Surprise!
December 8, 2009

Every time I come back from a trip, I can expect a lot of things on my desk. Besides the usual bulk of mail, checks to sign, hundreds of e-mails to respond to; it's nice to see a few things that brighten my day. Jared from Vans sent me a little box of goodies. Since I’m sample size 9, I have no problem being the RD dept for everyone.

Vans and the ninjas at Airblaster did a little love making and this is what came out of it.

Ok, I’ll try…

Talking about staying wild, Shaun and the Neff family, sent some my way.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot what else showed up on my desk… I’ve been in this game for a while and over the years, I’ve learned a lot. What I mean is that one of the most important parts of running a biz is knowing the Intellectual Properties that make up your brand. It sounds simple enough, but a lot of owners and operators tend to forget that they need to protect their shit on a global level. Trademarks, Patents, and Copyrights are all highly valuable intangibles that are the “backbone” to your business. Back in the day, I learned my lesson when I failed to do the simple things at the beginning. After spending a lot of time and money learning, while working with some of the best IP attorneys in the biz, I ran into another hurdle when the biggest electronic company in the world (hint, it’s a Japanese company) infringed on a mark and logo I had the rights to. As a young kid with a small growing biz and not much to lose (or so I thought...), what did I do? I sued their ass. I won’t go into the details, but there are three things I took away from the experience. One: large companies have a tendency to use their legal muscle to “play the game” (Hell, they have their attorneys on retainer, why not use it!). Two: having the legal right is one thing, but policing and fighting over it is another. (Get ready to spend, spend, spend.) Three: pick your battles. (BTW, I won this battle)

I’ve received these types of letters from different companies several times. Shit, I’ve even sent them to a few. However, I’ve tried to keep a certain level of integrity behind the purpose. Why play the game just to spend time and $ on legal billings? Sounds simple enough, but sometimes people don’t see it that way. In this case, we did our homework years ago and know exactly what our rights are. Getting this letter doesn’t come a surprise considering the “the establishment” has changed quite a bit from the days I remember.

Oh yeah, what am I going to do? Lets just say you’ll be kept dry this winter from all the snow we’re supposed to get.