Soldonacure.ca Update

Well, after my post "Denver, We Have A Problem", I decided to lay low for a couple of days to see what kind of company I now work for. I stopped building the Sold On a Cure facebook group, stopped posting on the blog and didn't send out any marketing materials. Very professional, don't you think? I was hopeful that things could get ironed out.

I sent a letter to the people who told me to stop using Sold On A Cure. I have decided to paste a copy of that letter here. Below that, I will detail all of the correspondence I have had since then and the BIG NEWS!!!!

Good morning (persons name removed).

This email is to begin discussions about what I am to do with www.soldonacure.ca. I will detail my thoughts, my actions and my expectations.

Let me begin by stating that I came to (your company) as a result of your relationship with the CBCF and the work I could do for them. As you know, I was previously with Century 21 in Kingston and London where we offered Air Miles. Whoop-dee-doo! That is why I started, on my own initiative and without any corporate help, my program called Goats For Homes where, in partnership with World Vision Canada I would purchase goats, other livestock or school supplies for needy communities in Africa. As I had the full co-operation of World Vision Canada and this program was entirely mine, I was able to act without consideration for corporate trademarks. I had free access to all World Vision material including photos, graphics and logos. When I wanted to send a press release it was as simple as calling my contact and "my will be done".

I would like to continue by sharing my vision of what I was trying to accomplish with www.soldonacure.ca. As a sales representative, my trade area is restricted by geographic territory but with referrals I can market and profit from anywhere in the world. I recognize that I do very little work on a referral that I farm out and I am more than willing to donate a huge percentage to a worthwhile campaign. Considering that I am an individual and not a multi-national corporation, I have had great success in the past getting my message out to the masses. I do this by creating fun, engaging and smart campaigns that are designed to pique the interest of editors across Canada and into the States. The fact that 'stories' are written about me and that I do not advertise in the traditional sense, means that my colleagues are not offended by my efforts and are pleased when a referral comes into the office as this could have been business that went to another brokerage but as a result of my efforts have found their way into a (name of company removed) office with a (name of company removed) rep.

Now, I have invested over 100 hours of work into this program. As you know, I purchased the domain soldonacure.ca, started facebook groups, a blog, joined activerain.com, contacted many breast cancer support groups, created and printed a great deal of marketing material and designed my website all in anticipation of my big launch set for last week. I believe that the license to use the term Sold On A Cure was extended to me as I am able to use it in printed material, sign riders, graphics etc. If I only consider my time worth $25/hour, I value my investment into this at around $3500 and it is not something that I can afford to just give up. I want to work with you, but I don't want to feel as though I am being pushed either.

Here is the big problem that I am dealing with. Sold On A Cure is not a registered trademark. (Your company) owns Sold For The Cure but not Sold On A Cure. The domain soldonacure.com is owned by someone in the states from another company, but it has expired and will be available to purchase in about 3 weeks. It was never used. soldonacure.ca, .net, .org, .biz, .info etc.
have never been registered. (Your company) has had this relationship with the CBCF since 2004 but no effort has been made to register the trademark or the domain name.

The aggressive side of me wants to file a formal application to register the phrase Sold On A Cure. It will cost me $250.00. The cost to file a statement of opposition will cost you $750.00, not to mention the further $1,500.00 in transfer fees and to be awarded the completed statement of objection. Add to that the cost of corporate lawyers and your cost will quickly exceed $10,000 and that is if I don't fight it. Realistically, I wouldn't win the battle, but it would give me great exposure in this new market that I am in. The media will eat it up and I will surely gain more in PR than my initial $250 investment. But I am only aggressive when backed into a corner. I am a team player and I am very excited to be with (Your company) after so many years with C21. I don't want to ruffle feathers and I certainly don't want to shoot the duck. That said, I don't want the duck to poop on me either.

May I suggest a friendly compromise? I will do what you want with the www.soldonacure.ca domain and will destroy all of my marketing material. I would like to keep my facebook group and blog, but I will edit anything that suggests that I am claiming ownership of the program Sold On A Cure and will only emphasize my involvement within the program (which I believe I have already done). I would like to continue working with (name removed) and (name removed) from the CBCF to create a press release that is acceptable to your standards. I would like it to be distributed to all of your media contacts without consideration of my trading area. I understand through a previous conversation with (name removed) that only local media may be contacted as you represent all (the company) associates equally. If this is still your position then I would like a copy of the media list so that I can send the release myself and remove your involvement in the distribution. Lastly, I would like to be compensated for my time and material. As I stated previously, I have conservatively estimated my investment at $3500.00.

I hope you can consider this offer in the spirit in which it is intended and I am looking forward to a speedy resolution of this issue. All I really want to do is sell houses and the sooner I can get this behind me and refocus my efforts, the better.

Stuart Smith
stuart@stuartsmith.ca
(905) 728-1600

Now, this next paragraph is the sum total of all communication received from my company regarding Sold On A Cure since then.

NOTHING!!! No returned calls, no emails, NOTHING!!! Actually, I did receive one email mentioning "If I can call you on Friday, I will." Friday was 10 days ago. I would be happy for a formal letter from a lawyer, but I can not stand being ignored. And I won't be. At some point, someone will have to speak with me to explain my next paragraph, the subject of which I will pretend to not know anything about. I expect my response will be, "Oh, is that why you called?"

The day this all began, guess who paid their high priced attorneys at Weirfolds LLP to register a trademark on Sold On A Cure? Don't believe me? Check it out yourself by clicking here.

Now what do I do? Do I sit back and wait for Weirfolds to contact me or do I just plug along? I just HATE it when people who are in positions of seniority do not have the respect to contact people directly.

If, by chance, you are the subject of this post and are reading this, I have been professional every step of the way and your behaviour is cowardly and weak. This post is simply the first of many potential steps of escalation until I receive a call from you. Don't worry about it though. You may not even have to speak with me. Once I hear your voice I'd bet you dollars to donuts that I am going to hang up on you.

My new video

I made a commercial and thought I would post it here.

Denver, we have a problem. Advice please.

Just as I was preparing for lift-off it appears that I may have encountered an issue that will, at the very least, delay the launch of my campaign to raise $100,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation in 2009.

My equivalent of NASA (lets just call them Corporate HQ), has grounded this initiative until further notice. It was my impression that as a participant of the Sold On A Cure campaign that I had access to graphics, logos, text and all related materials that would enable me to promote myself and my intention to make regular donations to one of our corporate charities, namely the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Unlike most, if not all of my colleagues, I was so excited about this program and the good that it could do that I designed my entire strategy around the concept. Every sales rep promotes themselves in a similar fashion, the only differences are the amount of money they will spend on their campaign or the medium used. Some are more creative than others, but most follow the same path used by thousands of sales reps before them.

I set up this blog http://soldonacure.blogspot.com, a facebook group called Sold On A Cure (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=31048929875&ref=mf) and purchased the domain name http://www.soldonacure.ca which is directed to my real website http://www.stuartsmith.ca/soldonacure.html and I have printed over a thousand pieces of marketing material with the domain name on it.

On Friday afternoon I received a phone call from the legal department at Corporate HQ to inform me that I am infringing on their trademark "Sold On A Cure" and that by purchasing the domain name soldonacure.ca I have claimed ownership of the program and that I must shut down the site immediately and have it redirected to the official Corporate website.

Now I don't want to cause trouble with Corporate (I am not sure how posting this will help that), but I am more than a little pissed about this turn of events.

These are the facts as I see them.
1) I chose to come to this company for the Sold On A Cure campaign
2) I have invested over 100 hours of work into this program
2) I am a legitimate contributor to the Sold On A Cure campaign
3) I am licensed to use the trademarked phrase in material, graphics etc.
4) I have created and printed over 1000 pieces of marketing material in colour
5) I paid for the domain soldonacure.ca because it was available as were all other extensions with the exception of .com which is not in use.
6) I have searched the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and the Canadian Trade Marks Database and, to the best of my knowledge, SOLD ON A CURE IS NOT A REGISTERED TRADEMARK!!! I only said "to the best of my knowledge" to avoid legal issues later but nowhere is the term Sold On A Cure mentioned. This same company has registered Sold For A Cure but not Sold On A Cure.

So now you will tell me that it is an unregistered trademark. Maybe, but that is irrelevant. Like I said before, I don't want to cause trouble with Corporate HQ. If I am wrong, then so be it. I can pick myself up and start again, but I would expect to be compensated for redirecting MY domain name to their website and I would like to be compensated for my time and marketing material as well.

At the same time, I am no push-over. I will not hand over this domain until I know that I am wrong, and today I am not so sure of that.

If you have any advice or opinions, please share them with me here. That said, I will delete any very negative posts that refer to Corporate HQ directly. As I said before, I am happy to be where I am and I don't want to ruffle too many feathers. I just want to be treated fairly, and I owe that same courtesy to Corporate HQ.

Thanks

I am excited about Sold On A Cure

I want this program to take off today.

I can't wait to meet some of you who are looking to buy or sell a house in the GTA. I love introducing newcomers to their new neighbourhoods, schools, shopping areas etc. It is an incredibly stressful thing to move from one city to another and I like to help people make that transition as smoothly as possible.

It is very similar to working with first-time home buyers. Fear of the unknown can cripple your move, however, with patience and guidance it can be a most enjoyable experience.

I get the same satisfaction knowing that I have put people in touch with great Realtors around the world. Too often, people call a real estate office and speak to the agent on duty. This agent may specialize in condos or new homes. They may be from a completely different demographic, for example a different generation, and may not be familiar with the specific needs of an older client. These are the kind of criteria I look for when matching you to a sales representative in a different city, and it is this effort that makes your experience an enjoyable one.

I want this program to take off today!

The world is slower than my brain.

Unfortunately I will have to delay my launch of Sold On A Cure until later in the week. The reason for the delay is a good one though.

I have been speaking with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and Re/Max head office about this campaign and they both seem excited to assist me in reaching my goals. In order to maximize my chances of success I must be prudent and patient. My official press release will carry much more weight if it includes a quote from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and is distributed through the team at Re/Max.

I am grateful for their kind words, encouragement and support. We will get this off the ground soon enough.

As a side note, France has now joined my Sold On A Cure facebook group. It is now almost on every continent so if you know anyone in Africa, Australia or (fingers crossed) Antarctica, please encourage them to join my group.

Overload

As you may or may not know, I am planning to launch the Sold On A Cure campaign on Tuesday. There is so much to do before then. The biggest problem that I am facing is writers block. I need to write a marketing piece but I can't find the words. I need to write a press release but again, words fail me. My second biggest problem is that I would like some new graphic designs but my 2 year old son is more artistic than I am.

On the up-side, I noticed a new member in the facebook group from Bristol, UK. That means Sold On a Cure is now on 4 continents. Cool.

It's Gone Global Already?

I just checked the facebook group for Sold On A Cure and noticed two new members. One is in Japan and the other is in Chile. The great thing about that is that this program can be done anywhere in the world. There are no geographical boundaries to what I am attempting.

Wait, there is one big problem. I don't speak Japanese. I may need to post a message on Kijiji for a translator. Don't worry though. If I need to pay for translation, it will not come out of the money I am donating to fight Breast Cancer. I will eat that charge myself, and wash it down with sushi and sake.

Sold On A Cure is going global.

There is a lot to do.

Tomorrow will be a busy day getting Sold On A Cure up and running. First I must decide where I want to use the domain www.soldonacure.ca, then I must change my website, speak with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, develop a new banner for my website, write a press release and prepare an email notification for my contacts.

I will also invite my friends from facebook to join the Sold On A Cure group that I have created. If you haven't already joined the group, please do so. I am pleased with the numbers in the group considering I haven't told anyone about it yet.

I am planning to officially launch my Sold On A Cure campaign on Tuesday November 11th. I feel that Remembrance Day is an appropriate choice as there are so many women in our lives who we will always remember.

www.soldonacure.ca

I am amazed at how this idea is spreading. I created a facebook group that I was going to promote after I officially launched the program. Without any invitations or promotion people have joined the group. Now I hope they have invited all of their facebook friends.

NEWS - Yesterday I purchased the domain name www.soldonacure.ca and I will be somehow incorporating it into my website and all future marketing of the program.

Sold On A Cure

Only 400 home sales to go to reach my target of donating $100,000 to the Breast Cancer Foundation in 2009.

Just to emphasize the fact that this is a huge commitment and that I am not a millionairre philanthropist , I have never come close to earning (forget donating) $100,000 in a single year before. In fact, my 2008 earnings will be around $15,000 for the year (admittedly, the first 8 months were spent in France).

So why am I doing this? Have you read One Red Paperclip or heard about the guy who traded up from a single red paperclip to a house? If not, visit his website. When you dream big, and believe that dreams can come true then anything is possible. That, and the fact that I simply want to see if I can do it. It is like a giant game of Dare. I have double-dog dared myself to donate $100,000 to the Breast Cancer Foundation in 2009.

This is achievable, but I need your help. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, anyone you can think of that is planning to buy or sell a house to visit my website first. By accessing the website before you choose your Realtor, I can ensure that $250 of the commission will be paid directly to the Breast Cancer Foundation. If you are buying and selling the donation is $500.

I will update this page often and keep you up to date on my progress.

Wish me luck.