I hate the Taggies company and a giveaway!

mamaslittlemonkeys · 03-02-2010, 08:15 PM

So generally I am ALL for patents, copyrights and all that good stuff. But the Taggie company is taking it a TAD to far. THey have had several of my listings pulled. Now I SPECIFICALLY went out of my way to READ their patent and make SURE my items did NOT fall under their patent.

BUT NO. Apparently they want to say that they own basically everything with ribbons sewn in. So I give up, they can have their stupid 10 buck I might have possibly made on my blanket and I'm GIVING IT AWAY!
Check it out at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage...4221728?ref=nf

I also have another giveaway on www.supplyaholics.com (click the caterpillar picture).
Dont' get me wrong, I absolutely respect copyrights, patents and artist rights to their items but the Taggie people have taken it to far. essentially they're goign to try to say if you even so much as sew two ribbons on a butterfly applique (you know for their antanae?) taht you are breaking their patent. GIVE ME A BREAK.

Do the Taggie company give any money to teh countless grandmas who THEY stole the idea from? My grandma made those blankets LONG AGO with actual real tags from clothes!!!

Here's the blanket:

Measuring 43x38 inches and the ribbons are only on two corners not all the way around as the Taggies patent says and its not made of fleece as their patent says.

Hop on over, enter and maybe win you a free blanket

~~Amy

Personally all the Taggie company has done is cement the fact that I will NEVER EVER buy a product from them and I will return any i get from anyone.

UndrThTblNDrumng · 03-02-2010, 08:58 PM

that's a realy bummer!

auxi · 03-02-2010, 09:12 PM

Oh, you poor thing... *Hugs* What a shame... So you read their patent, and you're in the right? I bet that's incredibly frustrating... Your stuff is very cute (I went to your fb page), and I really like the black and pink monkey!

**gma2rjc** · 03-02-2010, 09:23 PM

I see this technique used in card and scrapbook magazines all the time. What's the big deal? How can they have your stuff pulled when you're not infringing on their patent? I don't blame you for being P.O.'d.

Personally, I think they're b.s.ing the people who run the site where you have your blankets for sale and possibly bullying them to have your listings removed. That's JMO.

Go to the website for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ( www.uspto.gov ) and find out if there is someone there who can answer some questions for you.

Here is something I read out of "Nolo's Patents for Beginners".

"To infringe a patent, the infringing device must physically have or perform all of the elements contained in one of the patent claims. A device containing additional elements will also infringe. For example, if a patent claim recites three elements, A, B and C, and the infringing device has four elements, A, B, C, and D, it will infringe. But if the infringing device has only two of the three elements, A and B, it won't infringe."

Barb

AshleyLD · 03-02-2010, 09:59 PM

That stinks

jessicalee · 03-02-2010, 11:53 PM

I hear ya! So Sorry about it all.

Kymy · 03-03-2010, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gma2rjc

I see this technique used in card and scrapbook magazines all the time. What's the big deal? How can they have your stuff pulled when you're not infringing on their patent? I don't blame you for being P.O.'d.

Personally, I think they're b.s.ing the people who run the site where you have your blankets for sale and possibly bullying them to have your listings removed. That's JMO.

Go to the website for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ( www.uspto.gov ) and find out if there is someone there who can answer some questions for you.

Here is something I read out of "Nolo's Patents for Beginners".

"To infringe a patent, the infringing device must physically have or perform all of the elements contained in one of the patent claims. A device containing additional elements will also infringe. For example, if a patent claim recites three elements, A, B and C, and the infringing device has four elements, A, B, C, and D, it will infringe. But if the infringing device has only two of the three elements, A and B, it won't infringe."

Barb

I'm not sure of all the details but I this has been going on for years. There patent is very vague. Used by the example you bolded I think many things do infringe... I think they may only have 2 elements to their patent.

Anyways their must be something to it because a lot of major sites that have legal teams for this stuff will pull listings for them.

I still think it's a big pile of pooy but not sure what you can do about it! I know lots of people who still sell them locally with out issues. They are just really strict about the online stuff.

Part of it is if you don't protect your patent/trademark I think they can become invalid. I used to know a lot more about this stuff but 3 kids later the brain is a little fuzzy!

mamakaty · 03-03-2010, 09:26 AM

Yes, it's been happening for a long time. I doubt they're going to go after people selling a few at a local craft fair, but they definitely go after people selling anything online. I've made one for my son, just because I didn't want to pay that much for one when I didn't know if he'd like it or not, kwim?

Anyway, I've read the summary of the patent, and skimmed through some of the details and it looks to me like it doesn't matter what kind of material you use, or how many loops you put on there, or what shape the blanket is, it infringes upon the patent. Does it stink for people that made these types of items before they filed the patent? Yep. Does it stink for everyone else that could make something similar? Yep. However, the makers of the official Taggie went through the trouble of filing a patent for it, and they were obviously the first that thought to do so (or more likely the first to actually go through with it) and I will respect that. I may not buy one from them...

Angela · 03-03-2010, 09:35 AM

I must admit that I am not totally understanding this. I think you should check out Barb's link and see.

It almost sounds to me like this "big" company is bullying the smaller guys. It also sounds to me (remember that I am totally uneducated in these matters) like you are right and that the Taggies company needs to be reported to someone for abusing their priviledges (I can't spell this morning). If one needs to be completely copying their idea to be infringing on their patent, and you are NOT completely copying their idea, then they need to be dealt with in an official way because they are wrong, not you.

Fight them Amy!!!!!!!
And keep us posted.

PennyPinchingPixie · 03-03-2010, 10:45 AM

gesssssh! Sorry for your frustration hun! *HUGS* they really are being money grubbing so and so's