[Rhodes22-list] Advice Needed From Litigious Rhodies

David Culp dculp at hsbtx.com
Fri Nov 6 02:12:46 EST 2009


Stan:

I think you would be better off to use a boat that is out of production and
the company no longer in business.  That way, only the owner of the design
who probably has the molds (if there are any) might be interested in suing
you.  In fact, if the molds are nonexistent, I think that would be even
better.   In any case, they will be poorly organized, not very interested
and the success of litigation against you would probably be very low.   You
would be merely adding to an existing boat that is not being built any
longer.

On the other hand and playing the devil's advocate, if I am Catalina:  You
are taking my design on a boat still in production and tearing it down,
rebuilding and then marketing it to the public as a "Catalina".  You are
trading on my reputation, infringing my trademark and adding confusion in
the eyes of the consumer.  You may also infringe on my patents inadvertently
in the process of making the improvements you propose.  Even if I can't win
on those arguments-the Rhodes 22 is a better 22' boat then we build, but we
have deeper pockets; and wouldn't we like to put GBI out of business on
legal issues instead of having to compete?  Others have talked about success
stories with Shelby, Ram converted Cessnas, etc. and close to home-Dee
Howard modifications to Learjets were world renown.  I think the difference
is that these folks sold an after-market conversion to private owners but
were not a direct competitor in the business.  In other words, they didn't
have a factory capable of producing new cars or new airplanes and if memory
serves, even though they added value and charged for it, they didn't market
the finished products.  I think if Ford said we will take a Chevy make it
better and then re-market it, there would be some problems.  I think a big
company would rather try and squash the little guy then overlook or condone
them building a better mouse trap with their product and then marketing
it-especially in this environment.  In their mind, every recycled Catalina
you sold, is a customer who didn't buy a boat from them though I think that
is an apples and oranges comparison.... Still, it looks good in a pleading.

I am on marriage #3 which proves that I'm not a very good businessman but
very well acquainted with lawyers, so I just don't see the return on
investment/risk on a project like this.  Wouldn't you be better off in
trying to become the best sailboat repair and modification shop on the east
coast using the assets that you already have?   Customer supplied boats that
you merely repair or modify and are not resold; like Dee Howard did for
aircraft all those years in San Antonio.  Obviously the margins are not near
as good, but less risk and steady work might keep things going until the
tide rolls back in.

I am not a lawyer and don't play one on TV.

Regards,
David




Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 13:16:59 -0500
From: "stan" <stan at rhodes22.com>
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] advice needed from litigious Rhodies
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Message-ID: <3E593F37DE3A427AB2EC4E7907A5120A at rhodes>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="iso-8859-1"

last time things got bad, to broaden our price marking base  we went into
recycling Rhodes

this time, to broaden our base and not keep losing those prospects who want
a little bit bigger boat (since no Rhodes took us up on the Rhodes 27
projected) we bought a Catalina 25 and have torn it apart.   we are going to
try and make it into a Catalina-Rhodes hybrid:   IMF, combo keel/cb,
electric tilting motor lift, etc.

it is being sold as a used Catalina 25 that we have recycled and upgraded.
 Can Frank butler (he owns Catalina) legally complain?

ss


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