn't make the movie, which is the work of writer/director Theo Lipfert.
HMishkoff 3 years ago
oh yea see i dont know the fine print on the situation. i have to say i dont agree with some of the things the company does..like the recent backing of purposal 2 in michigan..but overall i think its a good company. but yea i think since u used the word the before shops.... it wouldnt matter. and if people saw it wasnt the official site, not that hard to find the real one. another note, the video is very well done! almost looks professional. thank you for the congrats!
mkksal 3 years ago
I should point out that I had nothing to do with the making of the video (other than being its "star"), which was the creation of filmmaker Theo Lipfert of Singing Pictures.
HMishkoff 3 years ago
does and aside from the clutter of the problems you faced, i hope you can enjoy it too.
thank you.
mkksal 3 years ago
domain you chose, the shops at willow bend was trademarked before the mall was even built. Taubman does this with most of their malls because of the tough competition they face from other retail giants like Simon. your fist website was a great intention though.
secondly, i hope that your experience with the Taubman company and the entities it employs , although it was anything from favorable, hasnt tainted your overall views of the Taubman Co itself. i am very proud of the work my father
mkksal 3 years ago
I responded to the first part of your note before I saw the other parts, sorry.
I understand that Taubman trademarked "The Shops at Willow Bend" for use with the mall. However, my understanding of trademark law was that their trademark did not prevent me from using a large piece of their name in my domain name. And after a long battle, the federal court agreed with me.
HMishkoff 3 years ago
ill be that comment
my father is the vice president of planning and design at the Taubman Co. he designed the shops at willow bend and came up with the name. i have two comments.
first is, i feel like the maturity of this statement is evident when you title anything with the word "sucks". the Taubman Co. is private firm anymore and that means they do have corporate lawyers and i will not argue that corporate lawyers are not always the most pleasent people. unfortunately for the website
mkksal 3 years ago
1. The lawyers didn't work for Taubman, they were from a separate law firm.
2. Although I'm sure that you're too mature to ever stoop to using it, the word "sucks" perfectly and succinctly expresses my opinion of what your dad's company did to me.
3. Please pass my congrats along to your dad. I think that TSaWB is a beautiful structure, I've never said anything but good things about the mall in the video or on my website (other than in the domain name itself).
Thanks for your note!
HMishkoff 3 years ago
The thing is that for any conceivable entity in existance, there will be someone who will think it sucks, and be convinced of that enough to want to make a website about it.
Also it would be interesting if you had any comments from someone from taubman on this.
javacisnotrecognized 3 years ago
Good for you but I hope you find a better hobby. You seem like a very lonely person.
bluesdance 3 years ago
Thank you so much for your insight. You're right, I need to give up getting sued and start singing in synagogues instead.
HMishkoff 3 years ago
thanks for setting this precedent, and for making this film. wow. that was really insightful, well done. i'm trying to think of how i can work this into one of my courses on communications.
banoffipudding 3 years ago
If you mean that you'd like to use the lawsuit itself (and/or the website), I know of a college instructor who's using it in what I think is a business communications class, I could put you in touch with him. If you're talking about using the video, I could put you in touch with filmmaker. Either way, let me know if you're interested, I'd be happy to get the relevant info to you.
HMishkoff 3 years ago
I'm reading this in my business law class right now and writing a paper for a sociology class on the change in communication because of the internet. I'm using how freedom of speech has changed to domain names because this is the modern way we communicate with each other and as stated in the case the modern way we "shout from the rooftops"!
helladirl2 3 years ago
That's very cool. What school are you in?
HMishkoff 3 years ago
University of MN! We read this in my business law class.
helladirl2 3 years ago
Taubman SUCKS!
DaylightRobberyCA 3 years ago
Couldn't have put it better myself... :)
HMishkoff 3 years ago
Awesome work! Very refreshing to see a fellow activist who doesn't just roll over and play dead when the ruling class tries to squash them. Please keep it up.
ArtSmartTV 3 years ago
Just read the case. An assignment for my MBA class. Loved it !! It was a long battle, but I am glad to know that you won. Even though Doug lied, I was more upset about Julie. I am sure she still doesn't understand why you did just get scared of her threats and take everything down after the first letter...lol
musamane14 3 years ago
I love it when people let the big guys with all their lawyers and money know they can't crap on the so called little men (and little women) among us. Good for you, HMishkoff.
bampowski 3 years ago
Thanks, Hank! Thanks to you, I won't get sued for my own domain name and have to go through all of this crap. Woohoo! In thanks, I'm adding Public Citizen to my charity account. Any other charities you'd like to see donated to? Or would suggesting donating to a charity be grounds for further court action by Taubman? :).
reidmefirst 4 years ago
Only if the charity to which you donate happens to be me... :)
HMishkoff 4 years ago
That's so good! You did so well to fight for your right. Respect!
psynap 4 years ago
This never gets old. When is the sequel coming out?!!!
Heeger 4 years ago
The sequel? I guess that'll happen next time I get sued... In other words, NEVER (I hope).
HMishkoff 4 years ago
I'm hoping for "Hank Strikes Back".
Heeger 4 years ago
I created a website on my experience with ProActiv Solution and shortly after, Guthy-Renker's lawyers contacted me asking me to shut down my site for infrigement. I since changed the images, but my website is still up. PROPASSIV dot COM
ixk1ngxi 4 years ago
Awesome story. Thanks for posting this for all to see!
agorist 4 years ago
i love history like this. good underdog story. thanks
phillypa 4 years ago
Thanks Hank !
Sincerely, thank-you.
You don't suck !
Klaa2 4 years ago