Make Alabama Rig Copyright Legal Threats!

[mangrovebass]

Hey guys, be careful making videos and posts about making your own Alabama rigs. The owners have been posting threats on Youtube against people making "how to" guides.

Here's a few examples of their comments on YouTube:

(vid 1:

"Did you know that using the Alabama Rig; registered name is a copy write infringement? Using Alabama Rig or A-rig in any way to lead advertising to your utube video is illegal. I need youto remove your tags and any liture with Alabama Rig name in it. Consider thisa friendly warning. Tammy Poss"

"Hey Buddy, I know your young. But you have broken the law. The Alabama Rig is a registered name with the US Patent Attorney'sOffice along with; A-Rig. It is against the law to use it for any reason without written permission from us. Which you do not have. Consisder this a friendly warning to remove all wording and tags using the names for your gains. Thank you. Tammy Poss"

(vid 3:

"The Alabama Rig; and A-Rig name is a registered name with the US Trademark Office. You are illegally using it. Your design will infringe on our patent. You I believe have been notified."

"You are still using our name illegally for financial gain. I don't see how you can be telling people God bless you. You are stealing from us as well as using our Name The Alabama Rig and A-Rig which is registered with the US Trademark office illegally. Consider this a friendly; reminder next will not be so friendly."

"This is to notify you that you have used The Alabama Rig in a illegal manner without wriiten permission. This name is a registered a Trademark name with the US Trademark Office. Your title stated; home made Alabama rig which must be deleted. Consider this a friendly notice. Also when the Patent is granted you also are infringing on the patent with 3 wires. If you have any questions you may call us direct at 256-275-9383 or our attorneys, either or. Thank you. Tammy Poss"

"Read the disclosure on our patent application I had it worded so the any (Head) made of any material which we have other application coming down stream with different heads. Also the wires are stated multiple meaning more than 1. I hope you understand our frustration, thats like Ford amking a new engine and you happen to be a mech forthem or just figure something out on your own but not your idea in the first place.; then make a video for"

Vid:

"You are illegally using The Alabama Rig as; a tag in your tags to direct traffic to your video. The Alabama Rig and A-Rig is a registered name through the US Patent Office. "

[msolorio]

honestly, ill never use an a-rig. people need to lighten up when it comes to somethings, they should have known other rigs were goin to be made and calld the same thing, after all thats the name. idk i just think the a-rig is a buncha hype, itll blow over soon enough im sure.

[tomustang]

Tammy Poss needs to learn about copyright infringement before posting things like that.

[J Francho]

Was thinking the same thing, LOL. Go ahead and sue me over a rig.

[ChrisAW]

Mann's holds the copyright to that thing right? Well, I'll be sure not to purchase any of their lures from here on out.

What a bunch of looney's. Reminds me of Talon lures with that prop jig fiasco

[Timmy Tom]

Question. The umbrella rig. Been called that for a long time. So how do you trademark "rig" on this apparatus? So, if you make one and call it a Arkasas Rig. Would that get you in trouble? Or Arkansas Avenger. Just asking for thoughts. I have a hard time believing that Mann's or any one else could get a patent on it because things like this have been made and sold for a long time. Maybe, all they did was use anothers idea for other fish and market it for bass. I am not saying they did. Also. Best luck to them and their company. Just funny that 2 other large tackle manufacturing companies are selling them right and left under different names.

TT.

[Scorcher214]

Good lord......

It's like Kleenex, some people call all facial tissues, a Kleenex.

[tomustang]

The Alabama Rig is a registered name with the US Patent Attorney'sOffice along with; A-Rig. It is against the law to use it for any reason without written permission from us. Which you do not have.

I wonder if they hand out permission slips to buyers to recite what their using if someone asks

[grimlin]

Question. The umbrella rig. Been called that for a long time. So how do you trademark "rig" on this apparatus? So, if you make one and call it a Arkasas Rig. Would that get you in trouble? Or Arkansas Avenger. Just asking for thoughts. I have a hard time believing that Mann's or any one else could get a patent on it because things like this have been made and sold for a long time. Maybe, all they did was use anothers idea for other fish and market it for bass. I am not saying they did. Also. Best luck to them and their company. Just funny that 2 other large tackle manufacturing companies are selling them right and left under different names.

TT.

Next time tammy says she'll sue...remind her of that umbrella rig. So who's copying who?

They won't have to worry about me...I won't be using any kind of alabama/umbrella rigs...LOL

[Bass Dude]

Unless I'm missing something they didn't say you couldn't use the word 'rig', you can't call it an "A-Rig".

I don't have an issue with it, companies spend a ton on getting the legal rights to a name and it should be enforced if others use it, as it is breaking the law. They are not stopping people from making the contraption, they just can't call it an Alabama rig or an A-Rig. It's called business people, and business is about making money. Selling and making lures is a business....get over it!!!

[J Francho]

I just copyrighted Texas.

[J Francho]

Teasing aside....

Here are the facts about copyright: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html#what_protect

Not sure what the issue is. I think there's some confusion over Trademark and Copyright.

Here are the facts about treadmarks: http://www.uspto.gov/faq/trademarks.jsp#_Toc275426672

[Bass Dude]

A great example of this is Super Bowl. If you notice on TV shows and commercials they can't use the term Super Bowl, they always call it 'The Big Game'.

NFL has that title trademarked....oops...I just got fined!!

Another example would be the Chatterbait. That's only from ZMan, all others of this type are called something different.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

In fact, it's an umbrella rig. Lets all start using the proper term and stop giving this lady free advertising. While we're at it lets call a drop shot an Oneida rig, and copyright that too while we're doing Texas and Carolina.

[J Francho]

Nobody drop shots on Oneida, it's a largemouth lake. :X

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Forgive my ignorance!

[Randall]

I just gave away all my Mann's rigs to a kid down the street after seeing the comments from Tammy Poss the past few days on You Tube. Ordered 15 very light weight UMBRELLA RIGS from someone else. If they were looking to give me a reason to buy a knockoff or light weight umbrella rig they just did. I waited for the original but will not fish it now after seeing how they are acting toward people making videos of homemade rigs.

[Glenn]

Funny.... we have articles about "How to fish the Senko", and Yamamoto Baits hasn't blown up over it. In fact, they welcome it. Same goes for many other brands of baits. It's called "marketing", not "copyright infringment" (or "copy write" as she calls it).

Tammy needs to read up on trademark vs. copyright laws. There are huge differences, and she's mixed the two together into indefensible allegations. Good luck pursuing them in court. It'll run them out of business.

First B.A.S.S. bans it, now this. One shot in each foot, then stuffed in her mouth. Way to kill off business. Congrats.

[geckert]

So if im from Alabama and driving a truck for a living My truck cant be called an Alabama rig because some A-hole thinks its proper to let a state name be copyrighted. What the **** has this country come to. Im going to copywright the word american and charge everyone wo calls themselves any sort of _____ american a fee, What a load of crap.

[Aluma-Bass]

ohhh Tammy....what can i say

[dwtaylor]

I don't see any problem with making a "how to make it" video, as it is granted in our Constitution (1st Amendment). I do understand why they are doing it, but it is kind of like kleenex. Everyone uses the term incorrectly, but no one really cares. If I were to make a how to make it video and named the title "how to make a castable umbrella rig" and they (Manns) thought it was against their copyright and threatened me in a lawsuit, couldn't I sue them? I mean if they did not have a copyright on castable umbrella rig, they do no own rights to the name, so I would be good right?

[Munkin]

I just copyrighted Texas.

I was wondering how someone could copyright a state name myself? Now I am against knock offs more than most people but I doubt she has any kind of rights to the alabama name.

Allen

[SDoolittle]

What a bunch of looney's. Reminds me of Talon lures with that prop jig fiasco

That was one of my all time favorite threads!

[Captain Obvious]

What idiots!

So I guess word of mouth marketing goes out the window cause they will sue you for mentioning the name of the product. From now on we can just call it the

"I-will-get-sued-if-I-mention-the-name-rig". (Tammy I own the trade mark on that name)

Also they have successfully made themselves look ridiculous and trashed their own brand in the process. Add that to the fact that this product was banned by B.A.S.S. so you'll get no marketing from them.

Sounds like a recipe to go out of business to me.

Capt.O

[Big Fish Rice]

Copyright Law

A copyright refers to the owner of a particular expression of an idea, but not the underlying idea or method of operation. <--Direct from my business law textbook by Beatty/Samuelson.

Trademark

A trademark is any combination of words and symbols that a business uses to identify its products or services and distinguish them from others. Similar to Nike's "Just Do It" and Microsoft's flyin window logo, the Poss family uses "The Alabama Rig" to distinguish themselves from other companies, hence why we see names such as "umbrella rig", "school-e rig", etc.

Here is where a court would rule against the Tammy Poss and her threatening comments to kids on YouTube:

"Contrary to popular belief, a trademark does not give its holder a monopoly on the word, phrase, shape or color as such. Trademark rights are typically granted on the basis of a registration. Part of the registration is an indication of the goods and services that the trademark should protect. Only commercial use of the trademark for those classes of goods and services can be restricted by the trademark holder. Non-commercial use cannot be prevented, except if that use harms the distinctiveness of the trademark."

As you can see, people are free to use the trademarked phrase as long as they are identifying a particular product or service when it comes to discussion and informational reporting. What kids don't understand is that they cannot make their own umbrella rig and sell them under a trademarked name or use a copyrighted "version".

By taking this battle into her own hands, I think Tammy is creating a lot of animosity towards The Alabama Rig and it is a losing battle. While I can understand that the fishing industry is a copy-cat industry by nature, unruly customer relationship management and poor communication skills will destroy a company in a blink of an eye. Seeing as I got this entire situation from a "Google Alert", I would say the process has begun.