As a lot of you Real Men of Genius Advertisement fans out there may know, the Real American Hero's / Real Men of Genius radio commercials are getting hard to find on the web. Even with the internet's reputation of being able to say whatever you want, some things still can't be made available for long without someone crying about it. And so it is true for the RMOG fans. This site has had the MP3s available for quite some time and your not so friendly 'powers that be' have demanded that the FREE ADVERTISING be removed. That site was merely helping to promote the product and from what I can tell, not trying to fool anyone into thinking that they were Anheuser-Busch or had any affiliation with that company. They had only recently begun promoting Google ads (probably just to help pay for the bandwidth usage) and that's when Anheuser-Busch came down on them. What a bunch of crap that is... and this letter from the lawyer at AB (see below) is just plain BS (legal as it may be); you would think that companies would welcome additional FREE advertising for their product (which I think tastes like piss). In any case, you only have a few more days to get the MP3s from that site before they are supposed to remove them. A lot of sites in the past have removed their respective sites immediately and not apparently voiced any opinions on this issue. Tell Anheuser-Busch that the MP3s should remain available on the net and that this site would make a great place to host them under the authority of Anheuser-Busch. This way, there will always be a place to hear them on demand and Anheuser-Busch won’t have to worry so much about who might be bringing them additional popularity and FREE marketing. Maybe they should swap the theme of the site to an anti bud light site. LOL! The cheesy ba$tards need to loosen up and not worry about a few MP3s which are likely all over P2P networks anyway. The more people listen to them, the more popular that crap could be... Aren't they in the game to make money anyway? Surely the lawyers have better things to do than chase after a few internet sites…? I wouldn't want any lawyer hassling me over something like this....
Recent Update: November, 2005
I hear that AB has started hounding these guys again! Whipnet complied with the original demands and now AB is crying about having the lyrics posted! These guys just don’t know when to stop! Don’t they realize that other sites will be posting the mp3s and the lyrics for years to come…? This is a never ending battle for AB. Maybe if we can get everyone we know to stop drinking AB products, they might rethink this so-called strategy to squash public opinion. There are no RMOG at AB!
Send your comments on the removal of MP3's to Anheuser-Busch.
OR email the lawyer directly:
Miller, Scott D (Legal) [Scott.Miller@anheuser-busch.com]
Feel free to copy your Anheuser-Busch emails to budlight@whipnet.com as well.
I am sure they would appreciate your support, and they are posting received comments.
****************
August 16, 2005
Dear Mr. Whipnet:
It has come to our attention that the web page your firm has posted at http://budlight.whipnet.com contains unauthorized audio files of many Anheuser-Busch radio advertisements that are part of our long-running and successful Bud Light "Real Men of Genius" campaign (the "Advertisements"), plus numerous prominent references to BUD LIGHT.
The Advertisements are copyrighted content owned by Anheuser-Busch, and your unauthorized use of the Advertisements on your site infringes Anheuser-Busch's exclusive rights under 17 U.S.C. § 106. Moreover, your use of the Advertisements and BUD LIGHT references creates a significant likelihood that visitors to the site will be confused as to Anheuser-Busch's relationship with the site, in violation of 15 U.S.C. §1125(a) and the statutory and common law of various states, including Texas and Missouri.
We are writing to offer you the opportunity to resolve this matter simply and expeditiously. We demand that you immediately remove the Anheuser-Busch references and Advertisements from your website and respond to this letter confirming your agreement not to post any further content owned by Anheuser-Busch on your site, nor make use of any Anheuser-Busch trademarks. If we do not hear from you by Friday, August 26, 2005, we reserve the right to
pursue any and all legal remedies available to Anheuser-Busch. We look forward to your prompt response.
Very truly yours,
Miller, Scott D (Legal) [Scott.Miller@anheuser-busch.com]
Associate General Counsel
4 comments:
Oh wow! This is unreal. Don't they know that these ads are the only good thing to come out of an AB brewery? So, I guess, guys. Your expensive legal lapdogs "know what's best". (shrug) I, personally, am a 101 Club member at a prominent Austin pub and an avid beer sampler. The only reason I have ever purchased an AB product was for a theme party featuring these ads.
You know, AB, I wonder ..... have you checked what's in your Legal Puppy's beer fridge lately? Hmmm....
May you truly get what you deserve.
There is more to this than meets the eye.
Besides wanting to maintain exact control over how and where their company image appears, there are also issues involving the payment to the talent (singers, voiceover, composer...)who worked on these spots.
AFTRA (American Federation of TV and Radio Artists) have all sorts of payment structures that are different for radio than for internet distribution.
It's much easier for A-B to have their lawyer, who is on salery anyway, write a cease and desist order, than it would be to figure out talent payments and how to keep absolute contol over their image if they let you post their adverts.
Would you guys lay off my dad! Seriously, he is just doing his job and correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that it is in your authority to be critizing something that you don't understand.
And by the way, my dad went to Harvard Law School.
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