How I Got Fired From the Job I Invented 252
New submitter frost_knight writes "Travel blogger Turner Barr discovered that his entire brand, image, and web personality has been hijacked by a multi-billion dollar company for use in a marketing campaign. 'The video for their marketing campaign was particularly creepy for me, as even my age and personality didn’t escape the level of detail spent on creating this doppelganger (they used a paid actor of course). ... I’m no longer even the first thing that comes up when you Google my brand name. I’ve turned down work opportunities and put on hold any future travel job plans to deal with lawyers, long distance phone calls, corporate executives and other such nonsense — all along feeling misled and patronized. This situation has been extremely confusing for not only myself, but also for participants in company’s marketing campaign who message me thinking that I am am part of the company.'"
funny (Score:5, Informative)
This adecco page has twitter feed deal at the bottom and it's a riot to read right now. Apparently they haven't caught on that this story is getting a lot of attention yet.
https://www.adeccowaytowork.com/en/career-center [adeccowaytowork.com]
I'm gonna guess clicking through on the facebook deal next to it would lead to similar stuff.
TM, are you kidding me? (Score:5, Informative)
I was so ready to side with Adecco on this. It's really not a very original twist on 'Around the world in 80 days', and it's really just a limited time use by them. Then I saw they've applied a TM to the term. They made his whole point for him.
Re:George Zimmer? (Score:5, Informative)
Apparently from Adecco:
"We have seen and heard your sincere concern about our recent youth employment initiative and take your feedback very seriously. We deeply regret if we hurt Turner Barr. This was never our intention when we set up our "Around the World in 80 Jobs" contest. We clearly see that Turner is an inspiration to many people. We feel there should be more of such initiatives that inspire people to live their dreams and achieve their ambitions. Unfortunately, we moved forward with a name and contest that clearly upset Turner and his community. We sincerely apologize for that mistake.
When Turner contacted us about his concern, and we understood the full situation, we immediately engaged with him to try to make things right. Unfortunately, we have been unable to find common ground so far.
Most of all, we are sorry that an initiative we truly care about - youth unemployment - has been negatively received."
FYI (Score:5, Informative)
Willful copyright infringement for commercial gain is a criminal offense under 17 U.S.C. Â 506 and 18 U.S.C. Â 2319
If the value of the reproduced works exceeds $2500 it is a felony.
Re:TM, are you kidding me? (Score:5, Informative)
It is trademark infringement. Use in commerce is sufficient. It doesn't need to be registered.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_trademark_law#TM_vs._.C2.AE [wikipedia.org]
On the other hand, fraudulent claim of a trademark is actionable under 15 U.S.C. Section 1120.
Re:who are intelectual property laws protecting ag (Score:5, Informative)
His trademarks and copyrights were both infringed. If he engaged in commerce in the United States since 1976 he was required to register neither.
He might even have a case for unfair competition and illegal use of his likeness. Depends on how aggressive his attorneys are.
Re:funny (Score:3, Informative)
Our values
Demonstrate respect for the rights and dignity of all people and organisations by being fair, just and compassionate.
Take responsibility for our actions and hold ourselves and each other accountable for what we say and do.
Communicate in an honest way with our colleagues, associates, investors, customers, suppliers, governments and the communities in which we work.
Act with integrity by demonstrating the courage and strength of character to do what is right even when it is difficult or unpopular.
http://www.adecco.co.uk/en-GB/aboutus/Pages/Ourvalues.aspx
The twitter feed has been turned off (Score:5, Informative)
Send them a message (Score:4, Informative)
At https://www.adeccowaytowork.com/en/contact [adeccowaytowork.com]
For example:
You disgust me. I expect never to make use of your services, either looking for my next position, or when I am part of the hiring process where I work.
As an active web developer with a strong network built up over 15 years in the industry, I intend to make sure the details of your parasitic behaviour are shared as widely as possible. Everybody who works in the digital economy will see this as a crime that could have been perpetrated on themselves.
I will encourage everyone I can to see themselves as a potential victim of such cavalier behaviour and to boycott your services therefore. I know how many of my colleagues already despise the way big business flouts IP laws, whilst simultaneously using these same laws to crush players too small to afford protracted legal battles.
You are in a service industry and person you have just ripped off is the archetypal representative of your customer. I can only hope that the impact on your bottom line is what it deserves to be. I will do what I can to encourage everyone to make it so.
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/06/22/2316215/how-i-got-fired-from-the-job-i-invented [slashdot.org]
Yours sincerely,
[name redacted]
Incidently their twitter feed is interesting reading at the moment. As is their facebook page.
Re:FYI (Score:2, Informative)
Copyright is *not* trademark. Same as trademark is not a patent.
1. patent
2. copyright
3. trademark
All are different laws. The company in question is breaking trademark laws. They are not braking copyright laws AFAIK. They are not breaking patent laws AFAIK.
The solution is as simple as saying "Around the world in 96 jobs". But I guess the company is too cheap to pay 2 extra people?
Re:The twitter feed has been turned off (Score:3, Informative)
Re: The IP is his trademark(s) that mark his busin (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Why is anyone surprised? (Score:4, Informative)
You're telling me that a company that uses more than 650,000 partially-employed associates [adecco.com] to design "creatives" satisfying 100,000 clients at any given time, is not taking a scrupulous, careful, original approach to designing marketing campaigns?!
Why is this surprising? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:who are intelectual property laws protecting ag (Score:5, Informative)
He is not required to register a trademark. The only requirement is that he use it in commerce. Registered trademarks have stronger protections, but an unregistered trademark is still protected.
Re: Adecco will not win. IP law protects Barr (Score:5, Informative)
Adecco registered the phrase "Around the world in 80 jobs" with the uspto, and a trademark was granted on April 13th.
Nope. Adecco filed an application on April 13th. The application then has to be examined, which typically takes several months. If it gets through that and the examiner decides to allow the mark, that will be published, and then there is a 30 day period where the public is invited to submit reasons the mark should not be granted.
Re:who are intelectual property laws protecting ag (Score:5, Informative)
Absolutely right! If you're lucky, you'll never have rights worth enough to pay a lawyer to sue you. My 70+ year old widowed mother is being sued by my money-crazy step-sister. There is zero merit to the case, but my poor mother has already had incurred over $200K in expenses, and they haven't even started the effort to go to trial. The judge couldn't throw out the case because the law says disputes of this type can only be decided at trial. The system is set up to take away your money and give it to lawyers, plain and simple. Anyone without enough money to play this game can be taken advantage of by any company that cares to, and the law is set up to benefit lawyers here as well.
There is a defense. If you're bright, and a fast learner, you can represent yourself, and hopefully not cock it up. It will take even more of your time than hiring lawyers, but the expenses will be tiny. Naturally, judges, who all happen to be lawyers, take a dim view of this approach. It's a good thing the people passing the laws that lawyers live by aren't lawyers themselves! ... Oh, wait!