1-800-Flowers Rips Off The Bloomery - Again!

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RJD

RJD

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Feb 22, 2005
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I notice they only offer it in white carns. And theirs is smaller than yours.
 
I can track all IPs who visit our site--I have the raw logs and several analysis tools. I'm going to have to do some digging. I know they read our FloristBlogs blog.
 
Well I'll be... Rich you and Kathy should be flattered... because :yourock:

Seriously tho...forget the flattery comment.... the Bloomery knows, many others do as well, that tis type of thing will continue to escalate until the day finally arrives when the wires have no where to send their orders...

It is us vs. them....blah blah blah, oh hell I've said it all before....I'm preaching to the choir again....

Working my way to the door....
 
This stinks of copyright infringement .... but I would honestly ave no idea how to proceed from here. You are owed some serious royalties from what I can tell.
 
Rich:
I would have to start with a direct & very personal note to Jim McCann, pointing out the apparent rip-off of your "idea" and duplication of your product pictures.

Ask for an immediate cease & desist. It appears that the upcake was just launched on or about 10/1/08.

Not sure how long your pic has been up, but I would start with your logs from when your pic when up, and trace it...mightly.

While Jim McCann is a smooth marketer, I have to believe that, given the facts, he will apologize & withdraw their campaign....or, alternatively, offer to pay you for your creation, photos and ideas. The bad press that this can create for 1-800 would not be work the possible profits in this severe economic climate.

(HEADLINE: "Fortune 500 company steals ideas and photos from Mom & Pop -- can we say rip-off?" )

Or similar fodder ---- I envision a u-tube story.......call me.....or pm me....

Keep us posted.

Cheryl
 
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First let me just say that I am sorry this happens to your guys time and time again....It sux I am sure..

Now where the packaging and size are different than yours and I suppose yours are not trademarked, do you have any recourse???

Florists copy other florists ideas on a very regular basis, it is how we learne and evolve..800-flowers has bee promoting this cupcake for some time now to the retailers maybe since the beginning of summer...How long have you had your picture up??? could you have had simultaneous ideas going on...All the packaging design and sourcing does not happen over night aftre all...

Duff from Charm City Cakes just had a cupcake themed show that was probably shot 6 months ago...This is how fads go...one idea crops another and so everyone starts to join in...until the market is saturated with the same old crap...

Not sticking up for them, but I just wonder if it is coincidence or really piracy...it is hard to tell sometimes until you really look into the details..
 
Yes BOSS for sure. My friendly Teleflora man was in yesterday wanting me to join. I told him as long as I was the owner of this shop he could pass right by on his way through my territory, I was NEVER going to be a member of a wire service. When he pressed me for reasons of which I gave several. He said " Well then how do you send outgoing orders?" I told him they invented this thing called "Google", that I could find any REAL shop in the country and give them and order for 100%, then my customer gets full value for their order, quite a concept!
He asked, " Do you get incoming orders?" I answered that I got several direct orders a month.
"Well ours comes with a guarantee" says the Teleflora Rep.
" Hmm, So does mine, and so does every other shop stand by their product, I have never had a problem."
The Rep smiled " We are here to grow your business and help the small florist succeed!"
( I bet your monthly paycheck beats mine by a long shot, I think to myself)
 
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Ours has been online since May, but the idea has been kicking around since before last Christmas when Kathy found the containers.
 
lori042499 said:
Not sticking up for them, but I just wonder if it is coincidence or really piracy...it is hard to tell sometimes until you really look into the details..
Click to expand...

In this case I don't think it's a coincidence. The reason I say this is because I recall RJD had been ripped off before with that garden tool arrangement.

I'd be willing to bet that 1800Flowers has no idea about this. I think someone in the design department over there is using the Bloomery and probably other shops too for it's ideas.

Wanna bet Cathy's flower dogs will be next?
 
LJVF said:
Wanna bet Cathy's flower dogs will be next?
Click to expand...


I think the similarities between the two cupcakes are uncanny. The new John Henry Everyday images offer both a cupcake and a dog. However, the cupcake is made with mums and roses, not mini carns, and the containers is foil - not plastic.

We have been doing the blooming plant in a garden tool tote since 04 but, we always use scented geranium, we've never used azalea. It's when the product gets *too* close, like your cupcakes, that it reeks of theft. They are just too similar to be purely coincidence.
 
I am sorry this has happened to you but I know first hand that you can not patent art. When it comes to art the only thing that you are allowed to Patent is the techniques used to form the art and even this is a very fine line. Very complicated set of rules apply in patents, and a very costly and long dragged out procedure when it relates in any way to art.


Joan
 
Rich:
I would also start by placing the works "Bloomery Inc" or "Bloomery Exclusive" on each & every design image that you & Kathy create for your website...from the very first time you display the image.

It will make it easier to prove that your pic &/or idea has been stolen.

So sorry that this happened again. (Cute idea & nic pic by the way!)

Cheryl
 
Knife's Wife said:
I am sorry this has happened to you but I know first hand that you can not patent art. When it comes to art the only thing that you are allowed to Patent is the techniques used to form the art and even this is a very fine line.
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Art is protected by copyrights, though, which are different than patents, and extend to the visual appearance of the object. In both instances, there are very striking similarities, right down to the same ribbon on the garden tote. Plants in garden totes aren't that original of an idea, but if you put both totes, or both cupcakes, side by side, there's more than enough similarity to cause consumer confusion.
 
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RJD said:
Art is protected by copyrights, though, which are different than patents, and extend to the visual appearance of the object. In both instances, there are very striking similarities, right down to the same ribbon on the garden tote. Plants in garden totes aren't that original of an idea, but if you put both totes, or both cupcakes, side by side, there's more than enough similarity to cause consumer confusion.
Click to expand...

I agree. I think the garden tote was even more blatant forgery than the cupcake. I remember they both looked almost identical.
 
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