Jock Anderson
Millionaire owner of the National Business Review, Barry Colman, threatened this week to launch a “lawyers’ picnic” in a bid to shut down CaseLoad.
In a move that came more than two months after www.caseload.co.nz went live Mr Colman, 58, put pen to paper in a couriered letter received by CaseLoad managing editor Jock Anderson, 59, on September 14.
The letter was delivered to CaseLoad’s global headquarters on Waiheke Island.
Mr Colman said he had taken legal advice on my move to name CaseLoad after the NBR column.
His letter reads:
“Dear Jock,
As you are aware I have taken legal advice on your move to name your website CASELOAD after the NBR column. We sent you an email some weeks ago asking you to desist which has apparently fallen on deaf ears.
The legal situation is fairly clear as it’s been explained to me and that we have reasonably strong grounds to have the site removed, particularly on the basis that the “brand name” existed in NBR for several years and that the paper and your site now carry the same name and, in part, similar content aimed at the same audience.
The site also includes similar get-up with your image and wig, etc. A court would have to reach the conclusion that the reason for using the words ‘CASELOAD’ would be to take advantage of the existing reputation of the column.
There is also the matter of passing off. In a search of the internet looking for Case Load stories from the NBR, any hit on your site would certainly cause “confusion.”
I also imagine the issue of you trying to sell BARRY COLMAN and SHOESHINE as domain names would not be a good look as far as the court was concerned. It shows a streak of vindictiveness, you’d have to agree, which is not at all like your jolly self.
I’m not quite sure what you’re up to or whether you think we’ve gone to sleep and no further action will be taken to protect NBR’s rights to the column name it created. Hence this formal letter, as once I push the button with the lawyers, I’ll just leave it to them to run the case to its conclusion and go back to my day job.
From my point of view I can’t allow the precedent of having every former reporter starting up websites aimed at my clients using my column names. A situation I’m sure you wouldn’t allow if the position was reversed – particularly as most print material will end up on websites from now on.
I would urge you to change your website name asap rather than both of us starting a lawyers’ picnic.
I trust island life is going well for you. If you could call or email me before Wednesday, September 20th I would appreciate it.
Kind regards
Barry”
Having duly considered Mr Colman’s letter I emailed him the following reply:
“Hello Barry,
Thank you for your letter dated September 13, 2006 in which you threaten to turn lawyers on to closing down my website www.caseload.co.nz
I note the envelope did not contain a long overdue healthy redundancy cheque.
First, I have no record of receiving any email from you at my jockanderson@ihug.co.nz address so your letter is the first indication I have received of your intentions.
I am unaware you have taken legal advice.
Why on earth would you want to do this?
I will deal with the points you raise in your letter.
The brand name Case Load, along with the idea of using my face and later the wig, and the various characters such as Our Man At The Bar, the Wee Scunner, references to the Ladies and Escorts Lounge, etc, were all created by me after I was assigned to compile a legal column/section in 2003.
Case Load did not exist before then.
You seem to think Case Load is taking advantage of the reputation of the column.
The reputation of the column, and the associated legal section, was built by me and me alone so I reckon it is my reputation.
I might well take the view that it is you and NBR that are taking advantage of the reputation I built around the column.
I don’t really object to you keeping the name going in the paper, I don’t give it any thought, but why don’t you change the name of your column, as I requested in an email to Mr Thompson? Call it Bonnet At The Bar. It would be cheaper
What do you mean by “passing off?” As a matter of interest have you tried accessing NBR on the Internet? Deborah Hill Cone’s column cannot be accessed without paying a fee or going out and buying a paper, neither of which I do.
And most references to Case Load on the Internet come up with Jock Anderson Case Load so I see no grounds for any confusion. Have you looked it up yourself?
Several of your staff are regular visitors.
Visitors to www.caseload.co.nz know that it is my website and it is free.
Do you really think anyone would seriously confuse it with yours, which they have to pay for?
As to the domain names you must have figured out by now that was a bit of a joke carried out not by me but by my girlfriend Lorraine.
You see Barry, when you got Brett Thompson to phone me at home and tell me I was redundant I was the only wage earner in our mortgaged home.
We did not know where another pay would come from and our immediate fear was that we would have to sell up and move out.
We were both deeply shocked, hurt, humiliated and angry by the way you treated me after nearly eight years of what I and others, including a number of your subscribers, thought was pretty good service.
That is an employment issue that still has to be resolved in another arena.
So there was certainly nothing for me to be jolly about when you did that.
In any event Lorraine owns those domain names. Why not make her a cash offer? Who knows, she might accept.
If you’re not quite sure what I’m up to it’s because I’m not up to anything other than trying to earn a living doing what I know and what I do reasonably well.
Surely you and your lawyers would not deny me that?
As to who www.caseload.co.nz is aimed at I am surprised that you think you have exclusive ownership of “clients,” as you call them. www.caseload.co.nz is aimed at anyone in the world who is interested in primarily New Zealand-generated law flavoured news with a touch of humour
My website, operated part time by myself at this stage, is developing its own content which will hopefully attract news and advertising and bring in an income stream.
It’s what we call freedom of expression, the free market, entrepreneurship and maybe just a touch of competition. All virtues I know you respect and support.
I think I have made my position clear.
You’ll probably go ahead and push the button with your lawyers and go back to your day job. You know I can’t afford to pay lawyers to fight you. And I am not at all fighting you and the great might of the National Business Review.
But if it comes to it I will defend myself, in court if I have to, and publicly, with every weapon at my disposal.
Anyway what judge would give either of us a fair trial after all the slaggings off the judiciary got in the column I used to do for you?
Oh yes, before I forget. If you haven’t yet checked out www.caseload.co.nz today (September 14) have a look at my story about Nigel McFadden.
Island life is going well, thank you, and I trust you will do nothing to upset it.
Kind regards
Jock Anderson
