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I was on tabletopgamingnews just now and found out that there is a law suit between these two laser foam cutting businesses. The link is for the 13 page legal document.

http://www.schwimmerlegal.com/2010/03/small_dispute_b.html

It's an interesting read.

It is indeed. That said, we need folks to keep these discussions polite. No attacks on/against either party, please.

/me hugs my large collection Sabol Army Transport products...

@Mannahnin Indeed on being polite.

When I first read it over, it sounded like they brought up the law suit because Foam Corps had been making the foam cut outs using a Laser (and something about a pending patent). Later it looked like some trade secrets were found out and used. *shrug*

yeah,
First off I've bought BF and I'm sold it's a great product.

They ditched their OutRider moniker! to me that indicates they weren't trying to capitalise on their own brand success but someone elses...
I think the name is very similar, and it seems intentional that they are stealing some of the thunder from BattleFoams recent success.

I can only think of these Case/Foam brands, surely if OutRider Hobbies had of wanted to be more unique they could have been...
I mean this is the list of names they have to be unsimilar with...

GW carry cases
KR MultiCases
Sabol Army Transporter
Battle Foam

I mean why not call them OutRider trays for sabol cases... that's what they are!
I wish BattleFoam the best of luck...

Panic...

Datadep5 wrote:When I first read it over, it sounded like they brought up the law suit because Foam Corps had been making the foam cut outs using a Laser (and something about a pending patent). Later it looked like some trade secrets were found out and used. *shrug*

Most of the claims are not about this misappropriation of trade secrets. The majority involve dilution of the brand (since Foam Corps also uses the word 'foam' in their title). I agree that stealing trade secrets is a no-no, but taking a company to court because they produce a similar product and have a similar name seems a bit over the top. Especially when the similar name involves the name of the product that they are both selling.

Scribd is apparently blocked at my work.

Any kind soul care to post the text for those of us with the inability to read it as is?

Thank you in advance.

Eric

afireinside13t wrote:Most of the claims are not about this misappropriation of trade secrets. The majority involve dilution of the brand (since Foam Corps also uses the word 'foam' in their title). I agree that stealing trade secrets is a no-no, but taking a company to court because they produce a similar product and have a similar name seems a bit over the top. Especially when the similar name involves the name of the product that they are both selling.

If you look up Battle Foam's trademark listing it specifically says:

no claim is made to the exclusive right to use "foam" apart from the mark as shown

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=doc&state=4010:rkrk1l.2.1

Panic wrote:yeah,
First off I've bought BF and I'm sold it's a great product.

They ditched their OutRider moniker! to me that indicates they weren't trying to capitalise on their own brand success but someone elses...
I think the name is very similar, and it seems intentional that they are stealing some of the thunder from BattleFoams recent success.

I can only think of these Case/Foam brands, surely if OutRider Hobbies had of wanted to be more unique they could have been...
I mean this is the list of names they have to be unsimilar with...

GW carry cases
KR MultiCases
Sabol Army Transporter
Battle Foam

I mean why not call them OutRider trays for sabol cases... that's what they are!
I wish BattleFoam the best of luck...

Panic...

Just to clarify, Outrider Hobbies is my company name. Foam Corps is a product line under that company name.

foam corps is not easily confused with battle foam to the average gamer. to my old uncle in europe who doesn't speak english? maybe. to a gamer who routinely tells the difference between warmachine vs warhammer vs warboss vs wartrakk vs etc... not so much. if they had called their line battle foam corps or battlefoam (no space) or even foam battle corps, i'd be with you on that; as it stands, if you can't tell the difference between the names, you probably shouldn't be playing a game as RAWtastic as 40k. as for the actual designs... they're made to fit 3rd party models. no one has the exclusive license to make a row of 10 rectangles of 1 inch by 0.5 inches. maybe they have some merit regarding the method to produce them (lazers mounted on sharks swimming in foam infested waters) but the name confusion falls flat on it's face. in the end, battlefoam is a much bigger company and can simply afford to outspend outrider hobbies in legal fees in order to drive them out of business. when in doubt, sue! it's a tried and true honored american tradition.

outriderhobbies wrote:Just to clarify, Outrider Hobbies is my company name. Foam Corps is a product line under that company name.

yeah,
Dude, I had a look at your website OutriderHobbies and could find only one product line Foam Corps. I think that it's strange you feel the need to name your only line of product, foam with a name similar to your fastest growing competitor...
So to clarify my opnions still stand, you could have picked a more unique name if you had of wanted one.

Warboss I don't think you can call BattleFoam a big company yet.
They only started last year and their name is one of their biggest Assets. Pretty much every forum talks about them.

Panic...

Just out of curiosity, because the lawsuit alleges this, you're saying that no one ever thought to cut foam with a laser before Battle Foam did it? I find that a bit hard to believe. Not sure how they'll prove that Foam Corps is using the exact same "patent pending" process.

They're saying that the Foam Corps mark is confusingly similar to the Battle Foam mark so obviously they're disputing the use of the word "foam".

Interesting, we'll have to see what develops.

I see where this thread is going. Because of the pending legal action, and the sanity of the other Moderators, this thread is closed.