May 23rd, 2006
Are Big Companies Stupid? Onkyo suing over positive press!
By Chief Gizmateer, Gizmos for Geeks
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Gizmos for Geeks features a daily article called “Gizmo of the Day” where the Geeks locate available products that are new and hopefully interesting. By scouring our favorite geek stores, attending trade shows, pouring through emails, reading manufacturer’s new product feeds, magazines and press releases, we choose the “Gizmo of the Day”. In a sense, we provide free advertising for various products to over 40,000 unique visitors a month (hence the reason we get so many “pick me” emails from various PR people about the products they represent!). Basically, we try to provide good karma for cool products and cool companies.
Apparently, Onkyo really does not like free advertising or positive press.
I received a cease and desist certified letter demanding that the “Infringer” (that’s me!) cease and desist from displaying Onkyo IP as well as several other items which really did not pertain to us. You have got to love good old form letters from clueless lawyers! All of this because on March 26th, 2006, we chose one of Onkyo’s products as the “Gizmo of the Day”!
There are several issues that really bother me besides the lack of common sense by Onkyo and their lawyers in killing off good press. Read the rest of the article here.
Source: Gizmos for Geeks
Kevin K. says:
Gizmos for Geeks did the right thing by dropping Onkyo completely from their website including reviews, links and other pointers to Onkyo as if that company never existed.
Ever since Toys R Us started suing any and all companies or stores that used an “R” in their names, I have never set foot inside a Toys R Us affiliated store and never will.
Big business may rule the world but they evidently reserve the right to be stupid.
Kevin
May 23rd, 2006 at 11:13 am
Jerry says:
Is the link to the full article not working for other people, or is it just me? I can’t follow the link from the article here, nor from the front page of “Gizmos for Geeks”. Both links lead me to a System Error, Unknown ID message.
May 23rd, 2006 at 11:37 am
Doug Felteau says:
Wierd… the link seems to be working for us. The direct link is:
http://www.gizmosforgeeks.com/index.php/articles/2299
What browser and link are you trying to visit and what’s the full error?
May 23rd, 2006 at 11:40 am
Jerry says:
Nod, that’s the link I’m trying to follow. I’m using Firefox 1.5.0.3, with the AdBlock extention installed but disabled to make sure that wasn’t causing the problem. I’ve trying following the link from here, from the front page of gizmos for geeks, from your link, and by hand-typing the link in the address bar. They all get me the same result.
Following the link brings me to what appears to be a template for an article (right and left sidebars, header, and footer are all intact) with the central block for the article containing the following:
— BEGIN —
System Error
Exception Icon
Unknown ID
/var/www/vhosts/gizmosforgeeks.com/httpdocs/includes/xarUser.php(353): User identified by uid does not exist.
Explanation:
An item was requested by an ID that is not recognized. This could mean the item has been moved, changed, or does not exist.
Click here to raise a bug
— END —
I followed the link to report a bug, but abandoned it when it asked me to register in order to report an error on the site.
May 23rd, 2006 at 11:47 am
Doug Felteau says:
Thanks for the information… that will help us troubleshoot the issue.
In the meantime, we created a static link to the article:
http://www.gizmosforgeeks.com/responsetoonkyo.html
May 23rd, 2006 at 11:54 am
Jerry says:
Thanks Doug, that link works fine.
As an additional confusing data point, I should note the the other “Read More” links from the front page of gizmos for geeks that I tried seem to work just fine. So, it seems to be a problem unique to that one article and my browser / configuration / firewall / astrological sign.
May 23rd, 2006 at 11:57 am
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November 26th, 2006 at 10:19 pm