Radio Shack vs. Bianca's Smut Shack

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Bianca

 

Bianca

Radio Shack

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Radio Shack vs. Bianca's Smut Shack

What you'll find on this protest page...
Update: An agreement has been reached! Bianca's Smut Shack prevails!
Radio Shack (Tandy) demands that Bianca's to drop the word "shack" from its name. Protest! Spend no money at Radio Shack stores.
Read the letter of protest I've sent.

Protest Over! Bianca Wins! We Win!

Update, 25 June 1997: BiancaTroll Productions has announced that they've reached an agreement with Radio Shack's parent company, Tandy Corporation, which will remove the trademark block on Bianca's Smut Shack and discontinue any threats of litigation. Bianca's Smut Shack prevails! We may all don our pocket protectors and resume shopping at Radio Shack stores.

Why boycott Radio Shack stores?

Radio Shack's parent company, Tandy Corporation, is blocking the trademark petition for Bianca's Smut Shack, a sex-positive Web site and online community. (Bianca's has been on the web since February 1994, five months after we arrived. They've been nothing but a force for good, and it's galling to see a store most of us have patronized since long before we could drive attempt to overextend its reach in such an evil way.) Tandy caused a cease-and-desist order to be issued, evidently, because anyone else's use of the word "shack" dilutes the "goodwill" associated with its trademark, Radio Shack.

This is patently (pun intended) stupid. There is more to a language than trademarkable nouns. Only the dimmest of corporate types could walk away from even the most cursory examination of the two sites with any glimmer of thought that confusion could reign in the minds of consumers. It's hard to tell whether this is a management failure or attorneys on retainer relying on in-flight magazines for technological advice who also have too much time on their hands.

What to do? Hit the bastards where it hurts. Spend no money at Radio Shack stores. Spread the word to your friends and family. Send a protest letter to the company. Let them know in what little regard you hold their contemptuous use of the legal system. Money talks.

A Letter of Protest

Here is the text of a letter which I sent to Tandy / Radio Shack. (As a starting point I used a form letter found on Jim Hart's Vagabondage site. Thank you, Jim.)

Tandy Corporation / Radio Shack

To whom it may concern,

Your attempt to stop Bianca's Smut Shack from using the name they've been using since 1994 is upsetting to the world wide web community and to me.

It is also misguided. I shop at Radio Shack (and have since I was a pre-teen, building electronic projects from scratch). My first standalone computer, after a remote mainframe timesharing system, was a TRS-80 Model 1. I'm no stranger to Radio Shack. I also spend online time at Bianca's. Until I read a website critique of your actions in keeping BiancaTroll Productions from trademarking "Bianca's Smut Shack" I had never even thought of the two at the same time, much less confused one for the other.

Bianca's Smut Shack was one of the first communities on the Web. It means a lot to all of us. Until I know that you have retracted your cease and desist order I will not be spending money in any Radio Shack store. I will, however, ensure that my feelings on the matter are prominently displayed on my CU-SeeMe web site, which is a high-traffic site with the computer- and electronics-saavy videoconferencing crowd. You may visit my "Radio Shack vs. Bianca's Smut Shack" web page at

http://www.Sattlers.org/mickey/work/200102-bianca/radioShack.html

Hoping for a swift and sane resolution to this laughable (but troubling) matter, I remain,

Sincerely yours,

Michael 'Mickey' Sattler

Have you found errors nontrivial or marginal, factual, analytical and illogical, arithmetical, temporal, or even typographical? Please let me know; drop me email. Thanks!
 

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