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CODA
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CODA 11/07
This page is our attempt to recap one of the Internet's most famous cases of corporate bullying. It started in October when we received a cease and desist letter from BOSTON BEER COMPANY, makers of Sam Adams Beer. What could have ended with a simple phone call snowballed.
Read about it here --> BREW HAHA.
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This phenomenon is about corporate bullying. It is about Boston Beer's "shock and awe" tactics used to intimidate people. We thought it reprehensible. It is a business lesson in how maybe five minutes of investigative time and one phone call could have saved countless hours of attorney's fees, bad PR and hard feelings. How may others have received letters like this from Boston Beer and simply caved in? It is about freedom of speech, about the right of ownership in America. It is about doing the right thing.
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The war of words was waged on the Internet, with Boston beer ignoring our phone calls, though they did leave a cryptic message on our producer's cell phone. Through backroom channels we finally heard they just "want the whole thing to go away." They tried to spin the story with their own press release here, but the last time we checked the "Portland Clarification" link did not work. We are certain when they read this they will get it working again.
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The story resonated around the world. Google news searches turned out almost 300 stories in newspapers including Pravda, The International Herald, and others. Hundreds of bloggers from all continents of the world carried the story and some even weighed in on the heavy-handed tactics of Boston Beer. If it were not for them and the resulting ill will, Boston Beer's attorneys may never have backed down.
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Ultimately, the samadamsformayor.com link was turned over to the Commissioner, as planned. It happened at a big Domain Transfer Party at McCormick & Schmick's Harborside Restaurant in downtown Portland. The party was a huge success. The staff at Harborside was wonderful to everyone there. See all the pictures just below.
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Did we serve Sam Adams Beer at the party? Did you have to ask?
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This is one of our favorite sites about the Brew-Haha. Harvard Law School broke down "The Letter." HERE
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The infamous "LETTER" sold on E-Bay for $1475.90! (Jim Hopkins of Accent Verticals bought the now historic letter, and lunch with Commissioner Adams and Mark & Dave.) That's not all: Then the KEX General Manager Robert Dove matched it! Total: $2951.80! Wow! Every penny going to the KEX Kids Fund to buy hearing aids and glasses for needy children. Thank you for your support!
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One of the last words about the Brew-haha: "But there’s one more thing I think would make all of this go away, and that’s perhaps the hardest thing for any modern company or person, for that matter, to do: and that would be giving an unqualified apology or just saying a blanket 'I’m sorry.' ” -- J @Brookstone Beer Bulletin (That never happened. - Mark & Dave)
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OUR ORIGINAL POST
Mark & Dave like Sam Adams, the Portland, Oregon City Commissioner (not the beer). When Mayor Potter announced he would not run for a second term, Portland media rushed to interview Commissioner Adams about his future plans...except that he was on vacation. Mark & Dave called his cell phone and Commissioner Adams was gracious enough to take our call. We were the only radio show he talked to that day. We thought that was generous of him and we felt we wanted to do something in return.
We bought two domain names for him:
samadamsformayor.com: (that he could use during his campaign)
and
mayorsamadams.com: (for use while he is in office)
Within weeks we received a cease and desist letter from Sam Adams Beer. Yes, beer. We are guessing the beer wants to run for mayor. Want to read the letter? See it below.
So much for trying to do something nice for someone. |
BLOGGERS weigh in on the Brew-haha
These links are current as of 11/27/07
A blogger in ISRAEL has even picked up on the story. Can you read Hebrew? See it here.
NEWS stories on the Brew-haha have expired with the exception of these:
KGW Story  click to play
>> Audio <<
 “LISTENER BILL from SALEM POURING SAM ADAMS BEER DOWN THE TOILET.” INTERVIEW with MAYORAL CANDIDATE SAM ADAMS about the BEER SAM ADAMS threatening Mark & Dave.
E-MAIL FROM CULT MEMBER 827
Mark and Dave,
As a loyal cult member I could not stand by and let the "beast from the east" threaten you without fighting back. I went to the Samuel Adams website and sent the following note to them via their contact us page. I urge all Mark and Dave cult members to contact them. We are over 12,0000 strong, they may listen to us!
Helen Bornemann is clearly an idiot and should be fired. In fact it appears your whole legal team is a bunch of complete idiots. You are attacking two beloved hosts of a very popular afternoon radio talk show about two domain names they have registered. Clearly Ms. Bornemann did not investigate the domain names at all, or she would have found out that they relate to a local city commissioner's mayoral election bid. Even after the radio station's representative explained the domain names purpose your legal team is still demanding immediate cease and desist of the website. As a result of your company's lack of any common sense I will not longer purchase or drink your beer. I will also inform my friends and family to join me in boycotting your product line.
Mark and Dave Cult member #827
Keep up the fight!
What do you have against the Portland Congressman Sam Adams who is running for Mayor of the city of Portland? Are you seriously continuing the fight against the local radio talk show hosts Mark Mason and Dave Anderson (please note spelling) when it is obvious they are not going to be selling anything affiliated with the beer! Let a modern day patriot with an old patriot's name utilize modern technology. In fact, call off the hounds, grab a cold beer and enjoy! -- Ted, cult member 12279
"As I'm sure you're painfully aware by now, you have stirred the wrath of the people of Portland Oregon with your strong-arm approach to KEX's beloved Mark and Dave. As the microbrew capital of the west, we hardly considered your product to be beer at all before this, but now you are merely bottled water. Cease and desist indeed! Next time, look before you leap!!!" - Rick L.
Mark and Dave,
Cult member #827 here (Kaelyne). Heard back from Boston Beer today and wanted to make sure I shared it with you.
Thank you for getting in touch. This story has really taken on a life of its own, and we'd like to take a minute to give you a little background.
First, let me say that if City Councilor Sam Adams had registered a web site using his name, we would not have an issue with it. Of course, he has a right to use his name. Our namesake, the patriot Samuel Adams stood for public service and free speech, and we do too.
However, an individual named Dave Anderson registered two domain names: www.mayorsamadams.com and www.samadamsformayor.com. We could find no residential telephone listing for him at the address listed, so we wrote to him. There have been occasions in the past where people have attempted to use our name for commercial purposes, and this clearly is against the law. After he received our letter, we had a call from the legal department at Clear Channel and learned that Dave Anderson was a radio personality at Clear Channel's News radio 1190 KEX in Portland and that he had registered both domain names with the intent to give them to Councilor Sam Adams. Once we learned more about what was going on, we agreed that they could continue to use www.mayorsamadams.com. We asked them (and we thought we had their agreement) not to use www.samadamsformayor.com because it creates confusion on the Web.
While we understand that kicking up a controversy makes good radio, I hope you'll understand that it was never our intent to thwart the efforts of Councilor Sam Adams in his run for Mayor. We have no issue with him using his own name. A more extensive Google search on our part for “Sam Adams Mayor” was in order and might have turned up information about the race for Mayor in Portland before we sent off that letter.
We appreciate your taking the time to write to us and to give us a chance to explain how this all came about.
Sincerely,
Todd (name withheld)
Consumer Relations Representative
The Boston Beer Company
M&D Respond: The phone number is listed on the WHOIS, always has been. All this could have been avoided if someone picked up the phone. Here it is from WHO IS:
WHOIS information for: samadamsformayor.com:
Domain Name.......... samadamsformayor.com
Creation Date........ 2007-09-11
Registration Date.... 2007-09-11
Expiry Date.......... 2008-09-11
Organisation Address. 4949 SW Macadam
Organisation Address. Portland
Organisation Address. 97239
Organisation Address. OR
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES
Admin Name........... Dave Anderson
Admin Address........ 4949 SW Macadam
Admin Address........ Portland
Admin Address........ 97239
Admin Address........ OR
Admin Address........ UNITED STATES
Admin Email.......... markanddave@samadamsformayor.com
Admin Phone.......... +1.5033236455
Closed Circuit to Boston Beer: That PHONE NUMBER still works just fine. We tested it. Waiting...
Hello: I just read the legal letter you have on your site relating to Sam Adams [beer] and the whole usage of the name. we got a good laugh out of the goliath squashing anyone they want and when they want. Good going. we see this quite often in business. If you need any assistance on the web side of things, our services are available to you at no charge. Take care and best of luck.. Todd Director of Marketing (company name withheld)
Gentlemen,
I have never heard of you or your radio station until this morning; in fact, I don't think I've ever been to Portland. But I figured you might be interested in seeing what someone over 2000 miles away thinks of your local incident involving the Boston Beer Company.
Regards,
Matthew
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To: Ms. Helen Bornemann, members of the Boston Beer Company PR/Marketing & Customer Service Departments
Dear Ms. Bornemann et al,
You have lost a customer.
I became an avid fan of Samuel Adams nearly a decade ago when I first tried your line of beers. Since then, I have been a loyal customer, and I have, on many occassions, introduced the Samuel Adams brand to my friends, family, and co-workers.
It wasn't simply that I enjoyed the beer. I enjoyed the fact that I was drinking a craft-brewed beer that was created with the beer drinker in mind. It never seemed to be about numbers, profit, or duping mindless consumers into drinking an otherwise indistinguishable product. I felt like I was supporting people who cared about their company and their product - true beer aficionados, not money-grubbing corporate types who would thrown their own mothers under the bus to make an extra 5 cents per case.
And now that has changed. Your recent Cease and Desist letter directed towards a gentleman campaigning for mayor in Portland, Oregon has enlightened me to the fact that you are indeed a heartless corporation, and nothing more. Your beers are nothing more than amber sewage, seeping from your corporate boardrooms, through the taps, and into the glasses of unsuspecting customers.
But rather than admonishing you, I should be thanking you. For the alternatives are plentiful, and now I have been given a new opportunity to go out and enjoy the many offerings of regional micro-breweries without feeling guilty that I've left my former love behind.
It is you who should cease and desist - to brew under the flag of a true American patriot whilst you turn your nose and piss all over America and the hard working individuals that make this country great is a travesty to this great nation.
You should be ashamed. Your mothers should be ashamed, but they're too busy living in fear and watching out for the next bus.
Signed,
Matthew
I heard that the brewery is willing to discuss you using your own name as long as its only until the election is over. I hope that you will tell them to XXXX off and I hope that you will find a way to sue them for intimidation and harassment.
Thank you for giving me an example to use in my Media Law class of lawyers with too much time on their hands. I am not a lawyer, but it does not take one to realize that there would be no confusion between a beer and a mayor. This is why we have Delta Airlines and Delta Facets, for example. I have never once confused a facet for a jumbo jet. I hope for three outcomes: (1) you prevail on this issue, (2) that Mr. Adams wins and (3) I get to try a better beer than Sam Adams such as the Portland brand illustrated on the website. (Name withheld) Rochester, NY
Sorry, but no sale. When I hear Sam Adams or Samual Adams, I think of the beer, of which I'm a big fan of and have been drinking for years, not of some knee-jerk, bleeding heart liberal from Oregon who wants to run for mayor. I used to live in The People's Republik of Portland, located in the Motherland of Oregon and after seven years of watching what liberalism has done to the State (now somewhere around $750 million in debt and going deeper, among other things), I have zero sympathy for you and your cause. While, grant it, Samual Adams could have purchased any and all domain names associated with their product, I highly doubt that they ever figured that someone with that name would be stupid enough to do the same, i.e. purchase said domain name(s). Seriously. You will lose this fight and in the process, waste a large amount of money that should and can be better spent in myriad ways for the State of Oregon. Michael, SW Washington
Here is my free advice. While this is not my area of legal expertise, I recommend having Councilman Sam Adams send a letter with wording similar to the Boston Beer letter saying that he was born with the name Sam Adams and Samuel Adams long prior to their 1984 use of the name. Then he can give them until October 29 to cease and decist using his name without liquid compensation. If they have any intellectual property sense, they'd contribute Sam Adams beer to his campaign and drink in all the free publicity. On a personal note, please post a clearer photo of the lawyer. Thank you. - (Name withheld) Attorney at Law Chehalis, WA
M&D say: This is only a fraction of our e-mail. THANK YOU. You inspire us. If YOU feel compelled to go to the "Contact Us" page at Boston Brewing, please remember what "hate free radio" is all about. Be civil and courteous as you make your point. Make Mark & Dave proud. Thanks for your support.
ARE YOU PEOPLE OUT OF YOUR MINDS??? First of all, HOW can YOU copyright Sam Adams' name for heaven’s sake? He was a living, breathing human being. I completely concur with the following:
Helen Bornemann is clearly an idiot and should be fired. You are attacking two beloved hosts of a very popular afternoon radio talk show about two domain names they have registered. Clearly Ms. Bornemann did not investigate the domain names at all, or she would have found out that they relate to a local city commissioner's mayoral election bid. As a result of your company's lack of any common sense I will not longer purchase or drink your beer. I will also inform my friends and family to join me in boycotting your product line.
I too, have drunk my last Sam Adams beer and will PERSONALLY spread the word here in Portland, as well as all of the Pacific Northwest.
Marshall T.
M&D RESPOND: Please, we do NOT want Helen fired or to have her lose her job over this. Remember: "Hate free."
"Among the natural rights are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can” - SAMUEL ADAMS, Patriot, 1722-1803
See the SAMADAMSFORMAYOR.com website which has since been turned over to Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams for Mayor Campaign.
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