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Sales of TX Geocoins on hold


Neuman

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Effective immediately, sales of the TX Geocoin will be put on hold pending the outcome of discussions with Grounded, Inc., regarding a licensing agreement for the continued use of the geocaching logo. I am in hopes that my compliance with their request will be viewed favorably and that an equitable agreement will be forthcoming that will allow sales of the TX geocoin to resume.

 

Thanks to everyone for their support.

 

Neuman

 

txwood.JPG

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Man, that sucks. I seem to recall that you worked hand in hand with Mr CPU to get your site and counting mechanism in place. Whatta bummer that such a significant yet simple transaction missed the boat.

 

I hope that you and Grounded Inc. ®©(SM) can work out differences and amicably get this thing going again.

 

Look forward to gettin' coins soon!

 

In the meantime, I'm sure the black market value of Texas geocoins has now skyrocketed. I better go find me one and horde it QUICK! icon_biggrin.gif

 

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wavey.gif Go! And don't be afraid to get a little wet!

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Man, that sucks. I seem to recall that you worked hand in hand with Mr CPU to get your site and counting mechanism in place. Whatta bummer that such a significant yet simple transaction missed the boat.

 

I hope that you and Grounded Inc. ®©(SM) can work out differences and amicably get this thing going again.

 

Look forward to gettin' coins soon!

 

In the meantime, I'm sure the black market value of Texas geocoins has now skyrocketed. I better go find me one and horde it QUICK! icon_biggrin.gif

 

---------------

wavey.gif Go! And don't be afraid to get a little wet!

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Man, that sucks. I seem to recall that you worked hand in hand with Mr CPU to get your site and counting mechanism in place. Whatta bummer that such a significant yet simple transaction missed the boat.

 

I hope that you and Grounded Inc. ®©(SM) can work out differences and amicably get this thing going again.

 

Look forward to gettin' coins soon!

 

In the meantime, I'm sure the black market value of Texas geocoins has now skyrocketed. I better go find me one and horde it QUICK! icon_biggrin.gif

 

---------------

wavey.gif Go! And don't be afraid to get a little wet!

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That is too bad - I was just about to purchase some for my first cache I was going to place. icon_frown.gif

 

But this reminds me, is there any way to buy the Moun10bike coins? I am new to this, but I have searched around and not found the answer to this on the boards. I imagine it is something that is "understood" by those who have been around here longer. Anyone know?

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That is too bad - I was just about to purchase some for my first cache I was going to place. icon_frown.gif

 

But this reminds me, is there any way to buy the Moun10bike coins? I am new to this, but I have searched around and not found the answer to this on the boards. I imagine it is something that is "understood" by those who have been around here longer. Anyone know?

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quote:
Originally posted by SamLowrey:

But this reminds me, is there any way to buy the Moun10bike coins? I am new to this, but I have searched around and not found the answer to this on the boards. I imagine it is something that is "understood" by those who have been around here longer. Anyone know?


 

Of course, Moun10bike will know for sure (but since I'm a forum addict, I'll answer), but I don't think he sells them. He buys all of them and makes them all travellers. Some folks keep 'em, others pass 'em along.

 

---------------

wavey.gif Go! And don't be afraid to get a little wet!

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quote:
Originally posted by VentureForth:

 

Of course, Moun10bike will know for sure (but since I'm a forum addict, I'll answer), but I don't think he sells them. He buys all of them and makes them all travellers. Some folks keep 'em, others pass 'em along.

 

 


 

Yeah, I might email him, but I figured he was flooded with this same question, so I didn't want to ask if the answer was already well known.

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quote:
Originally posted by SamLowrey:

 

But this reminds me, is there any way to buy the Moun10bike coins?


 

Sorry, but no. The only way to get one is to find it in a cache (or be the recipient of one that I hand off at a posted caching event). I couldn't sell them legally even if I wanted to, since they have the Geocaching.com logo on them.

 

icon_geocachingwa.gif

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...its surprising to me that people take a lack of response as waiving the requirement for permission.

 

I hope something can be worked out with you and Groundspeak, the coins are really nice looking and I think they were created in the spirit of fun... Unfortunatly it all comes down to the law, and the law requires Groundspeak to protect its property.

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As I have stated before, it was never my intention to violate anyone's trademark rights in the production of the TX Geocoin. Grounded, Inc has been very reasonable and I have I done my best to comply with their requests.

 

As I have been contacted by fellow geocachers from other states requesting information on how to produce their own geocoin and to clarify Grounded, Inc's position on the use of their trademark, I post the following in an effort to avoid any confusion in the future:

 

quote:

Neuman,

 

Sure, no problem.

 

1) Although permission has been given to some to use the Groundspeak Geocaching logo on products for sale, permission has also been denied to others for a variety of reasons. You knew that permission had not been granted to you and despite your good faith believe and assumption that “there would be no problem,” you produced goods for sale bearing the Geocaching Trademark without permission. This assumption was not correct.

 

2) The specific language in our logo usage policy states, “We are also willing to make allowances for those of you who have creative ideas and want to do something fun for your friends and fellow Geocachers. The Groundspeak Geocaching Logos may be used only on non-commercial items. These items may include, but are not limited to shirts, hats, coins, logbooks, stickers and cache containers. If the lifetime use of the design is less than 25 units, you may consider permission automatically granted. These items may not, under any circumstance, be sold.” We honestly believe that this policy is extremely fair as it provides broad freedom to Geocachers to use our logo. In violation of this policy, you are selling these items that “may not, under any circumstance, be sold. While we truly appreciate your love for Geocaching, we do not appreciate you selling these coins, for profit or otherwise, without our permission.

 

3) While we do appreciate the promotion, the ‘wound’ originates from your violation of our policy and the potential impact it may have on our ability to enforce our rights in the trademark against everyone else that would now believe it ok to place our trademark on their goods for sale. Please understand that as developers and owners of the Groundspeak trademark, we believe that our right to maintain and control the use of the trademark is invaluable. Your continued sale of these products without our permission directly impacts this right and is therefore unacceptable to us.

 

At this point, we are once again respectfully requesting that you immediately cease and desist marketing, selling, distributing or otherwise displaying the Geocaching logo on the TX Geocoins. Once you have complied with this reasonable request, please feel free to contact me and I would be more than happy to discuss a logo licensing agreement with you for the continued use of the logo on a product or products for sale.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bryan

 


 

And after complying with their requests:

 

quote:
Yes, you have complied. Thank you very much for your prompt response....

 

Thanks for your continued patience and cooperation.

 

I am looking forward to working this out.


 

Hopefully, we will get this all settled in the very near future. Until then, sales of the TX geocoin will stay on hold. The web page, however, will remain active for logging of the TX Geocoins already in circulation.

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I genuinely hope this issue is resolved soon. In the meantime, we also will be more careful about how and where we place any of ours into the wild. However, we are glad to announce publicly that we except to place one or two in California caches when we are there next month....We know how much Californians love Texas!

 

For those that are interested in getting their hands on one, there are still lots of them in circulation. That is particularly true in Texas. In fact, the first one we placed in July in Rock Road Adventure (GC166B), which we think is the first Texas geocoin placed in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, has yet to be claimed.

 

Alchemist2000

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It sounds like things are going to get worked out. I sure hope so! I know that there was no ill-intent by any party.

 

On the other hand, I'm glad that this whole scenario has played out so as to hopefully avert anyone else from experiencing a similar setback.

 

---------------

wavey.gif Go! And don't be afraid to get a little wet!

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