Bike Brand In The News

The Great Chinese Bicycle Importing & Marketing Company lost
a trademark suit:

http://www.channel3000.com/money/22721408/detail.html
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Mar 3, 2:19*pm, AMuzi wrote:
The Great Chinese Bicycle Importing & Marketing Company lost
a trademark suit:

http://www.channel3000.com/money/22721408/detail.html

The suit was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction. All they
have to do is re-file in California (assuming they don't bother with
an appeal). It's not like a court decided whether there was no
infringement. I wonder why a minor trial court ruling like this was
even reported in the media. -- Jay Beattie.

AMuzi wrote:
The Great Chinese Bicycle Importing & Marketing Company lost
a trademark suit:
http://www.channel3000.com/money/22721408/detail.html

Jay Beattie wrote:
The suit was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction. All they
have to do is re-file in California (assuming they don't bother with
an appeal). It's not like a court decided whether there was no
infringement. I wonder why a minor trial court ruling like this was
even reported in the media. -- Jay Beattie.

When the Mars Rover was new, some nuts sued NASA for
trespass on "their" planet.

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9707/24/yemen.mars/


p.s. doesn't a national trademark give them some status in
fed courts against a California entity (assuming there is an
actual trademark infringement, which may be arguable here)?
I'm assuming they own something beyond a Wisconsin tradename
registration.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Andrew Muzi wrote:
The Great Chinese Bicycle Importing & Marketing Company [...]

Long time, no barn, eh?

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007

On Mar 3, 3:43*pm, AMuzi wrote:
*AMuzi wrote:
The Great Chinese Bicycle Importing & Marketing Company lost
a trademark suit:
http://www.channel3000.com/money/22721408/detail.html
Jay Beattie wrote:
The suit was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction. *All they
have to do is re-file in California (assuming they don't bother with
an appeal). *It's not like a court decided whether there was no
infringement. I wonder why a minor trial court ruling like this was
even reported in the media. -- Jay Beattie.

When the Mars Rover was new, some nuts sued NASA for
trespass on "their" planet.

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9707/24/yemen.mars/

p.s. doesn't a national trademark give them some status in
fed courts against a California entity (assuming there is an
actual trademark infringement, which may be arguable here)?
I'm assuming they own something beyond a Wisconsin tradename
registration.

I might have a righteous claim against you, but I can't sue you
in Oregon unless you "do business" here or you engage in some conduct
in this state that causes my injury. That's called "personal
jurisdiction." You are constructively in the state and subject to the
jurisdiction of Oregon state and federal courts.

From the case summary, it looks like Trek Winery lacked the
necessary forum contacts to be subject to personal jurisdiction in
Wisconsin. Trek Bike probably filed in Wisconsin because it is
comfortable with the local USDC and didn't want to go to California --
and because the winery sold a few bottles in Wisconsin. Who knows.
Trek hires smart attorneys who know what they are doing and made a
choice that a USDC judge disagreed with. Gee, that has never happened
to me -- today. Maybe tomorrow.

The second kind of jurisdiction is "subject matter
jurisdiction." This means that the court has the power to hear and
decide a case. A federal court does not have subject matter
jurisdiction over purely local, non-federal disputes. It does have
jurisdiction over federal patent law disputes. The USDC hearing the
Trek patent suit had subject matter jurisdiction. It just lacked
personal jurisdiction over the winery.

Moral of the story for you -- watch out where you ship products. You
could end up getting sued in South Toadsuck for lots and lots of
money.-- Jay Beattie.

"Tom Sherman °_°" wrote in message
...
Andrew Muzi wrote:
The Great Chinese Bicycle Importing & Marketing Company [...]

Long time, no barn, eh?

The barn's still there. But a lot of manufacturing isn't, and it's not
entirely accurate to say it's Trek's fault. Andy can make fun of Trek, but
he should be making fun of the wonderful American Consumer, who talks big
but buys cheap. I was talking with one of the Trek product managers a few
years ago, when it was looking like the $1k road bike couldn't be built in
the US anymore due to pricing concerns. I told him that was ridiculous;
marketed properly, people would buy a US-built product, especially if it was
superior and didn't cost much more. He replied that studies showed, on a
$1000 bike, consumers wouldn't pay $20 more for it if built here... and the
cost difference in building them here was a whole lot more than that.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

On Mar 4, 2:40*am, "Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:
"Tom Sherman °_°" wrote in ...

Andrew Muzi wrote:
The Great Chinese Bicycle Importing & Marketing Company [...]

Long time, no barn, eh?

The barn's still there. But a lot of manufacturing isn't, and it's not
entirely accurate to say it's Trek's fault. Andy can make fun of Trek, but
he should be making fun of the wonderful American Consumer, who talks big
but buys cheap. I was talking with one of the Trek product managers a few
years ago, when it was looking like the $1k road bike couldn't be built in
the US anymore due to pricing concerns. I told him that was ridiculous;
marketed properly, people would buy a US-built product, especially if it was
superior and didn't cost much more. He replied that studies showed, on a
$1000 bike, consumers wouldn't pay $20 more for it if built here... and the
cost difference in building them here was a whole lot more than that.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycleswww.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

Serious question, *is* there a $1K(ish) road/touring bike that is
still built in the US?

I'm pretty sure Surly gets their frames from offshore, and nothing
else is coming to mind at the moment. Bruce Gordon and Rivendell are
way above that price point, and VO unashamedly sources their frames
from China/Taiwan.

nate

(has both a Trek and a Cannondale with "made in the USA" stickers on
the frame)

On Mar 4, 5:50*am, N8N wrote:
On Mar 4, 2:40*am, "Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:



"Tom Sherman °_°" wrote in ...

Andrew Muzi wrote:
The Great Chinese Bicycle Importing & Marketing Company [...]

Long time, no barn, eh?

The barn's still there. But a lot of manufacturing isn't, and it's not
entirely accurate to say it's Trek's fault. Andy can make fun of Trek, but
he should be making fun of the wonderful American Consumer, who talks big
but buys cheap. I was talking with one of the Trek product managers a few
years ago, when it was looking like the $1k road bike couldn't be built in
the US anymore due to pricing concerns. I told him that was ridiculous;
marketed properly, people would buy a US-built product, especially if it was
superior and didn't cost much more. He replied that studies showed, on a
$1000 bike, consumers wouldn't pay $20 more for it if built here... and the
cost difference in building them here was a whole lot more than that.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycleswww.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

Serious question, *is* there a $1K(ish) road/touring bike that is
still built in the US?

I'm pretty sure Surly gets their frames from offshore, and nothing
else is coming to mind at the moment. *Bruce Gordon and Rivendell are
way above that price point, and VO unashamedly sources their frames
from China/Taiwan.

nate

(has both a Trek and a Cannondale with "made in the USA" stickers on
the frame)

.... and Shimano components?

On Mar 4, 11:55*am, Dan O wrote:
On Mar 4, 5:50*am, N8N wrote:



On Mar 4, 2:40*am, "Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:

"Tom Sherman °_°" wrote in ...

Andrew Muzi wrote:
The Great Chinese Bicycle Importing & Marketing Company [...]

Long time, no barn, eh?

The barn's still there. But a lot of manufacturing isn't, and it's not
entirely accurate to say it's Trek's fault. Andy can make fun of Trek, but
he should be making fun of the wonderful American Consumer, who talks big
but buys cheap. I was talking with one of the Trek product managers a few
years ago, when it was looking like the $1k road bike couldn't be built in
the US anymore due to pricing concerns. I told him that was ridiculous;
marketed properly, people would buy a US-built product, especially if it was
superior and didn't cost much more. He replied that studies showed, on a
$1000 bike, consumers wouldn't pay $20 more for it if built here... and the
cost difference in building them here was a whole lot more than that.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycleswww.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

Serious question, *is* there a $1K(ish) road/touring bike that is
still built in the US?

I'm pretty sure Surly gets their frames from offshore, and nothing
else is coming to mind at the moment. *Bruce Gordon and Rivendell are
way above that price point, and VO unashamedly sources their frames
from China/Taiwan.

nate

(has both a Trek and a Cannondale with "made in the USA" stickers on
the frame)

... and Shimano components?


My wife and I are the proud owners of 3 bikes with frames by Waterford
and one big one by Co-Motion and I hesitate to claim the "bikes" are
built in the USA. Assembled with USA frames yes but half the cost is
from components outside the US.

Still stuff made in Japan and Italy is to me a little better than
China so they are mostly non-Chinese bikes.

Wayne Sulak
Who like everyone else buys lots of stuff made in China.

Andrew Muzi wrote:
The Great Chinese Bicycle Importing & Marketing Company [...]

"Tom Sherman °_°" wrote
Long time, no barn, eh?

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
The barn's still there. But a lot of manufacturing isn't, and it's not
entirely accurate to say it's Trek's fault. Andy can make fun of Trek,
but he should be making fun of the wonderful American Consumer, who
talks big but buys cheap. I was talking with one of the Trek product
managers a few years ago, when it was looking like the $1k road bike
couldn't be built in the US anymore due to pricing concerns. I told him
that was ridiculous; marketed properly, people would buy a US-built
product, especially if it was superior and didn't cost much more. He
replied that studies showed, on a $1000 bike, consumers wouldn't pay $20
more for it if built here... and the cost difference in building them
here was a whole lot more than that.


I did not assign blame.

You're right and in fact check out the cute USA flags on a
host of cheap "designed in USA" (meaning "we bought it
cheap") products. They sell quite well.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971