I really don’t understand what’s wrong with Walmart! They send me an email making complemetly false claims and almost threating me to comply to their requests.
Click here to read the full letter Walmart sent me
Click here for the blog post they are referring to in their letter
Regarding their claims:
“…. Walmart has not approved the content of the Web Site, which has already given some consumers the patently false impression that it is approved by or somehow affiliated with Walmart.”
Note that the blog post they are referring to was posted on January 5th, 2009 and I clearly state that “Offer is valid on purchases dated January 1 to January 31, 2009.” Furthermore, it was a 100% legitiamte Walmart / P&G offer back then and the rebate form was located on Walmart’s website at http://walmart.ca/wps-portal/storelocator/pdf/pampers1.pdf (they’ve removed it now).
“Walmart is also extremely concerned that consumers’ personal information is being collected in this misleading ways for purposes of illicit phishing and credit fraud activities.”
I find this sentence very offensive since I do not even have a form where people can submit their personal information. All I have is a comments section and this is for people to discuss the offers.
What’s more ironic is that Walmart Canada’s marketing department contacted me a couple of months ago about advertising on SmartCanucks.ca.
Anyone with legal experience know what I can do? Walmart’s claims are false, they are bullying me and they are trying to confine my freedom of speech! Please help, I don’t want to get sued by Walmart!
Click here for Walmart’s threatening letter
The answer is simple.
Remove all Walmart content from your site, and never post anything to do with Walmart again.
If they can’t catch up to 2009 with the rest of us, then leave them behind.
IS it now a freedom of speech to speak of the deals that are ongoing with walmart? I don’t understand why they are upset with you. I didn’t see the original post however If it sounds like the letter states you had the ad running to show what deal was going from which was offered from P & G was this the case? I don’t really think they’d have a case if they did take you to court.. if it was only you stating what deals are out there!
I agree with Khris, why even advertise for them you were helping them out by showing customers the deals.. they’ll loose money because others on this site won’t know weather its worth going by there or not.. I say we all just stop shopping at walmart.. no matter what we’ll stand behind you.. this site has helped me save alot of money and informed me of alot!
don’t let them bully you!
Hmm….so stupid.
I mean, this is FREE advertising for them!! We could buy any and all of those products at Zellers, or Shoppers, or wherehaveyou.
If they don’t want you to encourage thousands of people to shop at their store instead of others, then remove the post and let them go fuck themselves. I have no problems supporting Zellers, a Canadian store, over American WallyWorld …ESPECIALLY now.
re: that last sentence, that’s a total scare tactic. ANYONE can just right click and copy a pic from ANY website….now whether THATs illegal or not is to be debated, sure. However, that’s ALL you did, and for them to act on their accusation of you phishing or fraud would require PROOF on their part, which they don’t have because that’s not what you are doing.
Legalize and scary sentences are simply scare tactics. Period. I wouldn’t worry about that part of the letter at all. (frankly they’re assholes for writing that).
Remove the link, and we’ll all shop elsewhere!
Sorry, I meant “Legalese”, not “Legalize”.
i agree, take everything walmart down. It unfortunately wont make a difference in who shops there because they are huge. But at least you will stay out of harms way and you will stop sending them more customers. Besides shops Zellers its Canadian! But perhaps you may want to seek out legal advice, if you can find it for free on the issue. Completely ridiculous letter though. Good luck
Just delete the old post and be more vigilant about not posting pictures of their gift cards. We know your not affiliated with Walmart, the letter writer obviously doesnt know what SC is.
I have not experience with this kind of thing, but I think they might actually have reason to complain about the use of that picture. But they never really mentioned the picture, and everything else they said was mostly to intimidate you.
That’s a tough one. What I don’t like is the last paragraph pretty much threatening to bring out a large team of lawyers against you if you don’t comply.
I would suggest removing the content such as pictures owned by Walmart that may be posted on the site. If they own the photo and you are using it without permission, than I think they likely have case. That shouldn’t stop you from going to a store and taking your own pictures for any postings.
My thoughts would be that you use another name that they don’t have a trademark on to describe Walmart. Perhaps WallyMart or SlaveWorkerMart. That way if you are in violation than you no longer will be.
I think posting this letter was an excellent thing to do. The SmartCanuck community is large and this post will certainly have negative effects on the company. Many of us shop at Walmart, by not posting their content I imagine they will loose many sales. Additionally, seeing these kind of lawyer tactics just pisses me off and I will now avoid Walmart in favour of other stores that are such asses.
I will also mention this to others in hope they also boycott.
Sorry SlaveworkerMart! In a time where your TV commercials promote saving money and giving a consumer a break, and then attacking a site that is dedicated exclusively to giving customers the best price. You just shot yourself in the foot and I’m sure your actions will reduce your profits in Canada.
Do they have the right to tell me I cannot even write the word “Walmart” on here?
Just pull the content down and dont bother putting up walmart stuff anymore. Obviously their lawyer is going a little over board. It’s going to hurt them in the end.
Here’s the corporate phone number and address:
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
702 SW 8th Street
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611
479-273-4000
We should all call them and tell them what their lawyers are doing!
Sigh, yet another reason for me to boycott Walmart . I’ve had so many problems with them in the past (poor service, rude employees) that I finally decided to go there only if ABSOLUTELY necessary. I guess this is the final nail in their coffin, no more Walmart for me. This website has saved me so much money and has gotten me so many freebies, I feel like I’m doing something illegal LOL. If the good (facetious) people at Walmart can’t stomach a little free advertising, I say cut all ties with them. This is my very first post to SC, I’m a great lurker. It took THIS for me to say something. There, I’ve said it. Good luck with this problem, I’m with you 100%!!!
WOW that’s just plain crazy. I’ve seen there logo, or other info that includes them in different sites before. Are they going to send letters to them as well? or just signal this site out?
Amy Wyatt
Head of International Corporate Affairs
[email protected]
I agree with the other posts here, let’s stop posting about Walmart altogether. Let’s collectively boycott Walmart, not discuss upcoming flyers, upcoming deals, planned purchases, good customer service we received from a Walmart cashier, anything. Let’s talk about ZELLERS and other mass merchandiser stores, who are Walmart’s direct competition. Smart Canucks members are what, 50,000 strong? And growing? If Walmart doesn’t want our business and persists in their silly threats, then let’s not talk about them at all, lest we commit “copyright infringement” or whatever other anal-retentive term they want to come up with. Let’s discuss products and deals at other stores to the TOTAL EXCLUSION of Walmart.
The letter specifically mentions the image. The concern is likely the use of their logo, particularly if it was obtained from their website (copyrighted). Just remove the mentioned image and don’t display anything with their actual logo on it. You are allowed to mention the word walmart…. a google of ‘walmart shame’ will yield many sites mentioning walmart in a not so positive light.
Well Warmart has always been the worst company out there. Last year they almost got kick out of the province of Quebec for some of there illegal activities and the way they treat there employees. They are stupid because it free advertising for them.
Also if they want to play that game lets pass the word to everyone to stop buying there! Go to local stores like Zellers which are actually own by canadian rather then american company!
But this is my 2 cents worth!
It looks pretty straight-forward to me. You’re using images of Wal-Mart logos and gift cards on your site, which is protected property.
I would imagine that you can continue to share information about their deals, just don’t use their trademarked images.
I would definitely respond as they request. You don’t want a court battle against a giant entity like that.
Boo, I dont know about anyone else here, but I will definitely be sending Walmart a good old fashioned snail mail and complaining about this.
Keep up the good work.
I do not think we should choose alternative nicknames for Walmart. I think we need to stop any and all mention of them altogether. Out of sight, out of mind. Out of money, out of business. If you must go to Walmart, only purchase loss leader items, usually on the front page. The best way to send a message to a company is simply to take your business somewhere else.
I’m not sure if you can type their name or not. I would suggest changing it just to be safe if you decide to comply to the letter. Perhaps someone reading these comments knows a lawyer and can ask them to take a quick look and provide some informal advice on how to proceed.
wow walmart is becoming as bad as shoppers drugmart!!
if they don’t want the FREE publicity then don’t let people talk about them here. No deals posted for Walmart, a lot of us will shop elsewhere.
The letter contained a lot of B.S. meant to intimidate you (comments about collecting info for fraudulent purposes etc.)
The do have a right though, to ask you to stop using the logo. It’s stupid – because it’s free advertising for them – but they can ask you to stop.
I believe (and you should get an expert to confirm this) that you can still blog about them – just not use the logo.
When you post about WM, call ’em WallyWorld and don’t use any of their copyrighted images, logos or any other of their IP.
There’s an awful lot of scam freebie sites out there and they’re just looking to protect their image.
The letter specifically mentions the $15 gift card displayed for the P&G promotion.
There’s no reason that you can’t continue to use the name Wal-Mart on your site so long as you’re posting the facts on sales, deals, etc.
Anyone can do that.
What you can’t do is use any of Wal-Mart’s images or even an image of their gift card without their okay.
It’s unfortunate that they proceeded this way considering that you’re just giving them additional advertising, but they have a right to protect their property.
You should let the community know if you need help responding and how to write the response. I’m sure a few of us have some experience dealing with legal matters such as this.
I think it’s really, really rude and nasty to go so far as to threaten legal action against someone and along the lines of the bad PR nonsense that SDM pulled recently, and look where that got them.
They have threatened Boo before, it’s not just about the gift card advertisement.
What a total slap in the face to this forum and anyone who visits it, and anyone who has shopped at They-Who-We-Do-Not-Speak-Of. I will not mention them in a post again, so as to avoid directing business their way.
I have re-tweeted and send Amy an Email.
You would think they would be happy with all the publicity you give them Boo.
It is basically free advertising for them. And if we take into account how many of us SMART CANUCKS there are we are our own small personal family here. There are power in numbers.
I will definitely call their head office and complain.
I think lets not even mention them or give them any lovely nicknames.
Lets boycott them I know I will. I will by CANADIAN. You know how the American mentality is. Lets just leave them hanging if they do not rectify this situation.
Please keep us all posted and do not hesitate to ask for assistance.
I guess they are in there right conserning their logo because it is a registred trademark. Just like you can post a photo i took because of copyrights you can’t use there’s
It is kinda sad that they go this far but I think you are safe if you just remove the picture of the ad.
On my sites I had similar problems with companies I reviewed. They can make you remove there logo’s and things like that but they can’t stop you from posting the information.
I got treated with law suites but non of the companies went through because nothing is wrong if you don’t use there trademarks.
Wow, that is totally sad…you think that Wal-Mart would be grateful for all the free advertising they’ve inadvertently been given over the years. They are one giant bully in the retail playground who has never and will never play nice with others!
Ok, let’s face it. All of us want to save and get a deal. That’s what this site is all about and that’s what consumers are looking for. Especially during this economic time. I just heard on the news the other day that grocery stores are starting competition against one another for lowest prices. It won’t be long now before department stores follow suit. If Walcrap is going to treat their customers poorly, why shop there? It seems that these big name/big ego stores don’t want us to really save anything in the end. You even have problems using coupons at their stores. Really now, is it worth all the fuss? I’d rather just shop somewhere else. What you were doing is essentially providing them free advertising to spend money at their store. If they don’t want that, so be it. Remove all content and support stores who will in fact let you get more for your dollar and don’t have a problem with “word of mouth”. Won’t be long before they go bankrupt. Power to ya Boo, fight the good fight. We’re all behind you.
i agree with dark angel lets just not post anything about wm and not even bother going there to shop!!!
I do not believe the boy cott will be successful. For one, I do not believe there is enough members here can totally avoid shopping at SDM or WalMart. There is no one concensus here how to stage the boycott. Overtime, people just let go and drift back into the stores. It’s not like anyone of you have evidence of sexual harrasment by say CEO or VP of the company, or a drunken rampage of these heads of corporations that can be posted on you tube. I say just delete any pictures or logo that associate with Walmart and make sure you warn all your members to do the same regarding any company in the future. It’s difficult enough to maintain a website like this, you do not need the headache of legal issues hanging over you from time to time.
Hi Boo,
Looks like the Walmart lawyers are going to town on tracking down potential trademark infringement by others. Your site must be coming up in searches for Walmart or something 😀
They are also sueing WalmartWorkersCanada.ca. See here:
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Labour-Industry/2009/07/31/WalmartInjunctionWebsite/
I can see how SOME people might be led by your post to believe you are affiliated to Walmart.
As a newer deal blogger myself I have wondered about this and try to be careful about how the posts are worded and linked. Now I see I’ll have to be more careful.
Their letter clearly states the action they want, so removing them from your site and never mentioning them again, as others have suggested, would be what I’d do.
While I can’t say for sure, I would say part of it has to do with the fact that you made a copy of their logo and stored it on your site. You also have a copy of the pdf with the coupon.
I don’t know what their response would be, however in the future I would provide links to the original image and coupon, rather than make a copy and distribute it yourself, unless you have permission to do otherwise.
Boo can you take Walmart of Smart Canucks flyer site. Let’s start there.
Yikes…you would think with the economy the way it is they would want more exposure. I would call them and find out what is the big issue, maybe something happened.
Like Val, I too am a regular lurker, but compelled to post as a result of this issue. Personally, I hardly ever shop at Wal-Mart anyway because I’d have to go out of my way to get to one. Nevertheless, given that any mention of Wal-Mart on your site has always been with the best intentions to give consumers tips on where to shop, Wal-Mart is severely misguided in threatening legal action against you for copyright infringement of any sort. I agree with the others to stop mentioning Wal-Mart at all in the future and stop giving them free advertising. Being the Americans that they are, they’re more concerned with being litigious than reaching out to communities, real or virtual. Keep up the great work with this blog. It’s great and all your work compiling daily deals is much appreciated.
I agree…. I would love to see all mention of them removed from the forums, any current threads mentioning them locked, and their name blocked from appearing when people try to type it in (and replaced with jibberish).
I still think that you were free advertising for them. I would so like to see them never mentioned again! I’d also get a petition going and ask us to sign it to back you up reply and send it to them with the thousands of people who shop there and get deals because of your site. they have those free petition sites u can your info too!! ..
wow! insane!
Fine, get rid of Walmart. See if they like the loss in business. Do they realize they’re going to lose business by going through with this?? I hope they read some of these comments, this is definitely a step backwards for them.
You know, I don’t think they would bother normally if people advertised for them, but I have a feeling it has to do with the 15 dollar gift card.. Perhaps they had not anticipated so many gift cards given away and with only 40 dollars spent and receiving that amount? Seems a lot to me.. maybe they lost money on the deal and wanted to find out how so many people knew about it then found a legal loophole to nail you with.
Thats my 2 cents!
I guess Walmart (oops, maybe I should’nt have typed word) thinks their too good for free advertising.
I say take down the Walmart post, and write them back a nasty note.
I can understand them not wanting the site to use their images, etc. However to say that the site is fraudulently collecting user info is just plain ridiculous. How is pointing someone to a deal or promo collecting any info at all. The person that wrote the letter obviously has no idea what they’re talking about. Never mind just taking any images of walmart down, just don’t post anything regarding them ever again if this is how walmart likes to handle a things.
i love this site, it save me lots of $.
i think u should remove all walxxxt link.
i won’t shop at walmart again, let’s shop elsewhere:)
YUP, hate to say it. They have a case.
When it comes to using their trademarked, patented images, whether it is the name WALMART WAL-MART(which are both trademarked). As well as their mail in rebates and combination promos(such as the one with P&G). Photos of actual gift cards or the copied images of the cards also fall into this category as they have the name and/or logo prominently displayed on them.
They claim to be concerned over possible phishing and credit fraud activities?? They is abolutely no connection with your post and what they are implying as phishing and credit fraud. Nobody’s person information from that ever gets sent to you, so i don’t know where they get that from.
However, the letter only states that you simply cease and desist from any and all use. That simply means removing anything you have written/posted with their content in it. Mainly the post they referred to since that is the one they are stupidly complaining bout. But it does also say the words WALMART WAL-MART also.
Once that is done, they want a letter stating you have done so, and maybe provide link to prove it i guess. With that to their satisfaction, they will have no leg to stand on and therefore will not be able to persue it any further.
Although when i asked a friend for advice, he said to do as they ask but also state that there was no copyright or trademark infringement was PURPOSEFULLY INTENDED. It is only done as(like others stated) DEAL POSTINGS which creates FREE ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE COMPANY.
Why did they choose you? I mean really, if we think about it, we are all guilty of trademark infringement. We all write the word “WALMART”(which is trademarked) don’t we. OOPS, i just did it. Should they come after me too.
WALMART better get off their butts and realize in this day and age, they best not push the business away.
So in otherwords, IF we need to speak about WALMART, then we can simply say WM(we all know what that is). But I am so up for boycotting them.
COUNT ME IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hahqqGllgaG8666pc8tolIpDLrvAD99JKSD00
Wal-Mart settles lawsuit by Wash. workers for $35M
(AP) – Jul 22, 2009
SEATTLE — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to pay $35 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that says workers at Washington state stores were forced to skip meal and rest breaks or work off the clock.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer and lawyers for the workers jointly announced Wednesday that a King County Superior Court judge has given final approval to the deal. The settlement covers 88,000 people who have worked at Wal-Mart in Washington.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers will receive $10.5 million to cover eight years of legal fees. Three workers who brought the lawsuit will receive $10,000 each, and other workers will get varying amounts depending on how long they worked for Wal-Mart and how much detail they can provide about their claims.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Ya know what? Wal-Mart has proven over and over that it is a horrible business with horrible business ethics. Now that I know that Zellers will price-match any sale item *and* I can use my SPC card there, I don’t have to bother with WM. The superstore by my place is badly run anyway; I’d much rather go to Zellers. Let’s be done with them. :o)
A lot of major companies are now using services like Picscout to scour the web for their logos or any other related imagery. Picscout will then advise them of any matches that are found..and they probably have someone dedicated to sending out notices like this so it may not be a targeted attack against your website, and I wouldn’t take it personal. it just so happens…and from what I know, they can ask you to remove material from your website for any reason…you should feel lucky they were nice enough to contact you and explain their reasoning to you (which makes sense since they have no idea who you are)..they probably would have even said sure if you had contacted them beforehand. Their next step would be to send a formal DMCA notice to your webhost who will have no choice but to disable access to the page or they can find themselves liable. The only way you can use something like that is if it falls into the category of fair use or fair dealing. check out Wikipedia for definitions of both. In Canada we have much stricter rules regarding the use of someone else’s trademarks or copyrights and with the rise of piracy on all levels you need to be very careful. Google now has a creative commons image search you can get images from that are licensed for re-use and remember citations?..there is a reason we had to use them in school. Seems like Walmart in fact has caught up with the state of things in 2009 and is acting accordingly and protecting their brand. I would do the same. Check http://www.chillingeffects.org/ for lots of great info on the topic.
Crazy world we live in but the bottom line is it’s their logo and they get to decide who uses it.
Like 99% of people here, the best thing to do is to get rid of anything Walmart-related ASAP. Then, I’d try contacting some people / lawyers and ask them what you did wrong to learn more about the situation.
I really don’t get it – you’re offering them free advertisement. They should be pleased!
Just phone the guy who sent the letter and ask him to clarify things for you. Is it just the fact that you had one of their copyrighted pictures up or do they just not want you to mention them and their deals at all? The letter seems harsh and scary but I bet if you gave the guy a call he would be able to explain things better and you would be able to explain what your purpose was and then maybe both sides can come to an understanding.
Next time there is a promo just draw a picture of the gift card. LOL
What a bunch of arseholes they are.
I’ll gladly switch to Zellers. They price match, have better service (at least in my town) and they have the HBC points card.
I would consider going to the media with this one. This is a great website and it’s certainly not a small site either. We all appreciate the work you’ve put into this and some stupid corporation like WALMART/WAL-MART doesn’t have the right to bully people around like that.
I think with the media behind you you might stand a better chance of getting somewhere and on top of it making people aware of what they’ve been doing.
What you really need is a Silverman Helps type person, unfortunately they canceled this segment last year sometime. But does anyone else know of a similar type figure in the media who could help out here?
IMO, take anything with a wal**** logo and remove it. Send them back a simple reply stating that it was not your intention to affiliate your site with walmart, but merely to get the word out on good deals. State firmly that you do not accept/collect personal information, credit information or build any database for any purpose. Also state firmly that due to their threats, smartcanucks will no longer promote any offer involving wal**** and instead happily chooses to promote its direct competition.
I have much more to say about the practies of the big W, and how they undercut (and thus bankrupt) local businesses all in the name of record profits for executives and shareholders…but that doesn’t necessarily need to go in the letter 🙂
A thought to ponder for anyone reading this.. whenever you spend a dollar anywhere you are essentially voting. You are saying yes wih your dollar. Yes to the buisness practices they promote, yes to way they treat their employees, yes to where they manufacture their products, yes to their ethics and yes to how they treat their community and their shoppers.
I will happily vote with my dollar where I can be assured that my vote will match my ethics.
Chin up Boo.. it sucks to be bullied.
I am not a lawyer, but I believe that there may be copyright laws. A company may have the right to ask that its logo, etc. be removed from a web site. Again, I am not a lawyer.
But as a private citizen, a person could boycott Walmart. You are advertising Walmart for free on the Smart Canucks web site. Remove them from the web site and fewer people may buy from Walmart.
Ohh good point, Tanya! Why go to Wallymart when you can price-match them at Zellers, get HBC points, use your SPC card (if you have one), AND get better service?!?
Seems like a no-brainer to me. 😀
I hate Walmart, and have been avoiding that wretched place whenever possible. This just confirms what I already thought about them. They are trying to bring one to our small town, which would ruin our old main street downtown area and distroy local businesses. I say to hell with them!
Boo… the answer is simple and does not involve not taking everything walmart related down…
Simply send a letter saying something like this…
Dear Wal-Mart
Smart Canucks deeply apologizes for the misunderstanding that has occurred. Smart Canucks is simply a blog where users inform each other of great shopping deals around Canada. Since users are able to upload images Smart Canucks has never, and will not claim responsibility for images, (although we do our best to ensure everything on our website is completely 100% legal) not be held responsible for the image in question. Furthermore the image in question does not have any (c) or (r) or anything implying it is solely owned by Wal-mart to use.
To comply with your demand the blog in question has been removed and all members informed of the misfortune.
Furthermore for your future knowledge know that Smart Canucks does NOT Phis, does NOT collect personal information for misleading purposes and fraud. Even if this was the case this would not concern Wal-Mart.
Lastly, Smart Canucks thrives on free speech, and though we will make every effort to keep walmart images off our website we
will not refrain from talking about walmart in our discussions of deals. This is to be considered free speech, and in no way is meant to tarnish the walmart name, in fact in most cases it is 100% free advertising.
Signature… yadayada
The key as far as i am concerned is to admit nothing, (not that you need to admit anything as you did not do anything wrong) Comply with what they ask, but don’t with the extremes such as not talking about wal-mart, they can’t make you stop talking about that. You could also include something about how Smart Canucks does not profit off of posts but rather advertising… etc
Calvin
I have been shopping less and less at Walmart over the past couple of years but this is really the last straw!
Okay maybe you really shouldn’t have a copy of their gift card on there but c’mon you’re doing them a BIG favour (maybe you should send them a bill for your promotional services!) ha that’d be funny.
B O Y C O T T W A L M A R T ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
I’m done shopping there, never ever again!
Oh Boo….. just when you thought you would have a nice, quiet weekend………
Okay— the letter is legit and cannot be ignored. I wouldn’t waste another moment worrying about Walmart. Personally, I would remove all logos and references to said store. We all agree that they should have handled this MUCH differently and could have capitalized on an excellent opportunity for POSITIVE promotion.
Lawyers will be lawyers.
.
I don’t think going to the media is a good ideal because their logo and images are considered as their properties and you’ll be at disadvantage at this issue. Just take down anything that got their logo and images. We all now Uncle Wally got lots in his pocket and don’t care about customer and business much not because just this but their staff treats customer like garbage!! Unfortuntely we can’t really support Canadian dept. stores since Target bought the entire HBC companies years ago.
Really, I don’t think a Boycott will solve this issue here. But thanks for posting contact information, as I will be emailing and smail mailing them about this issue. I think the combined voices of SC will get their attention, so ACT, and tell them what you think of this behaviour.
The issue is not that there are things written about walmart on this site, the issue is that there was the gift card post which has their trademark on it which is copywritten. Let it be known that this site should not be posting any ads from certain stores website since that is 100% against the law since all the stores logos etcs have been copywritten. Its not just walmart, its shoppers, rexall, bluenotes etc… people need to stop copying ads off retailers websites and posting them on here. I would assume that would be common knowledge and i am sorry but you wont be able to plead iggnorance in this case so i strongly reccommend that the posts on here change to strickly text. thx
Sorry for any spelling errors but i am in the midst of feeding my two week old 🙂
The whole “Blog” section of this site which posts all the deals is all against copywrit laws because i highly doubt the stores have given premission for SC to use their images. I just looked at that section and if this becomes a big deal i can see other retailers coming after this site as well. Best to be safe Boo and alter how this site is run.
We should all email scott ( his email is on the letter) and let him know that we don’t believe that this sight is affiliated wiht walmart, nor do we think that boo is trying to make it see like it is. I also think we should ask 10 people to email him and say the same thing.
Long time lurker, first time poster because I am so upset for the site owner.
This should be a wake up call for everyone. Shopping at W***-**** will affect you in the end. This is the biggest company in the world and they have enough money to run everyone into the ground should they choose. I have chosen to avoid Walmart because of workers rights vialations and would rather go without than shop there. (No cheating either when there’s a good deal on something I want but don’t need) There is always a local alternative. It may cost a little more but in the end, the local shopkeep probably lives in your community, has kids in your children’s school and wouldn’t have a team of lawyers threatening websites who promote them. am
Probably 99% of their food is processed and has been shipped from a long distance.
The Sc’ers who keep this place humming are extremely clever and informed consumers, let’s use those skills to make large companies remember who is really in charge here. If we choose to think that someone else is going to deal with it, then that someone else will probably be our children.
Let’s just not mention that name ever again.
and maybe email him again everyday for a week to re-iterate our views.
Just a though
I dont see what everyone is in an uproar over, just take it all down…its simple. Walmart is protecting their company and we would all do the same if someone was using our logos without our permission.. There is nothing horrible about the letter they sent they are just doing what any business would do including myself.
oh wal-mart =.=”
well the best thing to do now is take all the wal-mart stuff off.
u r not at a loss, they are.
Poor Boo!!!
Noting for the record that I am very definitely not a lawyer, I would reply to them noting the following:
– they are writing to you in mid-August about a post that was made eight months ago, so the WM logo is hardly front and centre (or it wasn’t until they threatened you);
– explain how SC works and advise them that we work collaboratively to inform one another about good deals and that if anything, you believe that the post served only to increase sales at WM;
– the downloadable form, absolutely to the contrary of the implications of Mr. Thompson’s allegations, does not and never did contain any means of collecting data; nor was it implied, expressly or otherwise, that said data should be remitted to SC or any of its agents, but rather to Proctor and Gamble for their own purposes; and furthermore that there is no area on the printable P & G form that indicates that anyone should enter any kind of credit card data;
– that you have numerous satisfied customers (your advertising clients) who benefit from increased traffic and sales due to your subscriber base being made aware of good deals; and,
– that while, with all due respect, you do not believe that any member of your subscriber base has the IQ of a doorknob and that they are all well aware that you are not affiliated with WM, you will remove the logo and picture of the gift card promptly as it was never your intention to imply that SC was in any way affiliated with WM but rather that you were making your subscriber base aware of the P & G offer.
Copy the relevant person at P & G Canada.
From now on, rather than posting potentially trademarked stuff, to avoid this kind of blatantly threatening bulls**t, let’s post links to the forms or flyers or what-have-you with a disclaimer that says something along the lines of “You are exiting the SC site by clicking this link and SC is in no way affiliated with the content contained on the external site”, or words to that effect (a lawyer can give you good advice on that) and let WM and in particular their lawyer go f*ck themselves, pardon my language.
WE LOVE YOU BOO!!! *smooch*
Also, if you want legal assistance, you can get a lawyer referral through the Law Society of Upper Canada; the first half hour is $6. http://www.lsuc.on.ca/public/a/faqs—lawyer-referral-service/
PM me if I can be of any assitance!!
XOXOXO,
– screamy
They are only referring to the image used, you can’t use their logo without permission. You can say whatever you want, but you can’t use their copyrighted logo
Ok ok – we’ve heard the old boycot threat before. Even if all of the SmartCanuckers boycotted Wal Mart, they’d still feel no effect from such a small void. It’s friggen Wal Mart people.
Here’s what we do. We counter Wal Mart’s anti advertising claim with a little advertising of our own. How about leaving random slips of paper around all Wal Mart stores promoting SmartCanucks.ca – and promote it as a site that saves people money. How about parking a van with such advertising on it right smack dab in their parking lot. Wear a T-Shirt with SmartCanucks.ca on it. I’d love to know how many Wal mart shoppers don’t even shop around at Shoppers, Zellers, grocery stores…..wherever – to find some better deals. Sure Wal Mart has great prices – it’s basically a Monopoly game for them and they’re sitting with a Hotel on Boardwalk and Parkplace.
I think WalMart skips paying for any PR people and instead just hires extra lawyers.
I say organize an ad campaign for SmartCanucks (on the down low of course) and hit em harder than some silly boycott. What next, is WalMart going to copyright WM? They probably could I suppose.
Maybe SC should have a section entitled – “FOUND – BETTER PRICE THAN WALMART” where users can post their comparitively better prices on items at stores VS “WM”.
Signed,
Spitefull Cheapskate
Walfart, grow up and smell your overpriced coffee. P&G should boycott you farts too. It’s sad to say I shop there because “some” items are cheaper. Zellers, you have to get on the band wagon, and lower your prices a bit and I’ll so be there. With the letter tell them to go take a hike. I’m saying that in a nice way. Walmart what’s that. Never heard of them.
Most of the other company logos have been posted at one time or another when a deal is being blogged, but You-Know-Who is the only one getting their knickers in a twist over this. I think nasty letters with threats of action is really predatory, bullying, and way over the top. A polite letter along the lines of ” While we do appreciate your blog highlighting our current sales, we ask that you please refrain from using our logo in future posts” would have sufficed. Instead they have chosen to take a militant approach and I find it very off-putting. Next time I pass by one of their stores, I will keep right on walking. As consumers have more power than we realize.
I noticed a remark above about spelling. (Yes, I proudly admit that I am a Nerd. Sorry for the digression.) According to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary (not that it matters) “Copyright” is one word. “Copywriter” is one word. “Copywritten” does not exist. The correct adjective is “copyrightable”.
Hopefully, I haven’t stirred up a “spelling” controversy.
Good luck to everyone with the comments. It is interesting to read them.
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Walmart is being smart, stop treating them as if they are in the wrong, they are not the ones illegally using a logo. Bitch bitch bitch all you guys want, they are completely justified in their letter as would the other 20 or so companies that this site illegally uses their trademarks as well.
Ditto what outburst said in their first comment.
They essentially want you to stop using their trademarked logo, so remove any photos of their giftcards and anything else that came directly from their website.
I suspect ‘personal information being collected’ might refer to the fact that an email address is required to comment on the blog, but that’s pretty standard on wordpress-hosted blogs to help against spam, so I don’t think that would really hold up, IMHO.
amanda, and anyone else saying that its just all about using copyrighted images. I totally get that and yes the site should not be using them. I guess you keep missing the point that they are also saying this in their letter:
“Walmart is also extremely concerned that consumers’ personal information is being collected in this misleading ways for purposes of illicit phishing and credit fraud activities.”
which I think is complete bs and that I think is the main reason boo is so worried. How is the site involved in credit fraud from posting a walmart promo on their site. I think you need to stop worrying about the copyright image issue which most people agree with and look deeper.
if they think that they can go through with this … could you then counter sue for defimation for their insinuations of taking personal info and credit fraud …
I would just like to post that everyone that is worried about writing down the word Wal-Mart or talking online about Wal-Mart has nothing to worried about because in Canada there is a law called Fair Dealing you can find out more information here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_dealing.
I think it is really sad that a lot of companies would use Canadian Intellectual Property Laws to bully people.
Here is another great link with a lot of information on Canadian Copyright
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/
Good Luck Boo
I can’t believe what I read. Is it a real letter, or is someone pulling your leg? I say that we price Match at Zellers, use our SPC card to save 10% and get HBC points to get a nice reward or Airmiles for ourselves, and not shop at WallyWorld anymore, if that’s how they’re going to be. Just unbelievable!
I will never understand large corporations, you are actually helping them, as people like me in a rural area do not get their flyers and seeing things on the site help me make decisions where to shop. Now I know where not to shop Walmart, besides they do not support USA/CDN as a good part of their inventory is product of CHINA. Zellers is my bet, or Best Buy for electronic. RCSS is good as well. I am not a supporter of Walmart. never have never will.. TARGET should come here and give them a run for their money!!!
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2007/04/30/us-wal-mart-denies-workers-basic-rights
Read the above article in Human Rights Watch about Walmart.
“duh” probably works for Walmart. LOL
and Amanda too… 😛
Also, never mind if walmart is going to sue boo. I think boo should sue them for implying that he is involved in credit card fraud.
When it comes to the legal point of this, the subject line of the email descibes all that you need to be concerned about Boo. The letter itself consistently refers to the words “mark” and “trademark” and nothing else. They do have a legal right to their copyrighted image so technically it does have to be removed from all posts on the site. The name itself can be written on the site anywhere without legal ramifications.
Those Walmart losers….oops did I actually type that? 😉
I started boycotting WM about 6 yrs ago due to a very negative customer service experience and have not missed them at all.
Price match at other stores, all the way!
Please keep us updated!
They are going to lose a lot of customers over this.
Rollback on that WM 🙂
Wal-Mart Caught Using Child Labour
In early December, CBC television exposed Wal-Mart for using child labour at two factories in Bangladesh. According to the CBC report, children 10 to 14 years old were discovered working in the factories for less than $50 a month, making ‘Simply Basic’ and other Wal-Mart-brand products for export to Canada.
(To read article click below)
http://www.mfl.mb.ca/a15.shtml
Actually i did for a very long time, and from all the knowledge i learned from them i was able to start my own business which is successsful thanks to walmart. I just think that no matter how u feel about walmart, you cannot say they are in the wrong, this site illegally uses many companies logos without their permission. Its pretty obvious that that would be illegal. So there are probably going to be many more letters to come, so i suggest change.
What is the add that was copied had a misleading ad to go with it, walmart is purly protecting themselves and their customers.
This is yet another example of the organization’s bullying tactics! There are an endless number of cases that come to mind. I watched an excellent documentary—“Wal-Town” (2007) a while back ago that chronicled the organization’s business practices and impact on local communities. I don’t know whether it is available on DVD/on-line, but you can get a bit more info about the doc from TVO (for those outside Ontario, TVO is the provincial equivalent of CBC –to some extent). The link:
TVO (http://www.tvo.org/TVOsites/WebObjects/TvoMicrosite.woa?b?7198401213236000000
Supporters of the retail giant would certainly classify the documentary as being “one-sided,” but I think that the real intent of the doc is to make you think about the power of corporate giants (the one in question being one of the most powerful…the statistics are unbelievable). Personally I have no problem with corporations protecting their trademarks (which is why I agree with earlier posts that all trademarks/copyrighted material referencing the giant should be removed) or making a profit, but the bullying is simply absurd! The organization, army of lawyers and PR department should have handled this differently. A bit of corporate responsibility and accountability to communities they reap benefits from wouldn’t be such a bad thing!
How can you make a difference? Flood the company with e-mails, letters. SCs sharpen your pencils (or start clicking on that keyboard)! Get the issue into the public domain…start with the local paper and tell everyone/anyone that will listen. Companies spend millions of dollars on PR to promote themselves, so just imagine what a bit of bad publicity can do! Lastly, voice your concerns with your wallets…take your business elsewhere and stop posting deals referencing the business.
I have never been a fan of the retail giant and would be happy to take my business to an organization that RESPECTS their customers and does NOT use legal scare tactics to intimidate! One final note, Zellers and its affiliates are no longer “Canadian.” The HBC chain has been under American ownership since 2006 when it was purchased by the late Jerry Sucker. In more recent news the U.S. firm NRDC Equity Partners, LLC, a parent company of American department store chains Lord & Taylor and Fortunoff purchased the company on July 16, 2008 (Source: The Toronto Star. “New Owner to Spruce up Bay”, July 16, 2008. http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/461506).
Ashling, I’m with you! It’s been nearly 5 years for me since I was in ‘that store that starts with a W’, and I can definitely say that I don’t miss it, either!
So sorry that you’re going through this…but as many have posted, the letter is legit but it’s a standard one sent out to anyone that uses their logo, photographs or trademark….so take it down, respond once to the letter that you will comply…and leave it be. You provide wonderful information to so many Canadians, keep focussing on that, learn from this and have a great weekend! P.S…think local, buy local, act local…back to basics people! Community is what it’s all about and the conglomerates have no clue!
From what you have said it seems to me that you have not broken any law as far as slander laws are concerned so you should not worry too much. Wal-mart is a multibillion dollar company that can afford to have many corporate lawyers on their pay-role to scare off any potential problem. So them sending you this letter is nothing more than procedure for them. You can either be their whipping-boy and do as they say, or if you honestly believe that a corporation should not be allowed to get away with this behavior you should fight bad. I would suggest contacting the media, such as a local television station (such as CTV), and explaining to them how you have been wronged. I have contacted my local television station many times in the past and their lawyers have helped me out before. Any company that receives a phone called about a potential news media story that can be made towards them they will suddenly feel compelled to fix any problem I have had. So don’t let them push you around. “an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere” MLK
I would definately goto the paper about this issue, call the toronto sun, CTV or something.
this is ridiculous!
what undue stress Boo.
we should just call them wally word from now on.
It has nothing to do with talking about walmart its about using their logo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Screw walmart – douchebag move = no purchases from me unless they are selling plasma tvs for a dollar.
I like what Spitefull Cheapskate said <3
Boo, this is what Walmarts terms of use state on their website:
All materials, including images, text, illustrations, designs, icons, photographs, programs, music clips or downloads, video clips and written and other materials that are part of this Site (collectively, the “Contents”) are intended solely for personal, non-commercial use. You may download or copy the Contents and other downloadable materials displayed on the Site for your personal use only. No right, title or interest in any downloaded materials or software is transferred to you as a result of any such downloading or copying. You may not reproduce (except as noted above), publish, transmit, distribute, display, modify, create derivative works from, sell or participate in any sale of or exploit in any way, in whole or in part, any of the Contents, the Site or any related software. All software used on this Site is the property of Walmart.com or its suppliers and protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. The Contents and software on this Site may be used only as a shopping resource. Any other use, including the reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, republication, display, or performance, of the Contents on this Site is strictly prohibited.
If I were you I would politely respond to the legal team stating that you received the letter and that you will no longer even make mention of Walmart on your site. Just don’t have a link to their ad and don’t post their flyer anywhere on the site or upcoming specials. They have legal grounds as per their above terms of use to sue you (as dumb as I think this is) It seems their legal team has waaaayyyyy too much time on their hands.
I think you’re probably allowed to use the word wal-mart but not the picture. But then again you should seek some legal advice and clear your mind. Too bad for them, free advertising. Just keep up the good work on the site we all love it !
I would take down the images in question, and write back that you have done so. Mention also that you will no longer provide the free advertising/promotion that this site specializes in: and dont. Indeed, I would be happy if you only ever mentioned WM stuff in terms of how to get their deals elsewhere (especially focusing on Canadian companies like Zellers – which lines up better with the idea of a “smart canuck” in any case), with frequent reminders about their child labour issues, labour law breaking, scare tactics etc. And, I would contact the media – mentioning that their issue with the free promotion of their own promotion has demonstrably (further) harmed Canadian consumer views of their company. Perhaps instead of the media, you should bring this up to the PR people at Zellers – let them contact the media.
I agree with many of the comments. Screw Walmart….this site is ENCOURAGING people to shop there when there are deals to be found, so how can that be bad for them. In no way did I ever think you were affiliated with Walmart… the whole thing is ridiculous. It’s a site that shares deals etc….. Yep, take that Walmart flyer and go shop at Zellers or whatever. You should send a copy of all the comments to the jerks at that law firm.
Yep, no brainer is right.
Oooh, yeah, I like Becky M’s post!!!!
Ugh..the more I read that letter the madder I get. Seriously did ANY idiot out there think that this site was affiliated with Walmart???? lol Really!!! I’m not a lawyer, but I’d say “sure, yep, I’ll remove ALL instances of the term Walmart, all picture, links, references etc… in other words Walmart will cease to exist on this site and in our “shopping minds”.
I would also write a letter to the CEO of Walmart about this. I wrote a letter recently to the CEO of Primus Canada about an issue… the “big guys” at the helm see the “big picture” and I would venture a guess that the big guy at walmart will see that this law firms tactics have not helped Walmart but have hindered it. My WHOLE opinion of Walmart has completely changed.
I know I’m a drama queen….but lately I’ve been sick and tired of retailers ripping consumers off and am starting to demand better customer service.
Ok, I’ll stop now. Thx. lol
Boo’s job list:
1. Call your lawyer (discuss the next step)
2. Remove all the logo about this company
3. Don’t post any other company’s logo again (stay away the trouble)
Boo, please don’t be sad about this situation. Your web site did very great job for all of us (save money) and got an international company’s attention. Cool! Also, you got 96 Responses for this, that’s not a bad news.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH WALMART? YOU ARE HELPING THEM SPREAD OUT THE NEWS ABOUT THEIR DEAL, THEY SHOULD APPRECIATE IT. AND BY THE WAY (FOR EXAMPLE), I GOT FREE COUPONS FROM PROCTER & GAMBLE FOR FREE HERBAL ESSENCES SHAMPOOS AND 3 $5 OFF COUPON FOR MAYBELLINE PULSE MASCARA. AND YOU KNOW AFTER SENDING THEM, THEY SEND YOU AN EMAIL FOR SURVEY ABOUT THE PRODUCT. AND THEY EVEN ASK IF YOU ARE A BLOGGER OR IF YOU HAVE A WEBSITE WHERE YOU TALK ABOUT OR SHARE INFO ABOUT THE PRODUCT! DO NOT BE AFRAID! IT’S A CONVICTION TO STAND IN YOUR PRINCIPLE. IF ANYTHING, YOU SHOULD GO TO THE MEDIA TO ASK FOR THEIR OPINION. IT WOULDN’T BE MUCH OF A GOOD REVIEW FOR THEM LIKE MAYBE ASK PAT MORAN OF CTV OR SOMETHING… IT’S NOT LIKE YOU ARE ADVERTISING BAD REPORT ABOUT THEM. YOU WERE SIMPLY PROUD OF THEIR GOOD DEALS AND WISH TO SHARE WITH OTHERS. I AM SORRY THAT THIS HAPPENED TO YOU.
I agree with what everyone else has said about removing WM content just to be safe.
But what I think is interesting is that WM Canada contacted you about advertising. I would be inclined to contact whoever contacted you as well. If they were interested in advertising, they must see the advertising value this side has, and would be interested in hearing that your now getting your hand slapped for doing just that for free. It might be a matter of one hand not knowing what the other hand is doing.
Jeebus. Sorry I can’t offer any legal advice, but will give you my support for sure.
Legally in the right? Ok, I see that. Intimidating a citizen? I see red. Perhaps they won’t miss my hard earned dollars in their pockets? Meh, I won’t either!
[Rollback on that WM -loved that Ashling! LOL] I try to pinch all the pennies I can like everyone else, but I can certainly live without them, too.
They are out of my way anyway.
Its not walmart. its not shoppers drugmart. Its not Maple Leaf. Its not rexal. Its the site that has no clue what its doing, and no respect for anyone else’s intellectual property. Its only a matter of time until one of them does launch legal action over the site owner helping himself to any of their copyrights he chooses. Its a miracle he wasn’t sued over promoting the maple leaf fraud by hosting the fake coupons.
This. Is. Unbelievable. I usually don’t post and just lurk around, but this post drove me laughing, and also shaking my head at how stupid Walmart is. The post was nothing more than an innocent mention of a deal at Walmart. And the phishing claims were just too much. Big imagination much?
As for what you should do. I agree with the many others, delete all mentions of Walmart and cease to post future threads about them. Just leave Walmart off our freebie/coupons threads. It’s a shame they go as stupid as threatening to sue a free advertiser, they do have the right to sadly. Well, it’s only their loss. Even if smartcanucks cannot boycott Walmart enough to make a big difference in their sales, Walmart’s name will forever be tainted to us smartcanucks and the passerby who stumbled upon this post while deal hunting. In the end, just remove all Walmart material. After all, Walmart is huge. Their team of lawyers can bully you to no end. We don’t want that.
I’m a Youtube comedian with 20 000 subscribers. I will make sure your case gets heard over Youtube to the internet world. I will be thinking twice before visiting Walmart again. Walmart has really disappointed me this time.
Take it to the news!
This is crap!
Firstly…((Hugs))x 1,000,000,000 to Boo for dealing with this crap, when he’s only trying to help us all save a few $$.
Nextly…I love the part where they feel they have to mention that Walmart is the largest retailer in the world. As if no-one knew 😉
Third…I agree that what they are doing is wrong, even though it is right for them to protect their property. They seem to have forgotten that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’.
And…come on people…the next time there is a great deal…most of us will be back at Walmart, coupons in hand. It is the only large retailer in my community, within 200km in fact. I sure as heck won’t be driving to the nearest Zellers (the fact that it is always dirty, disorganized and has very poor customer service is irrelevant).
Again, to Boo: ((Hugs)) and best of luck dealing with this!
Well, all I have to say is my family will continue to boycott Walmart from now on. And I will continue to recommend all my friends, family, and coworkers do the same- screw you SprawlMart, I’m going shopping at Zellers!
IANAL, but it seems to me that this lawyer is specifically mentioning trademark infringement. I would therefore – at least temporarily until the matter is clarified – remove anything and everything that could infringe the copyright (i.e., remove or archive all posts that mention walmart). It could be that they are only concerned about the post they mention but it may be better to be extremely conservative about this especially given the funds at their disposal to instruct lawyers.
I would definitely be calling the named person on the letter asking for the specific issues to be clarified and, once they’re understood, suggesting means by which they can be rectified while protecting the integrity of Smart Canucks. If you can agree this kind of thing with the lawyer you should then ask for a Memorandum of Understanding thereafter to protect yourself.
Sorry to hear tabt this 🙁
If Walmart has a problem with us posting their stuff on this website, then we might as well not post anything that involves them and remove the existing posts. Its them who are at loss, not us- SC. So much for the publicity n goodwill everyone gave them 🙁
If posting anything abt their sales/ discounts it illegal, then why aren’t zellers/shopeprs/ Superstors/Loblaws or any stores for that matter complaining??? There’s something to think abt this, isnt it???
Anyways, gud luk with and hope for best!!!
I think you should send them back a letter saying that you will comply with the order and furthermore you will no longer offer ANY Walmart sales offers of any kind on SmartCanucks.ca
Explain exactly what kind of site you run here, a savings coupon sharing site, and working with stores and manufacturers hope to generate more sales for them and more savings for your LOYAL followers!
But seeing that Walmart has decided to play rough, and to not run afoul of them or their lawyers in the future it is best and prudent to discontinue any association with them on your site.
BE SURE TO CC THEIR ADVERTISING DEPT. As I am sure they’d LOVE to see this silliness, esp. when THEY expressed an interest in partnering with you for advertising and saving deals!
As for the rest of us, if we see any adverts or coupons on this site or anyother lets boycott them. Perhaps even complain to the head office about this ridiculous and unwarranted attack.
You’d think they’d have better things to do.
I THINK MY MEMORY SERVES ME RIGHT ON THIS. I REMEMBER HAVING SEEN A PORTION OF A WALMART DOCUMENTARY ON TVO SOMETIME AGO. IT DID TALK ABOUT THE REASONS WHY CONSUMERS SHOULD BOYCOTT THEM. IT ALSO INDICATES THAT WHILE WALMART MAKES BILLIONS OF PROFIT YET THEY DON’T COMPENSATE THEIR WORKERS WELL. THAT’S PROBABLY WHY SOME ARE NOT SO FRIENDLY TO THEIR CUSTOMERS. FOR THE PROFIT THEY MAKE, THEY SURE COULD INVEST ON THEIR PEOPLE TO CREATE A BETTER CORPORATE CULTURE AND THINGS LIKE THAT. THEY CAN ALSO CONTRIBUTE TO A CAUSE OR SPONSOR A PROGRAM ON HOW TO BETTER THE CONDITION OF SOME SWEATSHOPS THAT MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCE SOME OF THE GOODS THAT THEY SELL ON THEIR STORES INCLUDING CHILD LABOUR. ANYONE SEEN THIS DOCUMENTARY BY CHANCE?
I understand you are all angry and want to stand up for Boo, I do too, but did you stop to think what boycotting Wal Mart will do? It will put people out of jobs. Making our economy even worse. WM Canada Inc has over 88000 employees. A lot of small towns depend on WM to employ a vast portion of their residents. Some of us also depend on them to make a living rather than being stuck on welfare. It’s not easy to find jobs in retail right now, it’s become the career many have fallen back on now that they’re out of their previously chosen career due to lay offs and bankruptcies that are so common lately. Boycotting WM will do NOTHING to change their decision. Just remove the logo bearing gift card (the logo is copyrighted after all) and it seems like they would be fine. You’ve got to understand where they’re coming from. Yes, they are a large, billion dollar earning corporation, but check your spam box once in a while, or check a banner ad. There are tons of websites using their logo with promises of gift cards, and when they dont deliver and rip people off, it comes back at WM for seemingly being irresponsible. Also, there was a lot of issues with the P&G/WM promotion. There were more than a few fraudulent gains of gift cards. People who used coupons and barely spent the $15 let alone the needed $40, cost the company a fortune. Not to mention those who got numerous gift cards. I’m not talking 4 or 5, we were notified about people who were getting dozens, by abbreviating their names, using family member names, sending them to other houses. I even heard about people using receipts found in parking lots to gain cards. some people take advantage of some of these offers to a disgusting degree,and to WM seeing it displayed on such a busy freebie site, to them, is along the same lines.
Get a load of Mr. Thompson:
http://www.gtlaw.com/People/ScottEThompson
I’m debating sending him an email and ask
him to leave this site alone. There is no
harm being done here.
I noticed he blows his own horn about how he
oversaw billions of dollars of investing etc.
What the hell is he doing harassing a little
savings & coupon site?
I just sent an email to WM Canada’s customer |
relations, asking them to look at this post and
see if they can’t intervene or offer a solution.
Walmart in my opinion is about the worst retailer that has shown its ugly face in Canada.
Walmart disrespects Canada and Canadian values. Yet they try to identify themselves with different distinct regions of Canada through their advertising as if they have “Tim Hortons” status. Sickening.
The truth is all one has to do is look at how they treat Canadian workers such as in Jonquiere and Gatineau Quebec. Rather than respect the spirit of our labour laws they just threaten, then punish our workers by closing the store/dept. to teach the workers who is in control.
Walmart has been a direct distribution system for China to flood the North American market, and at the same time this retailer has encouraged our manufacturers (and jobs) to export to countries that pay pennies an hour.
Walmart is anti Canada and anti worker. The Walton family children which still owns 40% of WM, have been recently reported as having over 23 BILLION each in wealth, yet they nickle and dime Canadian workers trying to put milk and bread on the table.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/54/400list08_The-400-Richest-Americans_Rank.html
Could just spite them and edit their logo to say “Wall-Mart” or something else, just change the color to a shade less.
It’s so weird that Walmart would be doing this considering your blog brings them customers.
Oh, reminds me of this video I saw a few years back about Walmart…aka Big Box Mart: http://sendables.jibjab.com/originals/big_box_mart
Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!
All of a sudden I’m feeling a little creeped-out by the shoes I bought there last week. I think I’ll be doing my shopping at Zellers from now on. The employees are nicer AND its within walking distance, unlike “them”.
Several people have been militantly defending “Them” and suggesting we use nicknames or alter the spelling. I completely disagree, if “They” are going to be nasty and threaten to sue, something no other company who is mentioned on this site is doing, then they also should not benefit from any sort of free advertising by way of making any mention of them at all. I agree we should remove all Walmart trademarks, logos, etc from the site, thereby pulling the rug out from under them so they cannot take this nonsense any further. But we also need to have a “W******” free website altogether to show we are boycotting them completely and they will no longer enjoy our business. You can’t have it both ways. There is an expression, Don’t s**t where you eat……… this is exactly what they’re doing in my opinion.
Sue, don’t forget to return the shoes!
Boo I am in complete agreement with many on this site. I think removing the content and lets forget this company. A simple solution that also screws over a company who deserves it.
screw scott.. if you want send an explanation to the marketing team or VP of Walmart Canada, saying that you are website that is promoting walmart’s latest deals. if asked about the logo, just say that walmart will lose a ton of customers… ps and if redflagdeals can do it.. why the heck can’t u?
This is the last straw for me. I have had it with THEM. I am going to email their customer service dept. right now and make it clear that because of their actions and false claims against smartcanucks my family and I will no longer shop at their stores. I encourage other smartcanucks to make their voices heard too. They will not bully us.
I really don’t want you to get in trouble! I think you should take out all things Walmart. If you want to continue having Walmart info on this site then after you have taken down all Walmart stuff consult with Walmart and ask them what they deem to be acceptable and not acceptable so that you are on the same page. You may also might want to contact a lawyer for more info on the laws surrounding these types of things. Hopefully someone on SC knows a lawyer or is a lawyer and can help you out.
Hmmmm Walmart gets a free plug and they twist your arm. I’d take them off your site, never mention them again and i don’t need to shop there when there’s so many other stores that care more for their customers and employees then walmart. If i can do it with petro-can over their attitude over warning them of 4 cents before the pump starts, how much are they making from me in the last 4 years, i can do it with walmart. Don’t sweat it. Give the free ads to the ones that deserve it and not the big guys that push the little guys out.
Keep up the excellent work and deals on smart canucks
Well said AquaDragon!
As boo bradley said:
Do they have the right to tell me I cannot even write the word “Walmart” on here?
I can do 2 better , i won’t speak it and i won’t put my foot in it.
I find it hard to believe that people still shop there, at one time there was no walmart, no one could possibly go there, now theres a walmart and people can’t stop shopping there lol. So many other places to find great deals/better deals.
Um seems like they are picking on you..
what about all the OTHER contests sites?
Walmart sucks. Cult like atmosphere to work in.
Get a good lawyer
OR
NEVER POST ANYTHING AGAIN
OR
Write about them on your blog (freedom of speech)
and word-of-mouth travels FASTER than ANY form of advertising!
LOSERS!
Boycott Walmart (Facebook) http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2210559024
Boycott Walmart (Meetup) http://boycottwalmart.meetup.com/
Walmart Nation (CBC) http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/program_131107.html
Walmart: Stop Leaking Black Friday Deals (BOO this is GOOD for you to READ)
http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/18/news/companies/walmart_blackfridaylegal/index.htm
Walmart Now Going After Search Engines that Post DEALS:
http://techdirt.com/articles/20081113/1511542826.shtml
Land of the Idiots – Another Walmart Story (FUNNY) http://pakulakmadness.blogspot.com/2008/04/yet-another-wal-mart-story.html
Walmart to Shut Down Union Website (GOOD READ)
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090809/1048395817.shtml
I think you should issue a formal reply telling them to fuck right off.
And I agree with the others, just don’t give them the free advertising they don’t seem to want.
Their claim is that this website is misleading people to think that Walmart has blessed the use of its trademark and is somehow affiliated. The letter looks very generic.
I would email Walmart and ask for their authentication. There’s a lot of jerks out there claiming to represent Walmart.
If it is in fact true then I’d comply and remove all things Walmart. Let us know when to send an email to corporate showing our support of this website and a boycott of walmart.
It does sound like you’re being bullied. There’s no information collecting, no phishing, and it does seem like they’re making it all up to make their letter more concrete. Do they even know the meaning of phishing? Load of BS. Having said that, I think you should follow what many of the posters here already said, which is to take it down. Take all references of it down, out of sight, out of mind, and you’re out of trouble dealing with this bully. Yes, it’s unfair but I really don’t want you to have to fight Walmart who has a gazillion lawyers up its ass. (Recent case of the guy from Massachusetts being fined a lot of money after years of fighting their MPAA in the US for illegally downloading songs. Even though he had tonnes of support, the court of “Justice” did found him guilty).
Someone at WaLLmart (hmm noticed that I put double LL) and lawyer office has been sitting their ass on the table and has nothing better to do other than finding someone to pick on. This website has been helping thousands of people from saving $$$$$$$ and providing great info for others who would also like to share information.
Personally speaking we should be charging back WaLLmart for free advertising. And yet they think that they could make millions without advertising?
So to whom has found information in this site violated WaLLmart in some way or to whom has reported this information to WaLLmart, he or she should find a REAL job and get your ass off the table.
LEAVE this site alone and do something more useful things.
As for the people from the lawyer office, you should handle for serious criminal cases. LEAVE this site alone and people will leave you alone.
How pathetic of Wal-Mart; shame on your company!!!!
If anything smatcanucks.ca is drawing more people to your pathetic company and you should be grateful!
Does Wal-mart NOT want our business!! Well they just lost me as a customer until Scott Thompson of Greenberg Traurig and Wal-mart clear this in OUR favour!
Now take this to the check-out!
screw um. lets shop at zellers, if we see something we like at wm, let’s just price match at zellers. i like zellers better anyway. think of all the hbc points we’ll acumulate! screw them over.
Price match to another store and be done with them. Walmart needs us we don’t need them. I don’t even understand why they are offended by free advertizing.
OKAY PEOPLE THIS SITE IS BLANTLY IN VIOLATION OF COPYRIGHT LAWS!!PLAIN AND SIMPLE, LIKE I SAID YESTERDAY THE ENTIRE BLOG SECTION IN WHICH PEOLE POST DEALS AND LINKS IS COMPLETELY ILLEGAL AND SHOULD BE TAKEN DOWN. HATE WALMART ALL YOU WANT BUT THEY ARE 100% IN THE RIGHT. GET A LIFE PEOPLE AND LOOK AT THE FACTS OF THE LETTER, THEY ARE COMPLETELY JUSTIFIED AND BOO SHOULD HONTESTLY GET SOME COMMON SENSE, YOU CANNOT USE SOME ONES TRADEMARKED LOGO WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION.COMMON SENSE PEOPLE! THATS WHY THEY GET THEM COPYWRITTEN.
Well as far as I’m concerned I don’t shop walmart and I have one just around the corner.When they first opened the layout of the store was so bad ( a way to keep you to spend more )I left.Humm they must have caught on as it’s been updated, big deal. Let’s boycot and keep shopping Canadian ZELLERS EH ! Remember it was the Mom and Pop stores that built the towns and cities then Walmart and the like came along and pushed them out.STOP shopping big box stores.
ZELLERS IS NOT CANADIAN ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!MAN PEOPLE ARE VERY UNEDUCATED ON HERE.
Amanda is right. Zellers is not Canadian owned anymore.
Sobeys, Loblaws, Metro, Zehrs, No Frills, Price Chopper, Food Basics, and Giant Tiger are Canadian.
Walmart is not Canadian (thought they try to make you feel they are as Canadian as maple syrup). In fact the company doesn’t even trade on any Canadian stock market.
very very true Alex 🙂
It’s not about anyone being “uneducated”, it is common knowledge that Zellers has been sold to an American company. But a) shopping at Zellers takes business away from “Them” and b) Zellers/ Hudson’s Bay Company has Canadian origins
I would like to see more posting about child labour infractions, complaints against “Them” filed by former workers,and other predatory, frivilous lawsuits they have filed or threatened to file. I would like this to snowball and snowball until “They” are buried under an avalanche of bad publicity which will translate into lost revenue.
When I was a kid in school, and some bully came up and tried to start shoving me around on the playground, I shoved back twice as hard.
Here is an interview with Jon Lehman. He worked for Wal-Mart for 17 years, managing six stores in four different states before he left the company
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/interviews/lehman.html
… What is the opening price point? Why is it so key to Wal-Mart’s strategy?
OK, it’s lawn-and-garden time. Your grass is getting high. Your lawn mower is broken from last year, or you need a new lawn mower. You’re going to go to Wal-Mart. So you go to Wal-Mart, and you’re looking for a lawn mower, and to your delight, you walk in, and you see this $99 lawn mower. You may not want a cheap, basic lawn mower, but you see that price point on an end cap or a big display stack base, and you say, “Wow, what a great price.” And it draws you in. It lures you into the department, and you form the perception immediately that “Hey, Wal-Mart’s got the lowest prices in town. Look at this item right here. How could they sell it for $99?” …
But as you walk into the department and look for that $269 power-drive lawn mower that you really are after, they’re not losing money on that item. And it may not be the lowest price in town. Wal-Mart used to advertise “Always the low price.” They don’t do that anymore.
Because?
They got in trouble. Some of the other competitors sued them, tried to go after them and say, “You can’t say ‘Always the low price,’ because you’re not always the low price.” They did a study — a very critical study, very thorough study — and found that Wal-Mart was not always the low price. And Target and Kmart got a little miffed, and some other competitors that [said], “How can Wal-Mart advertise this and it’s not true?”
So what you’re saying is Wal-Mart, when it says, “Always low prices,” it’s not always the lowest price on every lawn mower or every microwave oven or every vacuum cleaner or every TV set.
Absolutely not.
So what does the opening price point mean?
The opening price point is … to get you in. You look at that, and you think, “Wow, what a great price.” …
And usually, more times than not, those items are imports. They’re not domestically made; they’re from other countries.
Why?
Well, the price of labor is so cheap. In China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, you can make stuff for a fraction of the cost that you can domestically, so that price is the rock-bottom price.
So are you saying that the opening price is the lowest price and actually will beat the competition, but maybe other items in the same category aren’t necessarily the lowest price?
Oh, absolutely not. It’s just like fishing: You want to entice that fish to that lure. … Once you walk past that opening price point, they’ve got you, because you’ve already formed the perception that everything in that department is the lowest price in town.
And maybe it’s not.
No, it’s not. No, I can tell you it’s not. I can tell you from experience it’s not. …
… How central is [the opening price point] to Wal-Mart’s marketing strategy?
It’s the heart of Wal-Mart’s pricing strategy. Wal-Mart puts [a] tremendous amount of planning, organization and thinking into what their opening price points are going to be, based on last year’s sales, based on customer requests, what’s in demand this year, what’s the newest, hottest item on the market.
This law firm is an American one, and I could be wrong, but I don’t see a Canadian branch for it. If they seriously want to sue, Walmart would have to get their Canadian lawyers to do it (laws are different, need certain credentials to practice here).
To me, basically this is just a preliminary bs letter sent out to try and scare you off with as little money and effort put into it as possible. They probably don’t know anything about smartcanucks. If you just kindly write that it was a blog post and that you never intended to misrepresent yourself as walmart, then it should be fine. On the other hand you can just give in and never write about Walmart again. I highly doubt that they would sue you though.
And to the commenter above (amanda), HAHAHAHA! If everyone in the world was to take down every single trademark and copyrighted picture, the Internet would be a pretty empty space. Think of all the clothes, games, movies, books, food, anything sold. According to the comment above, all of that should be removed from all websites unless people bombard companies for permission. That takes forever to obtain, its not practical, websites would never be updated.
So let’s shop at Zellers and Sobeys, Loblaws, Metro, Zehrs, No Frills, Price Chopper, Food Basics, and Giant Tiger.
Then lawsuits should be expected!!!!!!!!
Keep this great research on “Them” coming Alex. It is interesting to read, and important for people to know about “Their” long history of improprieties, and besides, once it’s on the internet, links to these articles can be posted on blogs without fear of reprisal.
As for shopping at loblaws, no frills etc.. most of their upper management are former walmart employees i.e. district and regional managers and store managers.
Wow, this is an interesting thread.
My opinions:
-I agree that they are bullying you and that you aren’t doing anything wrong here. Most companies pay millions of dollars in advertising a year to intice customers to go to their store and hopefully leave with more than the items they’ve listed on sale. It’s a basic marketing tactic (loss leader) where a company sells an item for less than cost in order to make money on everything else when a customer enters the store. You’re giving this to WM for FREE. What do they have to complain about?
-I’m pretty sure 99% of the community here on SC are fully aware that you guys aren’t associated with any of the companies listed on this site.
-@Ashley: Based upon your comments, do YOU work for Walmart? Take a look at what’s being said here. We’re taking free information on Walmart items and sharing that information with our friends and community. I mean, its not like we’re posting fake advertisements and threads on how to scam Wal-mart.
Just my 2 cents.
No, it does not mean lawsuits should be expected just because someone posted a picture of a logo. It just means that this particular case is frivolous and a waste of a letter that should have gone to someone who really was trying impersonate Walmart.
Well we can find something wrong with any company but there seems to be a lot of cancer concentrated particularly in “Their” company.
We all have to be consumers whether we like it or not, I don’t think it’s realistic to expect to shop at a store/company that is free of all troubles but I will avoid buying from “Them” unless it is an unbeatable loss leader, then I would like to see swarms of people invade the store and buy only the loss leader items.
If companies didnt care then they would not have trademarked copywritten the logos!
Written without prejudice, and without attitude – this is simple fact:
You are breaking federal law by using their logo (by displaying their coupon) without their permission. Period. They’re telling you to stop. Period.
They’re not telling you to stop advertising their offer. That’s public knowledge once out in the open.
They’re reclaiming their legal, copyrighted branding.
You put the coupon image on the SmartCanucks site (http://smartcanucks.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/walmart-canada-pg-gift-card.jpg) – that’s copying a legally registered logo. Illegal in Canada, and most other places.
You put the coupon on SC (http://smartcanucks.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/pg_giftcard.pdf) – illegal.
You can talk about it, write about it, place a link to their website, whatever – but displaying the logo (like most ads on SC do!) is against the law, unless it is documented by Walmart that you are permitted to do so.
That’s all they are telling you to do.
ON TOP OF THAT, HOWEVER, THEY COULD DING YOU FOR MORE – your image shows $40 limit, the text says $50.
And right below the line stating it’s good in 2008, it says it’s good in 2009.
No wonder they’re pissed. You ARE confusing potential customers, and they’re probably getting calls & emails asking for clarification.
They could claim damages against you for misinforming the public (through what I assume is simply typographical errors!).
Always be careful. As they say, they are the largest retail store – but also the largest company of any kind – in the world.
Rambo u said it perfectly 🙂
Amanada, you don’t know what you’re talking about. People do not trademark copyright materials, they are different things. Copyright is for things written, like books. Trademarks are for things like logos. Patents are for inventions. Companies trademark logos so that others don’t try to pretend to be them and sell under their name, or ruin their good name.
I think you’re probably upset at the wrong reasons, there’s nothing wrong with smartcanucks trying to defend themselves. They didn’t do any of the things the letter said they did, end of story.
I was referring as to why people spend the money to do both.
The question is where is Boo in all this, everyone is commenting and boo is absent.
It will only exacerbate the reputation of the Walmart. Once I was told by my friend that I should not buy at Walmart. She linked video footage that provably makes everyone think they should not buy at Walmart. Well, I liked Walmart and din’t see it. But if they are threatening SC with a false accusation without investigating it in detail. What a careless and gross company it is. I hope the discussion here will make them re-think it over. They should know the power of the Internet. Or maybe we all should complain about this.
Just change all references to WALLmart to FUmart,
If you stop posting anything about Walmart,
I will stop shopping there.. simple
Just going to PM Walmart prices at Zellers instead
FU mart
It seems to me they are only objecting to the pasting of the image.
My first sense is the writer hasn’t visited the site beyond the one page which exzplains why he is confused. Certainly he fails to realize he’s getting free promo from you.
I suggest in the future you post Wal-Mart offers with a generic photo of a statement the legal arm of Wal-Mart does not allow you to directly post the offer (that should go over big in Marketing) then just provide links.
Have you sent the law firm the request from Marketing? Left hand? Right hand?
Just remove any Images that are copy righted such as image of gift card and WAL*Mart symbol. Some companies go nuts over copy right because if they allow it to become common usage they will lose copy right to that symbol. Disney is another company that is like this. In our area years ago we use to have a winter carnival with the ares divided using Disney characters name . When Disney found out, we had to stop using their names. You can still talk about deals at Walmart but not use their images. If you notice the smile image used by Walmart, it is copy righted and unfortunately the guy who designed it never thought to copy right it, so Walmart I think copy righted it.
rambo is right and wrong..It is not clear cut.
you can use logo’s as long as your intent is not to infringe on their rights.
i.e. If I receive a Wallmart giftcard and I post a picture of MY walmart giftcard, with the intention of showing others what MY walmart giftcard looks like.
Amanda, these people are just trying to support something they believe in. You’re just being a Negative Nellie and all you’re doing is annoying and alienating – me anyway, I certainly am not speaking for anyone else here. Why don’t you just stop reading and find something else to do? Tennis anyone?
lol oh i think this whole thing is hilarious and i am printing it all off and showing my husband every pathieticly silly post since he is in Walmarts upper management.lol its such a joke how people are trying to defend someone who is in the wrong. SOOOOO funny.
Ohhhh, so now the truth comes out! Now I understand why you are so vehement in your defense of Walfart! So if you think it’s so ‘hilarious’ then why do you insist on reiterating everything that you’ve said? Why not just drop it and go shopping? I hear that Walfart has their dictionaries on sale this week for back to school. Hey, your husband may even get you a discount on it! 🙂
Amanda,
I’m not absent. I’m reading every single post on here and I really appreciate the help and advice people are giving me. I’m writing a letter to Walmart and will post it on here later tonight before I email it out to Walmart.
HAHAHAHA while he is raking in $500,000 plus a year i’ll make sure to mention it. lol SOOO pathetic “annoyed” i can just imagine what u look like lol.
And as for “Boo” i hope all works out, sum it up to a lesson learned 🙂
Oh a lesson learned for sure… wait till I start the new smartCanucks section dedicated to people freely expressing their opinion on Walmart (without any pictures or trademarks posted). Walmart will get the bitter taste of freedom of speech.
The credit card fraud crap is the most ridiculous accusation i’ve ever heard.Perhaps they need to read and watch all the interviews and newspaper articles about sc.
Question…when i began a thread stating the pros of shopping at walmart about a year ago, why was it cancelleed and my IP address blocked. Freedom of speech goes both ways…..but slander is still illegal so be careful.
Gosh, how old are you amanda? What does it matter what I look like? It takes someone very immature and insecure to mention, not only your “husband’s” paycheque, but to also personally attack someone else, especially someone that you have never met. And on that note, I’m finished with this, we’ll call it a conversation for lack of a better word. Poor Boo has better things to do than to read posts from relatives of the very people whom he’s having troubles with. I’m sorry that this went this far. Good luck Boo, I support you completely. I also agree with all of the other posters telling you to take down EVERYTHING that has to do with…. THAT store. 🙂
Why dont you get koala to contact CTV since they are now familiar with her and the site itself? Perhaps they can do a story on this for you. Might even get a good team of legal advisors at the same time *shrug* just an idea
Walmart uses the legal system to its advantage.
One of Walmarts tricks when it comes to thwarting working people’s rights is to create legal challenge after challenge after challenge when workers unionize a store location. Walmart has such a high turnover of staff (probably due to its poor compansation and questionable working conditions),after years and years there is no one left who signed a union card. They say they want another vote (supposing they represent democracy) and hire a bunch of scared new hires, so that the vote favours their side.
They also hold workers captive with anti-labour rights meetings. The managers had a ‘tool book’ that was a guide for spotting union activity. Only one of many examples is employee’s gathering to talk in the parking lot after their shift. The manager is instructed to call Bentonville USA where the company then sends up its special union busting goons.
If anyone is interested look up Walmart on Human Rights Watch for further information.
Goes to show that walmart is not an awlful place to work if a person can start off at woolco making 6 bucks an hour cut to about 10 years later and they are making 500+ grand a year. I was showing that retail is not a awlful place, but if all u want to focus on is the negative then that just goes to show how u are as a person. As for the look comment i was referring to how proud you must have been for insulting me in your post, i could care less what u physically look like.
Walmart will not become part of a union, they would close their doors first. Thats just a fact, i am not anti union by any means, but we ( also worked there for 6 years) were told it would never happen.
Well this has been interesting. Boo i really hope all works out and my hubby says that its just protocol sending that standard letter with Sc inserts in it. Just take down what they are requesting, but careful with your new section cause they can come at u again for slander. I do support your site and what you do just be careful 🙂 take care
Maybe you should educate yourself with legal matters pertaining to copyright issues, and be a little more thorough when researching a company’s legal rights and your obligations when getting into what you do.
Maybe this will be a good lesson in legalities, liabilities and obligations for you.
too many ‘group-huggers’ blowing up someone’s butt.
if you stepped on someone’s toes, say sorry and move on.
Contact CTV Toronto. Pat Foran did a story about smartcanucks. He will help you solve this problem.
Avery simple solution to your situation with W-lm-rt.
1- Stop any and all references whatsoever to their store or name.
2- Make no announcements about current or upcoming sales or promotions
3- Pretend that they do not exist and we will do the same !
4- Take the satisfaction that less people will be aware of their
sales, stores or promotions,etc and probably shop elsewhere. I will !
It seems IMHO that MOST retailers in todays climate would be very appreciative of free/no cost advertising and promotion of their sales.
“Walmart will not become part of a union, they would close their doors first. Thats just a fact, i am not anti union by any means, but we ( also worked there for 6 years) were told it would never happen.”~amanda
Not true amanda. It took nearly four years, but unionized workers at a Quebec Wal-Mart store now have their first collective agreement, a first in North America.
A Quebec arbitrator sealed the two-year deal for employees at the St-Hyacinthe Wal-Mart east of Montreal earlier this week.
To read the complete cbc report click below:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/04/09/mtl-walmart-sthyacinthe-unionized-0409.html
http://www.apixiation.blogspot.com/
Go there to see my previous rant about Wally World LOL
Just take everything walmart off your website then you have done what they ask and we will all stop going there because we won’t know about their deals. Also.. I find that the walmart/sobeys/superstore flyers often have similar deals because they copy eachother :p so just go to either superstore/loblaws/no frills/extra foods or sobeys instead. I hate walmart with a passion.
oops I meant go to http://www.rancidrants.blogspot.com
It’s the very first blog I ever wrote.
Walmart is concerned about consumer information being collected? HAH. I remember reading somewhere that their customer database takes up more space than the Pentagon’s computer.
Boo Radley: “Oh a lesson learned for sure… wait till I start the new smartCanucks section dedicated to people freely expressing their opinion on Walmart (without any pictures or trademarks posted). Walmart will get the bitter taste of freedom of speech”
I agree Boo, for a limited time you should keep the info up on the site to raise awareness…. but I would still like to see SC go “W******”- free eventually. I would also love to see any current threads with their flyers deleted and no mention of them of any kind. Of course it’s your prerogative because it’s your site, I’m just saying.
SC is 50,000 members strong and growing. More and more people have seen the CTV segment with Koala, and that will bring even more members. Bottom line, we’re behind ya, Boo! “They” are in for a rude awakening when they discover SC has a little more influence than they thought.
For any who are interested this is a link to The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter/index.html
Call CTV or CityTV and tell them about this problem, they might make a news out of it 🙂
Wow.. Walmart seriously Sucks.. i love shopping there.. but i will deffinatly reconsider it now..
Is there a boycott petition at “thepetitionsite” yet?
Good point Farzan, it would be a nice tie-in to the previous Canada AM segment with Koala since they’ve already covered us.
Man, is this ever going to backfire…. oh well, sucks to be “Them”
Amanda and rambo have made sensible posts. The rest…I’m wondering if any finished high school.
Just remove all Wal…t content.
Zellers is a nice place to shop anyway and they price with integrity.
Amanda if your husband makes 500k + in upper management at Walmart that just makes me despise Walmart even more. I work in recruitment and would never hire for a company that pays thier entry level workers any less than $3.00 above minimum wage. I support and respect companies that recognize that they would not have a business without ALL thier employees. It is ridiculous to conclude that any one person is worth that much more than another. And yes I make decent money but I can sleep at night knowing that when I hire someone I am making thier struggle easier, not harder by wasting thier time with minimum wage. This has always been my issue Walmart and it won’t be hard for me not to shop there since I don’t anyway.
Hi Boo,
I am sorry that HELLMART has targeted and threatened you. Many here have given very good and sound advice with regard to the logos and names. Simply do as HELLMART asks (demands)and take down the specified content.
1. Make certain to also mail out a hard copy of the letter by registered mail along with the email letter you are planning on sending. You want written proof that they received your rely letter by the deadline they mentioned. You want to avoid any other potential hassle.
2. In said letter, I would kindly remind HELLMART that slander and false accusations are also serious legal issues and they should be very careful about whom they accuse of such things. Especially, since you are innocent of all such accusations.
3. I am 100% in favour of banning all things HELLMART on this site. If they are going to treat you this way, then simply ban all HELLMART elements from your site. We won’t miss them one bit! 🙂
I am new here so I have been reluctant to join in and express my opinion, until now. Some people are getting WAY too involved and spouting out personal attacks on fellow members. I recall reading a post when I first joined that stated, attacks on fellow members would NOT be tolerated. People, if you have nothing positive, contructive, or helpful to say, DON’T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL. Please, do not waste our time with your pettiness.
Thank you for taking the time to read my 2 cents worth.
Good luck to you Boo! 🙂
All of us are behind you! (Well MOST of us anyway.)
Great point Robin….. I cringe when I think of these desperately poor workers in sweatshops overseas being paid pennies on the dollar for slave labour….. the products they manufacture are then imported to North America so that ONE upper- level management exec can be paid $500,000.00 a year, probably what the whole country is paid overseas for their back breaking efforts. Hmmmmmmmm….. what’s wrong with this picture?
Awesome post Fuzzy navel
I totally forgot to offer advice on the topic when I posted…I would, like many posters, fore-go any promotion or mention of Wal-Mart on Smart Canucks. It will hopefully send a message to the people that work for that company and maybe there will be a few less customers shopping there. I don’t shop there at all (unless I desperately have to). I will find a Canadian retailer and generally pay a little more but at least my dignity is intact!
You should be seeking legal advice no matter what. After all this website is fantastic and a great success. I do agree that you should “BAN” any content that has to do with Walmart because they are known for this type of behavior. They also have a ridiculously fantastic legal team that does not stop until they get what they want.
Thank you Countess. 🙂
Adam, well said.
HELLMART can’t put a price on my dignity either!
From my understanding, if WM did not send out this type of letter, it could be interpreted that anyone was free to use the trademark. Or use a slightly modified version.
So while the letter was very forceful, this letter and others sent sets a precedent for future action if they protect the copyright. Large companies do this regularly (whole legal divisions dedicated to protecting copyright!)
So yes, it is free advertising, but the issue isn’t about the picture, it is about a larger principle – copyright.
I definitely picked the wrong career. All the legal assistant has to do is paste and copy the text and change who the letter is sent to… and charge the company hundreds of dollars in the process. Should have became a trademark lawyer 😛
I am not defending their actions – I feel WM stinks for so many reasons, but rather trying to give insight to the process.
WM should be boycotted for many many reasons.
Stop putting Walmart information in there… Walmart is the one that will be loosing potential customers because people will stop reading their offers.. You were in a way helping them by incenting people to go and buy in their stores.. but it might be better then to eliminating them of your page and just let us know about offers at Loblaws or other stores that are Canadian and don’t bully people the way this guys are..
OK. WHO is this Amanda person and why does she keep posting over and over again? Apparently, anyone who doesn’t nod and agree with her is “uneducated”. Listen lady, you probably just insulted a sizable number of people here who could have degrees higher than yours. That’s why you’re getting rude comments back. What you don’t seem to see is that people are irate because they feel as though Boo is being bullied in a David vs. Goliath situation. We all have an idea of what trademarks and copyrights are. Don’t be patronizing. The point is, this was supposed to be a personal site for sharing tips. Boo created an online community. He’s not out to make money by misappropriating another company’s trademark. Anybody can copy-paste anything off the world wide web and it’s done every single day whether you like it or not. Wal-Mart could have handled this very differently because there was no obvious ill-will on the part of Boo. There is such a thing as a grey area. Sending in the goons should not have been the first plan of action. Please stop posting because I’m sure I’m not the only one who has heard enough from you. And another thing – we don’t care that your husband makes 500+ K a year (off the backs of those making minimum wage). Using your husband’s salary to boost your argument is so lame.
Awesome post, MTL_Shopper.
OMG i just got back and decided to read some more posts just to humor myself. It takes a very self confident person to not be afraid to say how much they earn a year, and a very insecure person to hide it or lie about it. I think the fact that my husband can make so much from starting at basically nothing is a great thing. He worked at wolco since he was 16 years old and now he has risen to the top. So all the haters just keep hating cause it doesnt bother me one bit. I like the fact that boo started this post to get help about what to do since receiveing the letter and then the SC’ers decided to instead turn it into a wal-mart bashing post. Unbelievable! Stick to the points people, Boo needed help and very few people have been able to offer any except state how much they hate walmart. This all leads back to them being justified in sending their letter. Is it so much for an apology, thats all they want. Treat them with respect and they will do the same, its not like wal-mart is run by these “monsters” that everyone seems to like to talk about. I also worked there for many years and i loved it, the people who work hard and do their jobs love working there cause they get incentives and promotions, it’s the useless people who like to bitch rather then work that cause problems. Everyone has worked with people who slack off and we all know they bitch the most, dont deny it cause its so true 🙂
Boo, Walmart is certainly over-reacted. But what’s happened happened. They asked you to take off their logos, which is a legit request, and all you need to do is just to do wjat they said. They didn’t ask for compensation or anything. Cool down, take off their logos, and choose to or not to promote their deals ever again (which is completely at your own liberty to do). You don’t have to over-react like Walmart did. You’ve got nothing to lose.
And as for MTL_Shopper asking who i am, well i am someone who is not afraid to use my name 🙂
i agree with MTL_SHOPPER!
somebody once said:The true means of being misled is to believe oneself finer than the others
by the way i have a university degree!
My reasons are to show how walmart can help u succeed in life.
You can make more money annually then someone who spent 4 or more years getting a business degree and you wont have the student loans to pay back in the end. Can people not see all the good this company does.
Okay, now I feel compelled to post this. THESE are the MONSTERS we are all referring to Amanda. Please, educate yourself! THIS is the company you defend so much! I am absolutely DISGUSTED at their behaviour!!
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/25/walmart.insurance.battle/
Fuzzy_Navel i have already read that article and again walmart is not in the wrong, business is business, and the couple did not read the fine print, you should ALWAYS read the fine print. Again this thread is going way off topic.
I worked for Amex Canada and believe me, they were EXTREMELY protective of their copyrighted logo. It was even forbidden to use it by employees on a project because it had to be in a specific spot, a very specific colour of blue and so on. This means Warfart (I love this combination the best :-)) is completely in their rights to say stop and decease using it in any form.
I would suggest that a rule be put across forbidding the scanning of flyers or the use of any “potentially” copyrighted materials.
Boycotting Warfart will never happen.
About the only way is to get all their stores in Canada to unionize, then they would most likely close them all and leave Canada..
i agree beast master.
Better not drop the soap when you are in prison
Unfortunate but copying their logo is probably the issue. Trouble is some one may have tried to copy that and use it off the website–never know what some people may try. It always amazes me what someone will think up. You just have to stand in a lineup at Walmart to take something back and listen to the scams tried. Its a learning curve and you know what not to do. Don’t let them intimidate you for a unintentional mistake after all we are all human. This site is a good thing. Food costs etc. do not go down so coupons are a good thing. I live by them too. Heard about your site on the news. Keep up the good work.
So, let me get this right. Wal mart puts on this promotion for its customers. Smart canucks increases the number of people who find out about this promotion. And wal mart is complaining about it?!
hey,
I don’t work for walmart but used to work in corporate communications for a large technology company and know a bit about logo usage etc.. we did not let others use our logo on their sites, unless prior authoriation was rexieved. We would often send out the threatening form letters.
Even when my old company logo was used for prizing info, permission would still have to be receieved.
– corporate identity and integrity was closely monitored and it was for this reason that logo usage, image usage was so highly monitored.
We need to stop bashing WM, even though most of us agree it sucks. Stop fighting! I’m sure Boo gets the idea. Get rid of the logo and this is finished.
I haven’t finished middle school yet 😀
Harsh reality. Rules are rules, Boo, even though you had a good intention. It’s in the news not long ago, a bank employee fought with a robber, won the battle and saved the bank some money. He got fired afterwards because he violated certain rules – the bank has specified in this kind of situation what an employee should do. Good intention usually can earn people some sympathy for a lighter penalty in court, but it hardly ever frees anyone from a charge.
Amanda… You will not change a single mind on this thread with your hilarious ignorance. Actually, I believe your superior attitude problem is a mirror of exactly what we all despise about Walfart. You are single-handedly throwing gas on the fire. The more you open your mouth, the more we dislike Walmart because they are a company of people exactly like you!
Just wanted to say thanks for being you and keep up the good work! LOL
this site is great and we can’t let the mind of big business, who has to be protective of their brands, bring down all the hard work.
Hey amanda,
dont you have anything better to do than brag about how your husband is big shot and works for a company that sucks? Customer service there sucks they are very rude and most of them arn’t even trained properly!! I have come across many cashiers that dont even know what SCOP is, and its right beside every single till! Stop fuelling the fire and give up. You are just wasting your time. Stop trying to change our minds and make us “like” walmart it isnt going to work.
Hey!
I agree with Khristopher. I would omit Walmart from your site completely. They are bullying you and all you are doing is advertising for them! For FREE!
I hate Walmart and this letter makes me want to shop there even less.
Good luck with everything!
L
Well Don, I think by saying “Amanda and rambo have made sensible posts. The rest…I’m wondering if any finished high school.” is pretty rude. We are all here to support Boo, and you don’t need to put us down. I’m pretty sure that most people on here are adults and have finished high school.
As for Amanda. You posted that you started a thread about WM and it was taken down and your address is blocked. Does that tell you anything? I don’t believe that your husband makes $500,000. If he does, why are you wasting your time on a website that helps people save money. You certainly don’t need to save money with that kind of income. Or maybe you need to save money for your new crown, because you think that you are such a princess. I can tell by the way you talk. Please stop leaving replies, as we don’t want to hear your praises of WM anymore.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-wal-mart16-2009aug16,0,7912684.story
Lichtenstein’s sympathies lie with the workers Walton called “associates.” They are recruited by the hundreds of thousands from the ranks of the retired, those willing to work part-time, and people who want a second job. Their wages are so low that a startling proportion of Wal-Mart associates are also welfare recipients. According to a 2004 UC Berkeley study, “Wal-Mart wages — about 31 percent below those in large retail establishments as a whole — made it necessary for tens of thousands of company employees to rely on public ‘safety net’ programs, such as food stamps, Medicare . . . and subsidized housing, to make ends meet.” Managers, Lichtenstein adds, “even pointed struggling associates to the appropriate government agency where they could apply” for assistance.
What part of “don’t use our trademarks” don’t you get? Just don’t use their trademarks… DUH.
what does “discusted” mean? Something to do with custard?
disgusted LOL. but i do agree with you
Hey Amanda, it must be so nice to be cozy with ++al+art. Hope all that money keeps you happy and busy because you sure seem to have nothing better to do is stir the pot and wait to repsond in your really snide and righteous manner. You must be a real gem to serve in a resturant.
Hahahaha good one sue, I was actually thinking of making a comment about the spelling mistake too, but I guess everyone makes mistakes, just like Boo.
Studying Canadian Law in Uni, I am nowhere close to being a lawyer or paralegal. But the best advice I can give you Boo is to immediately comply with their demands for now, and then see what can and can’t be said/posted on your site and adhere to those laws regarding all of your posts (not just for WM).
You do for sure infringe on copyright/trademark laws all over your site. No one wants to see you being involved in legal matters Boo, nor do we want this site to be taken down because of laws being broken. Please, not just for you but for all of us SC’s, deal with the post (it’s old anyway), send them a letter, and then protect yourself further by dealing with other posts that might be suspect to further legal inquiries.
I am an editor of a popular hockey website and am good friends with the two owners. We either have to ask for permission for any photo posted and not taken by one of us OR we post a link to said photo in order to avoid legal troubles like this. We do a lot of promotional stuff for hockey video games and have permission to use the respective companies’ names on the site as well. It may be hard work or take longer to get something out there, but in the end it is well worth it to avoid something like this happening.
Good luck to you! And thanks again sue for the laugh.
Weren’t y’all going to boycott SDM, and pm everything at Walmart? You don’t like Zellers since they wont do your scops and are never have stock of the sales. Now Walmart is out too.
I suppose everyone will go back to shopping at small, local independents, and pay higher prices, no scops, no loss leaders, no hot deals, no loyalty cards, no price matching…ya right!!!!
The next time Walmart has some rebate deal like that one or another hot deal it will be like calling the pigs to the trough at feeding time.
I’ve read enough Amanda’s BS. Boo, why don’t you just banned her. She’s not worth to be on this site. She’s a troublemaker
Remember you said yourself you’ll not tolerate another poster attacking someone. It sounds she’s getting quite personal in her attacks. Get rid of her for good.
” it’s the useless people who like to bitch rather then work that cause problems”.Amanda
I think a lot of people could be offended by this Amanda, that wasn’t very nice and not really true.
Yikes! – I just read the last couple of pages of this post and am feeling very uncomfortable with the lack of respect people are showing for each other.
Boo has a problem – I guess we all do – can we think of a POSITIVE way to end the conflict?
Walmart has it’s pros and cons, true. They’ve made a specific request: to stop using their logo, etc.
We may not agree with their methods, but unfortunately they have the law on their side in this request.
We can make our own personal decisions about whether we shop there or not.
I would hate to see Boo’s site threatened by not complying with legal requirements.
The other thing that we should remember – it’s easy to think when we make a post that we’re just “chatting” with friends – But this is the World Wide Web. We are responsible for the things we print and I would caution people about comments that might be perceived as being detremental to others –
Let’s act like SCers who try to HELP each other solve problems and be supportive.
The great thing about a group of people is that they ALL have individual ideas that deserve to be respected.
Let’s pull together! for our common Good and also Boo’s
Please do not feed the trolls.
“In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional or disciplinary response[1] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.”
— Wikipedia.
yeah ban her.
Cheapsake101, is there ANY store you are happy with??? Don’t like SDM, don’t like RCSS, don’t like Walamrt…maybe the problem is you? What stores do you have left to shop at?
Ok, this is typical corporate misunderstanding. They are trying to rattle you to either take it down, or will being sending more letters. Yes,the letters are designed to make you defensive.
The best defense in this situation is to actually ask why from everyone. Wal Mart and other companies have done this before.
I would recommend going to Boing Boing and EFF, including EFF Canada. And tweet about it.
Amanda is one of the few on this chatline with any sense
thanks rhonda.
If you notice i am saying the truth and i am the one being attacked. Such sad sad people, you guys cant stick to the issue at hand. Just like the thread i started last year, everyone wants to tell the BOO HOO stories and bitch bitch bitch. Its almost like people can’t be positive anymore, especially when they can hide their identity behind a fake screen name. None of this is helping boo and its just making you look horrible but do what u will, i know who i am, i know what walmart is like and you guys who who are attacking me do not. Keep the low blows coming, i find them very very funny, i was never and will never be one to back down, but your just showing boo the integrity of the users of this site.
🙂
thanks rhonda.
If you notice i am saying the truth and i am the one being attacked. Such sad sad people, you guys cant stick to the issue at hand. Just like the thread i started last year, everyone wants to tell the BOO HOO stories and blah blah blah. Its almost like people can’t be positive anymore, especially when they can hide their identity behind a fake screen name. None of this is helping boo and its just making you look horrible but do what u will, i know who i am, i know what walmart is like and you guys who who are attacking me do not. Keep the low blows coming, i find them very very funny, i was never and will never be one to back down, but your just showing boo the integrity of the users of this site
If i get blocked then this site is one sided and unfair, i have the right to defend a company that i believe in.
boo said “I really don’t understand what’s wrong with Walmart! ”
Lol, what is wrong with *walmart*, I’ll be laughing at that for days!!
tsjustmebub says…wow walmart is becoming as bad as shoppers drugmart!!
You ever start to wonder, maybe it isn’t the stores that are the problem? Didn’t boobear hear from Rexall too? what happens when HBC and Loblaws do the same?
What’s all this about SDM??
lol
y is it okay to bash walmart but you cant handle hearing positives about them???
SDM sent a legal take down notice to boo, and they were all going to boycott. Some people here are supposedly boycotting every store in Canada lolololol
Boo, please lock this thread.
why?
Because i guess freedom of speech only works one way.
I think they should be refered to as Wallyworld ’cause thats what everyone on our city calls it. They should be more worried about the attemped Unionizing that is going on here in Weyburn, Sk… and not about the deal posted to keep them in business!
Sue i love the post 🙂
Boo,
1) threatening, not threating
2) No need to panic. Don’t be intimidated by the wording of the letter and consider it a threat – it’s not. It’s just normal wording from a lawyer, lawyers all sound that way to get effective results. Implying to take further legal actions is very common – they are not implying to harm you physically or something.
3) Don’t let things blow out of a proportion and make things complicated. Just simply take off Walmart’s logo and it’s done.
4) Intriguing resentment towards Walmart is understandable due to your current situation. However, Walmart is American, but all their minimum-wage employees are Canadian and possibly many of them might be members of this SC site. Besides, as long as Walmart has good deals on, people would still shop there despite of the verbal support they have given you. All these debates and arguments don’t mean anything.
Just take off their logo as told, move on with your life and be happy.
It’s that simple.
Here are my two cents. Boo, I am suprised that you did not erase Scotts email before posting it to all to see. It is SDM all over again. This unpleasant drama means the site is growing and popular. Have you thought about contacting major stores and ask if you could post their images? to avoid this happening again and just to protect yourself. SC is a great place that provides readers with the info on best deals around and excluding stores that use bully tactics may not give best deals. In the response to the letter will you CC Canadian headquarters not just the writer of the letter; and add the link to this post and all the comments?
walmart should eat $hit and die
maybe u made something wrong? like stuff their’ affiliate link
You’re only JUST NOW discovering that Wal-Mart is an evil, soulless bunch of thugs? Really??
Take their ad money and then remove all other W-M content. Simple.
“I think they should be refered to as Wallyworld ’cause thats what everyone on our city calls it. They should be more worried about the attemped Unionizing that is going on here in Weyburn, Sk… and not about the deal posted to keep them in business!”~Jayshanny
Walmart is just doing what Walmart does best in Weyburn. Intimidating and bullying.
Walmart does very little for Canada. They have encouraged North American manufactures to move our jobs to China (either reach a certain cost price by using pennies an hour help, or lose shelf space).
Walmart threatens Canadians buy their ‘take it or leave it’ behaviour. The simple fact is Canadians have a sense of fairness to their fellow citizens.
Jayshanny plays right into WM’s intimidation plan. Close the store vs respect Canadians and Canadian labour laws. If Walmart doesn’t want to respect our laws then it should not have set up shop in our land.
Truely Walarts legacy is nothing more than a corporate arrogant bully.
Remember the children of Sam Walton (who have been reported as being worth as much as 23 BILLION in wealth each), while your Weburn workers earn the least Walmart will allow.
Walmart pays peanuts and cares not if you are treated like monkeys.
;Walmart pays peanuts and cares not if you are treated like monkeys.:
Walmart pays the same or better then HBC or any other retailer. If you want to make more money, educate yourself and acquire some skills. Your average retail worker is lucky they aren’t begging on the street
some people on here are truly showing their ignorance/arrogance, it seems to me that all you have to do is remove the logo.
I’ve read thru all the posts & WOW! I understand that WM doesn’t want their logo used etc but what a silly way to go about it…They could have just sent a letter requesting it NOT to be used (without the threats or accusations of credit card fraud!)
Simply take the post down & don’t use their logo etc. We all have a CHOICE of where we want to spend our $$$ & SC has taught us how to save $$$ & scope out the best deals :biggrin:
As for the personal attacks they are not called for & lets show each other some RESPECT! I could say more but will hold my tongue, LOL
Good Luck to ya Boo! Hope you get this resolved soon! :sunny:
Just wanted to reply to get real’s statement in which he/she said “If you want to make more money, educate yourself and acquire some skills”. There are many people who are educated at least with a BA, some with an MA that are forced to work retail as they are unable to get a job in their field. Also depending on the job market in a given area they may have skills and education but they are only able to find work at a retail establishment.
I know I had the hardest time finding a job where I currently live. I revamped my resume with help from HRSDC. I know that I have skills and feel that I am educated. The problem is that where I live, there are a few universities so many people are educated. In this area, most people working at Walmart, McDonalds etc have university degree’s, many working towards another level of education.
Sometimes it is between choosing no work, or choosing to work at minimum wage while looking for something else.
I do agree that the average retail worker doesn’t make hardly enough money to cover the bills. It is an awful reality. The company’s want to make as much money as they can, as that is what they are in business to do. If we think that it is unfair for retail workers to be paid so lowly, then why don’t we try to petition government to raise minimum wage?
Now back to the topic. I can see walmart’s point of view in wanting their logo removed. They could have been nicer about it, but it may have just been a form letter they send out with the necessary information changed. I’d say just to be on the safe side remove anything with their logo, and from now on don’t post their deals on the blog page.
Good luck Boo. I hope that everything works out in the end. You have my support. Take care.
Hey sorry about the letter, I think its just a gimmick of the law firm. If they have contracts with multi-nationals like Walmart, they would constantly be on the radar looking for targets, so as to demonstrate to the master that they are worth what they are paid for.. Unfortunately in this case, for some reason smartcanucks appeared on their tainted radar. Smartcanucks is a wonderful website, and what they did might come back to haunt them eventually…
Good luck Boo, and I hope things will get sorted eventually… Just remember there are so many enthusiastic memebers stand behind you….
Just sent an e-mail to Walmart Boo about the stupidity of their letter to you.
Trademarks do not give the owners exclusive use of the words registered outside of the goods and services in association with which they are registered. I would warrant that the “Wal-mart” and “Walmart” trademarks are only valid in association with limited use of “retail services” so your use of the words for things not associated with these services would not be a violation of the trademark. The use made here can also be argued to be “fair use” commentaries that do not violate the trademark and, further, I would actually ask that the lawyers provide details of the consumers who are actually confused and believe that the posts/blogs originate from walmart themselves.
To simplify things and avoid conflict though, I agree with the majority and would simply remove mention of “Walmart” from the site.
Have you checked the authenticity of this lawyer? Walmart has it’s own legal department so why divert to an outside agency for matters such as these. If I were you I would contact the Walmart Canada legal department and ask them directly if this firm represents their interests.
The letter from this firm seems bogus. The person writing this letter doesn’t have a title attached to his name and there is no address for this firm. I realize that there is a phone number and a web address but that doesn’t mean it’s legit.
Hopefully this isn’t a ploy on someone’s part to pump up the popularity of their website.
Shame on WALMART. DO they not have better things to worryu about then put a legal team on something that actually promotes their store FREE. Again, Shame on you WALMART. Did you forget your grass roots and forget how you got to be the biggest giant in retail sales…hint> YOUR CUSTOMERS and WBSITES such as this one. The good news is that bad word of mouth travels faster than good. A boycott would be pending.
Concerned Walmart shopper!
1) The graphic for the gift card thing was downloaded their website, right? thus you took their graphic and posted it in your website without permission of the copyright owner
2) Don’t use a company’s logo(S) without their permission, just because people use them, doesn’t not mean it isn’t a copyright violation.
3) If you want legal advice, go see a lawyer but alas you have to pay a lawyer, cheapest thing is to delete the post (takes what, 3 seconds?) then never EVER again use someone’s graphics without their permission.
First, lots of people confuse trade-marks with copyright. They are each different forms of IP. Trade-marks (Canadian spelling) cover corporate logos and the like (WAL-MART etc), copyright covers creative expression.
IANAL, but you are permitted to use a trade-mark without permission in the proper context. Brands are a part of our culture and ordinary conversations, and corporations don’t get to restrict all uses of their work. Imagine a world where a radio station couldn’t say something like ‘There have been several cars stolen from the Wal-Mart parking lot this month’ without permission from Wal-Mart!
Where you can get into trouble with trade-marks is if there is a reasonable possibility that some consumers could be confused into thinking there was some kind of formal relationship or endorsement, by the use of the Wal-Mart trade-mark.
The blog post in question might actually be read as such, particularly if someone stumbled across that page without knowing anything about the site. Someone may have thought they were supposed to mail their rebate form in to you, as it looks like you copy/pasted the text.
You’re also using their copyrighted ad copy without permission (the big orange picture), and you probably copied the text. Both could be considered copyright infringement, and you probably wouldn’t get away under ‘fair dealing’ exceptions.
Next time, don’t use their content without permission, describe it in your own words, and make it clear that this has nothing to do with you. Don’t host the rebate forms on your own site – just link to the originals. If you do that, they will be much happier and you won’t be breaking any laws.
Take down the post in question, and then send them a registered letter that explicitly admits no guilt, but states that you have complied with their request anyway to eliminate any possible confusion in the minds of customers. It expired 6 months ago anyway, so there’s no reason to keep it up and risk raising their ire.
Amanda is some loser who has nothing better to do than stir the pot. I doubt she is married to someone who makes $500,000 as a wal mart executive. She must watch soap operas all day surrounded by all of her cats and wait for her pretend husband to come home from his hectic day at wal mart (he never comes home). by responding to her posts we are making this fantasy world more real to her. she comes on here posing as other people saying “amanda is right” and “amanda is the only one who finished high school”. AMANDA… THE JIG IS UP!!!!
LOL you cant multipost from the same IP address “Kate”. lol and i am the one being personally attcked so i hope Boo is taking note and blocking those people from this site. I am PRO walmart 100% and i have every right to defend them since they are not here to defend themselves. As for the rude comments about soap operas and cats..lol honey get real i run my own company i have no time for soap operas as well i have a young baby to tend to. If you guys read all my previous posts i have not attacked anybody and yet i am being attacked. I guess the truth hurts cause what i talk about is just that. I hope Boo see the one sidedness of most of the users of this site and comes to my defense. Freedom of speech is my right..DEAL WITH IT. If anyone has issues come on down to edmonton i would be more then happy to discuss my views with you in person…”KATE”
Oh and my hubby does make that much money a year, sorry if you are jealous or insecure, we paid our dues we deserve it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so u have tried multiposting from the same ip addy eh??
So looks like u can “amanda”
lol not on this site, i have no need to i have my views and yes there are people out there that feel as i do. Sorry if we are not all haters.
i would never be jealous of someone who is as insecure as you.
ahh so all u amanda haters are multiposting..clever and sad.
and this is “kate” posting from the same ip addy
Have you ever verified that the letter was actually from Walmart? Sorry cannot help in this matter. Good blog you have here. Anna 🙂
Boo please deal with “kate” i will be back online this evening
good go spend your afternoon at wal mart
Okay everyone calm down. Boo is going to act in his best interests and the interests of the site. I’m quite confident that he has sought appropriate legal counsel and the situation will be rectified in one way or another.
This attacking of one another has got to stop, it’s completely infantile. Each one of us has our own opinion of Wal-Mart and whether you are aware of it or not, many of us work for them. Some of us enjoy it and feel it is a good employer and some of us don’t. So, should those of us who work for them. Some out of necessity and others because they are our employer of choice. Bus should we be afraid to admit it to you all?
This infighting doesn’t help Boo or us as a community. Please stop.
Wow, amazing! What a bunch of a-holes.
I have to agree with the majority, take down their posts and screw them and their deals. There are lots of places to shop… they thing they are so big? We can shop elsewhere!
Agree that the letter is a bit extreme, however, the use of logos and wordmarks for all organizations requires permission. The answer is simple: just do not use them without written permission.
How ’bout asking the Ugly Blue Box’s lawyer that, considering their marketing arm contacted you about advertising on the site, under what circumstances can you use their logo, etc. as you are currently promoting them for free.
All this makes me laugh as I recall the legal arm of Starbuck’s going after the band in the Queen Charlotte’s after they opened a coffee shop called “Haidabuck’s”. Tempest in a teapot that ended peacefully.
Currently, and I don’t know how it’s ended, there’s a pizza restaurant in Vancouver that’s been in business for over 40 years: Olympia Pizza. You guessed it, now that the Olympics are coming to Vancouver the wacko lawyers have been threatening the restaurant over the use of “Olympia” in their name.
It’s ridiculous but the problem is if they don’t at least show some action then when someone who really infringe’s can make the claim that they set a precedent prior of not acting against this sort of usage.
Can’t hurt to ask the lawyer.
Oh, and I’d ask him to provide you with the names of anyone that was truly confused that this site is actually affiliated with the Ugly Blue Box.
Just curious, Amanda, if your family has such a high income, why are you on the SC site? I am not interested in getting into the middle of the back and forth arguments but am just genuinely wondering.
This is a standard cease and desist letter. They are objecting to the use of your trademarks but I believe your postings about Wal-Mart constitute ‘fair use’ of trademarks. You should have a standard tag line that states you are not affiliated with Wal-Mart and all trademarks are owned by them. You really should have this tag line for every post as you might get a letter from those stores as well. If you want to continue your site, I suggest you contact a lawyer and have some language drafted for your site in order to protect yourself.
Here is an article you should read.
http://www.publaw.com/fairusetrade.html
I wrote to Walmart Canada and told them how disgusted I was with the cease and desist letter to Smart Canucks. I told them I live 20 minutes from my closest Walmart and that I do not go there unless I see on Smart Canuck that there are savings worth the trip. I also told them that I would not be going back if this is how they treat their customers who promote and share their shopping savings with each other.
“There are lots of places to shop… they thing they are so big? We can shop elsewhere!”
Exactly Larry M! Lets all boycott Walmart and shop at SDM instead!
Next week when someone whines here about SDM, w can boycott them and shop at Walamrt.
-I genuinely apologize in advance for the comment below (being off-topic), but I can’t help myself after the posts I’ve read.-
What is this “u” and “y” you speak of? Sorry, I only speak proper English.
hey rhona, maybe you should mind your own buisness.would you like it if someone who is a CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER to say the f word to your face? do you think that is ok? if you do, something is definately wrong with you. this thread needs to be locked. people are justing looking for ways to bother others now. can we just keep to the topic. Boo is asking for advice thats all. youve made your point so be done with it.
*just
Comply!
AND
Send them a email demonstrating that you get about 10,000 hits a day
http://www.statbrain.com/www.smartcanucks.ca/
Tell them you will comply with their request, and at the same time stop mentioning them in your blogs at all, except of course to tell your readership what kind of schmucks they are. Mention frequently to your readers why you do not mention their store any more and advise people against going to their store.
The bad publicity the get from this will certainly have an effect on their pocket books.
Schmucks!
I can’t believe the fighting in this thread lol! I highly doubt anyones going to get banned from posting, who cares what each other makes in a year at the end of the day were all human (most of us, I do expect there is at least one or two extra terrestial hehehehe) Lets stop attacking each other and keep it to the topic.
Well I think everyone is overreacting on this. Walmart is Walmart and it is their patent and if they feel they dont want it used, then abide by it stop using it. We are adults. There are legal points to this we probably dont know about. It is their perogative, just as we feel its ours to freely use the name. There are just so many other more important fights out there. We have to learn when to pick the battle and when not. I may not be a hero for saying this, but its reality.
lol cheapsake101 cant name one store she’s happy with
2 funny!
Good luck man, love this site..you dont deserve to be treated like this!
They are overreacting. Don’t use any Walmart logos anymore. We’ll understand.
I can’t remember who said it, but I agree, take down the image and send a letter to their lawyers saying it’s down and at the same time mention that slander is serious and should walmart continue to make false allegations you will retain a lawyer as well. And there probably needs to be some running tag line about these being a site by customers for customers and it is not affiliated with any particular store and/or corporation. Maybe under a Terms and Use section.
I would also stop giving out Walmart GC as prizes/rewards but rather stick to less strong armed stores.
I can just picture it… Court in session…3000 Ontario Smart Canucks comes through the door….little Walmart lawyers run out of court fast!!!
Sorry, Walmart doesn’t know who they are messing with. We are a small bunch but man o man don’t mess with our coupon site!
My 2 cents 🙂
hey rhonda
food basics, price chopper, zellers, old navy, sears, the source, no frills, canadian tire, home hardware, giant tiger, sobeys, loeb, dollarama, could go on and on and on.
*smirks*
plain n simple. just remove all walmart logos.
is this the highest commented post ever on smartcanucks or what?! enough is enough lol
lol almostmommy 🙂 hehe
oh and rhonda maybe you should learn how to spell. cheapsake101
2 funny!
Boo, please know that we SC’ers love you and everything that you do for this site. Do what you have to do, and we’ll all take this as a lesson learned. We support you all the way.
Now, if anyone cares for my opinion, I believe Amanda should be allowed to defend Walmart without being banned or personally attacked. However, she has already stated her opinion (numerous times, in fact), and has gone out of her way to attack others. So I, on behalf of many other SC’ers I’m sure, would like her to stop repeating herself, stop attacking other members, and move on to some other poor deals+savings site where she can talk all she wants about her husband’s salary.
I am very disconcerted by the posts that I have scanned over and the banality of a lot of them. We were asked to help a friend in need, not to behave like 5 year old children on a playground. Shame on those of you that have been bickering back and forth, it’s futile and pathetic. Grow up!
My advice is to take down the logo that has this retailer in a snit and remove their name from your blog and site. Even if a few of us refuse to shop there, it will make a difference. I know I will not be shopping there in the future. They don’t deserve my business if they are going to treat their customer base like this. They over-reacted and used scare tactics that were totally unnecessary.
Good Luck Boo, you do a great job with this site. Keep up the good work!
LOL Almostmommy! Don’t forget, we’ll have retained our lawyer with coupons!
It’s free advertising, save yourself the time and hassle Boo – just don’t post their stuff!
SOMEBODY MENTIONED THAT THE TYPO ON THE BLOG MAY OR HAVE CAUSED CUSTOMER DISTRESS. I DONT THINK SO. HOW ABOUT THE THE STORE FLYERS ADVERTISED PRODUCTS ON SALE INCORRECTLY AND WITH THE WRONG PRICES? IT HAPPENS A LOT AND CUSTOMERS GO TO THE STORE LEAVING THEM DISAPPOINTED BECAUSE IT TAKES THEM TIME AND EFFORT TO GO TO THE STORE. EVEN IF BOO MADE A TYPO ON THE BOTTOM OF THE BLOG STATING THAT CUSTOMERS SPEND $50 TO GET THE $15 INSTEAD OF ONLY $40. IT WAS BETTER TO BE OVERSTATED FOR THE STORE & MANUFACTURING COMPANY OFFERING THE DEAL THAN HAVING THE $40 UNDERSTATED. ALSO, HOW ABOUT IF ONE TAKES A VIDEO FOOTAGE OF A STORE WITH THEIR LOGO SIGN ON THE FRONT AND THE PERSON POST IT ONLINE, WOULD IT BE AN INFRINGEMENT OF THEIR TRADEMARK AS WELL? SINCE A PARTICULAR DEAL CAN BE OFFERED YEARLY OR FROM TIME TO TIME WITHIN THE YEAR, SO BLOG POSTINGS MAY SHOW OVERLAPPING DATES AND WHAT NOT, IT IS FOR THE CUSTOMER TO CONFIRM THE VALIDITY OF THE OFFERS IF THEY ARE CURRENT OR NOT. AND WE AS CUSTOMERS DO CHECK THAT OUT (EVEN WE CUSTOMERS KNOW MISCOMMUNICATION CAN OCCUR EVERYWHERE). THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH USING COUPONS OR ADVANCING ON DEALS. THOUGH I NOTICED THAT SOME STORE CLERKS TEND TO SHOW SOME DISPLEASURE WHEN ONE IF USING THEM BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO DO THE SIMPLE MANIPULATION ON THE POS TO PROCESS THEM. IT IS NOT FAIR FOR CUSTOMERS TO FEEL LIKE THEY ARE BEING ACCUSED OF USING FAKE COUPONS OR STORE RECEIPTS TO CLAIM MAIL IN REBATES. IF STORES OR MANUFACTURERS THINK IT’S NOT BENEFICIAL OR A GOOD BUSINESS PRACTICE TO DO THEN DO NOT OFFER IT. JUST LIKE WITH PRICE MATCHING, I HATE THOSE STORE CLERKS WHO SEEMED TO RESENT IT. SIMPLY PUT, IF A STORE HAS IT ON THEIR POLICY THEN A POLICY IS A POLICY. OTHERWISE, DO NOT OFFER THOSE POLICIES. BY THE WAY, MIND YOU, IT DOES TAKE TIME AND EFFORT TO COLLECT AND ORGANIZE COUPONS SO STORE CLERKS SHOULD NOT RESENT IT. STORES ESPECIALLY THE CLERKS THAT WORK FOR THEM SHOULD KNOW THAT A LOT OF MANUFACTURERS NOW HAVE PRINTABLE COUPONS ONLINE. IT MAKES GOOD BUSINESS SENSE AND GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT TO OFFER COUPONS THAT WAY SO THAT INTERESTED CUSTOMERS MAY PRINT AND USE THEM INSTEAD OF THE COMPANY PRINTING A SPECIFIC NUMBER OF HARDCOPY COUPONS TO DISTRIBUTE AND CONSUMERS MAY NOT BE ABLE TO USE IN TIME. IN SHORT, IT’S A WASTE OF PAPER AND INKS. THE MAIN ISSUE ABOVE SURE PROVOKES A LOT OF OTHER ISSUES AND SUB TOPICS.
IF I HAVE THE TIME AND ENERGY, I INTEND TO GIVE THE STORE RETAILERS A PIECE OF MY MIND ABOUT THESE THINGS.
BOO, DID IT EVER OCCUR TO YOU THAT PERHAPS OTHER PEOPLE MAY BE JEALOUS OF YOUR WEBSITE? OR SOME MAY BE SUSPICIOUS THAT YOU MAY HAVE OTHER AGENDA BEHIND THE FACT THAT THIS WEBSITE IS SIMPLY A MEANS OF PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE. BY THE WAY, EVEN PEOPLE WHO DOES GOOD THINGS FOR GOOD DO GET ATTACKED. SAD FACT IN LIFE.
Why are most posts insulting, attacking other members?
I thought it was between SC and Walmart, not members vs. members.
Let’s show how mature we all are, people:)
There are some great ideas posted here. I especially like the idea of getting permission from the stores to post thier logo’s etc. and the idea of having a disclaimer stating that you are not associated or affiliated with any of the stores mentioned.
“Even if a few of us refuse to shop there, it will make a difference”
No, it won’t.
“Sorry, Walmart doesn’t know who they are messing with”
Sure they do, a “business” that can’t afford to have a lawyer draft a letter in response, let alone show up in court.
“at the same time mention that slander is serious and should walmart continue to make false allegations you will retain a lawyer as well”
Dumbest post yet, and that is really saying something! Congrats!
Boo. Just take down their images. That is what they are worried about.
Walmart (AKA Supply Chain Management) have continuously been bullies when it comes to the little guy. Why I know this. I worked for a logistics company approx 10 years ago, and any dealings with them was a nightmare.
Their bullying strategies make them big and bigger. Even bad advertising makes them more powerful, and they have no conscience or morals.
Sadly, I suggest lowering yourself to their standards, and rid of the free advertising.
Fighting on the interenet is like yelling at the tv, really no point lol.
Check this out:
Walmart Always Blows blog
http://www.walmart-blows.com/forum/
Rich people don’t spend a lot of time on coupon sites, let alone “brag” about all of their money while there.
I think they have better things to do.
If it is true and you do make 500 thou a year you can go to bed tonight smug in the knowledge that there a so many people that are willing/desperate to make below poverty line salaries that make all that gravy at the top possible for you…
Champagne and caviar anyone? Amanda’s buying!
Mr Walmart head is getting to big
Warning WALMART we all shop at walmart and if you even scratch this site. Then see what happens with your sales. I will stop going and I spend the most at your store then any other, But I can change and so can many others. I know some countries were you got the boot and I am telling you I will to. There is a difference talking to people and threatening talking to people. You do it over and over again till one day puff no more walmart.
“Warning WALMART we all shop at walmart and if you even scratch this site.”~ Albert
Sorry Albert but that is not true. Many people don’t shop at this discusting excuse of an employer.
Study finds Wal-Mart contributes to poverty.
http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2006/05/15/daily29.html
ok, I’m bad, I’m getting sucked into it. Just a quick point, some rich people do use coupons!! Some of the richest people are the most frugal. Just because poeple have $ doesn’t mean they will spend it on things they don’t have to. We have to stop thinking of this as a desperate way to save $ and start seeing it as the savvy shopping that it is.
Many fine suggestions for you Boo…good luck with it. I think they are mostly blowing smoke in order to scare you, however, the lawyers have a job to do – protect their client. Perhaps it’s a question of the legal department not communicating with the marketing department!!
My only commment however, is the incorrect information regarding our very own “Canadian” Zellers store…sadly, as HBC was bought out in 2006 by Jerry Zucker from South Carolina for 1.1 billion…
So, good luck, I will likely minimize my WalMart shopping trips (which aren’t very large to begin with) and shop in more local, independent stores…more power to Mom & Pop owned businesses for me!
Have you heard anything else from them lately?
Im not sure about the legal side of using there name on yours or others websites but im pretty sure that any image they have on there site that you maybe using is therefore copyrighted to them?
Hello everyone…..I’m back 🙂 Just thought i would stop in again and i saw there was a question asked as to why i visit this site. Well the answer is simple a dollar saved is a dollar saved regardless of annual income. In fact most people who are comfortable financially tend to be very careful with how they spend.
And the reason why i am repeating myself is because everyone keeps going way off topic and i want that known. I will defend Walmart 24/7 if i have to just as some of you are hell bent on bad mouthing it. I am not personally attacking anyone and some of the posters are who keep bringing up my husbands annual income not me. The ONLY REASON I SAID IT WAS TO PROVE A POINT, the company is not all horrible. Come to terms with the fact that we do not have to agree but for each of you who go off topic and try to disgrace the walmart name you have to expect people to come to their defense.
WOW “Those who have Money” you have no idea how much money and time my family and friends donate every year to help those in need, so dont even get me started. Lack of respect for those who contribute is the exact reason why people are not donating as much as in the past. Just because people are smart with their money and live within their means, which means not living off credit/borrowed money, does not make them horrible people. Maybe people should start saving their money and not buying stupid useless items that are not needed to have a good life. I know of people who live in new houses with mulitple cars and fancy toys, none of which they own…everything gets financed these days. So yes we are financially stable, everything we own we actually own. We are smart that is how we were both raised. I would rather not own a t.v for a year and then buy one cash vs. financing it.
I paid my dues and lived the hard life so again DONT EVEN GO THERE.
Amanda! Glad to see you back, I missed you!. And I’m also glad to see that you took my advice and went out and purchased yourself a dictionary! Hope you remembered you discount, because, you’re right, a dollar saved is a dollar saved. No hard feelings on my part. LOL 😀
And for those who say i am being the attacker, read all the posts i have written i have not attacked anyone, i am the one being attacked.
Someone explain this to me please. why is it that someone who is broke can sit there and talk about how they are sooo broke and have no money and that is socially acceptable, however god forbid if you mention that you are comfortable financially. It has never made sense to me. Its like if your fat you are allowed to say how fat you look in an outfit but society wont let you say how thin you look in an outfit. Its such a double standard. People should take ownership of themselves and be responsible for themselves and their own actions.
i cant believe this since they had the flyers in the stores, its the same thing! shouldnt they be happy about the free advertising???
I’m not going to respond to the Kung Fu match this thread has become or resume my participation…….. just wanted to ask Alex to keep the links coming please. 🙂
The letter mentions US Trademarks. How does that apply to Canada? Last time I checked, we’re a different country and US laws have to bearing on Canadians. I would send them a reply to state Canadian laws and Canadian trademark before they start making requests to you.
The letter mentions US Trademarks. How does that apply to Canada? Last time I checked, we’re a different country and US laws have to bearing on Canadians. I would send them a reply to state Canadian laws and Canadian trademark before they start making requests to you.
*have NO bearing on Canadians
Wow this whole tread is getting out of hand and lets get on with posting bargains why is it still at the top of the blog???
I checked this thread yesterday and again today, and I am shocked at the number of comments Boo has received… Boo’s original comment was:
“Anyone with legal experience know what I can do? Walmart’s claims are false, they are bullying me and they are trying to confine my freedom of speech! Please help, I don’t want to get sued by Walmart!”
… and now we are arguing over if people should/shouldn’t disclose their wages, if people think they look fat in the mirror, and if people in a certain income bracket are entitled to use this board. Heck, we are even posting about someone’s spelling mistakes. My question is: WHO CARES? There have been a lot of good points posted on here, some of which I hope will help Boo. There has also been a lot of name calling and provoking and it should stop. Amanda- you are just walking into their trap when you respond to what they have written about you. I am not saying I agree or disagree with any of it (I do not know you, so I cannot judge you- nor do I know the law and what rights we have to post info on this board), just that I am noticing a pattern here. As for everyone who is posting negative comments to Amanda, this cycle will continue until we have reaches 500… maybe 1000 posts. All we will have done is continue to name calling and it is not worth it. Some people exist (on these types of boards and in “real life”) just to get everyone going, and even take pleasure in the fallout of their comments. Do not give these people the satisfaction of playing into their hands.
Simply put, I do not care who is right or wrong here, I just care that Boo makes the best decisions and handles this the best way to avoid further conflict. I have been on this board for a few years now and the majority of the people are wonderful. I owe a lot to this board, from coupon savings, free stuff, and contest wins. Let not ruin a good thing and start a war.
Please, everyone- put the weapons down and call it quits!!
The letter is not threatening, if any of you have received letters from lawyers before this is just par for the course. Geez I ‘ve received letters from our Government that were harsher than this. LOL It is NOT a personal attack on Boo. I am sorry if this was already mentioned but I have not had time to read all these posts but my understanding is that they take issue with one posting of the image of the gift card. It is very possible that they think people may be cloning gift cards or promoting ‘illegal” gift cards. A website with 50k followers is not a threat to them. This is probably a form letter being sent out to many Blogs sites. They are doing what they can to protect their image on the WWW. Companies like WM still have little control over what is published on the web and you can bet they are trying to get that changed.
If you all really want to get angry at Corporate America, watch the documentary “Crude Impact”.
Amanda; people may be feeling attacked because it feels like they are getting slapped in the face by your comment about your husband’s income. Discreetness and tact is not something that is being shown here. I am sure you have paid your dues and are secure with what you have now, that is what we all want regardless; the feeling of financial security for us and our families. There is a saying that goes “A man who flaunts his wealth is no man at all” That is what I think people are feeling.
(I am not taking sides nor do I care to, just offering an explaination)
I am a random poster / mostly lurker here but my only suggestion is that we rally behind Boo. It doesn’t matter if we boycott WalFart (one of my favorites too :)) but to show that we are supporting Boo who must have been stunned recieving that.
I’m sorry you got this letter Boo, the other posters are right, free publicity. I wonder about all those Facebook Fan pages that have taken logos for their use… do they get letters?
night_star i do fully agree with you but i was just trying to say that if you stick out working there it can pay off in the end. Maybe it was distasteful but i get so tired to people complaining about the company when it can do so much for you if you work hard, make sacrifices and stick it out. I am not one to shy away from anything however i dont want to hear about how hard done by people are if they cant handle hearing how great the next persons life is. I repeatedly asked people to stick to the topic to help Boo but people are egging me on and i can take it. People can hide behind the world wide web and insult me all they want…in person they cower.
I agree with Amanda, but I hate WM to pieces as does most other people. Let’s stop fighting and focus on the problem, not bashing people who hate WM.
*LIKE WM.
Honestly poor or rich has no merit in this conversation and has nothing to do with Boo’s letter.
Wake up Walmart
http://blog.wakeupwalmart.com/
500+ a year.bwhahwhahahwahahhaahahhah, at walmart? bwahahahahahah,
funniest joke ive heard all day, thanks for the chuckle.
Lindsay, have you any idea how much a store manager, district manager, regional manager make????????Learn abou it then chuckle all you want.
I am done on here, so for anyone who stood up for me…thanks a bunch and everyone else…how bout taking all the time bad mouthing and insulting me and use that time to get a better job. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA or getting a job period i am tired of my tax money paying for freaking E.I.. lol
Amanda,
” People can hide behind the world wide web and insult me all they want…in person they cower.”
It’s comments like this that make people feel that you are attacking them. You’re in a way indirectly insulting them by making statements with no evidence to support it and provoking them to respond. Take out the attacks in your comments, and they will too. Your comment would have been less threatening had you left out that sentence.
Boo: Why don’t you see if you can get WM to approve smartcanucks to use their logos and stuff? We’re advertising for them for free are we not? I’m sure you could work out some kind of deal.
Once again,
“how bout taking all the time bad mouthing and insulting me and use that time to get a better job. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA or getting a job period i am tired of my tax money paying for freaking E.I.” (Amanda
If you stop making unsupported assumptions, people will stop attacking you. What proof do you have that the SC community is all unemployed and living off of welfare? If you browse through the forum, you will notice that they all have various occuptions such as nurses, entreprenuers, and even university students.
amanda i would love for you to stand in front a bunch of laid off autoworkers and spew that crap with ur little lol at the end.
It is my opinion that what a store manager, district manager of executive makes is secondary as long as the rank and file are being treated fairly.
That is the problem with Walmart. Most workers are being taken advantage of by the Walton family (which owns over 40% of WM) and the corporation.
There is money for the Waltons (some articles have said each has a worth of over 23 BILLION) and their is money for the executives, district managers and the store managers. Then the rest get a tiny sliver of the spoils.
Walmart has earned the reputation it is know for.
Walmarts legacy is that of gread and exploitation in my opinion.
Walmart rocks, there is no better. You all will have forgotten of this by the time their next flyer arrives. They are completely in the right in enforcing their trademarks. Sure hope Boo doesn’t just cut and paste other’s work for his school assignments.
Amanda just because your husband has a good job doesn’t mean he always will or your always going to be financially secure your entire life. These days in fact for years and years the phrase ”job security” has been thrown out the window. Noone is above losing their job. Also what about natural disasters? Freak accidents? Horrible events? Sickness? Any of this can happen to anyone at anytime. Your not above this unfortunately no matter how much money your family makes. Insurance only goes so far and we all know insurance companies are snakey and can have money wrapped up in red tape for years.
I’d be careful of talking down to others because one day you yourself might end up in that boat.
Perhaps you should take a step back and reread your comments.
I’m pretty sure everyone at Canada Sams Club thought thier jobs were secure as well.
“you are actually helping them, as people like me in a rural area do not get their flyers and seeing things on the site help me make decisions where to shop.”
Walmart hosts their flyer and promotions on their own site, so its no problemo for you to go there and view them. Their own site where they can control when they are removed, how they are displayed, and corrections can be done. They don’t want someone else to take their material and use it to further their own business aspirations. And lets face it, Boos postings are rife with spelling and other errors.
SM did it, Walmart did it, the rest will do it. If you owned a store with a website Boo was cut and pasting from and taking images at will you would do it too.
to boo:
i think this post is going out of hand. i am sure you are reading the majority of the comments (if not, then all) i think it is ok to post your concern/fear after reading the letter but right now this topic is just creating a space for people to argue. i don’t think there’s a right or wrong to what wal-mart is doing, if they do not want customers because of their super strict policy of protecting their logo, then let them be. i am sure lots of people are offended by this but what right do we have to be mad at a company that doesn’t want free advertisement? of course it is partly because everyone supports this blog, which is good.
by this time, you probably have had the chance to make a wise decision and sent a letter back to wal-mart. how about following up and giving us an answer when there is a result? blocking comments may prevent unnecessary arguments…this is just a suggestion.
Gavin, or whoever you really are. Your ignorance is showing. BTW, bright move taking a pot shot at the admin of this site! That is how you help or advise him? Get off this site!!
I highly doubt Boo is going to censor posts when theres no swearing and such and everyone is entitled to their opinion.
But it would be nice to keep on topic. I teetered off as well but something needed to be said 🙂
to all those attacking other members, dont you have better things to do? defend walmart all you want, nobody here is going to change their mind for you. and for those showing off, just shows how much of a mature person you are..and kinda hints me what kind of education you possibly you got in the last few years,and ironically you question others about it
to help you out boo, you can speak to a lawyer..government funded ones..you get one at no charge if only you have the income that is at a certain point and you can be approved. I think I have their number lying around somehwere,let me know if you want that.
to help you out boo, you can speak to a lawyer..government funded ones..you get one at no charge if only you have the income that is at a certain point and you can be approved. I think I have their number lying around somehwere,let me know if you want that.
Boo,
I’m sorry that you have to go through this. You have created an amazing website that a lot of people including myself have come to rely on for great sales and promotions. It’s too bad that Walmart does not see the great free advertising they receive and resort to protecting their logos/etc instead. I have no legal advice for you. I just wanted to write how much I love your website and hope that things will all work out in the end. I know you are sensible and will do the right thing.
I’d like to see you add a column for people to generate their comments on Walmart. I know that my Father used to deal with them when he was a supplier. We used to hear how stressful it was to deal with them because they always tried to squeeze all that they could out of suppliers to provide the lowest price (at a cost to supplier’s already minimal bottom line). As a result I’m not a huge fan of them and try to minimize my shopping with them. I don’t want to spend a lot of time on other people who are pro-Walmart – but I hope they realize that Walmart is not the be all and the end all they think it may be. There are plenty of other companies we can choose to shop from that also provide good savings.
Good luck Boo!
Amanda says:
“I am done on here, so for anyone who stood up for me…thanks a bunch and everyone else…how bout taking all the time bad mouthing and insulting me and use that time to get a better job. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA or getting a job period i am tired of my tax money paying for freaking E.I.. lol”
———-
NOOOOO!!! Amanda…. PLEASE don’t go! You are hilarious!
Good luck Boo.
RE: Gavin “Walmart hosts their flyer and promotions on their own site, so its no problemo for you to go there and view them. Their own site where they can control when they are removed, how they are displayed, and corrections can be done. They don’t want someone else to take their material and use it to further their own business aspirations. And lets face it, Boos postings are rife with spelling and other errors.”
To Gavin’s statement above, I wish to comment that a lot of consumers like me would rather go a website like SC to check all the store flyers with one click from a main link (as a shortcut) rather than going to each individual store websites to check their current flyers. It saves time and effort.
The weekly flyer distribution in our area does not contain other store flyers. PLUS I LIKE THE FACT THAT THE SC WEBSITE HAS A WEEKLY SUMMARY OF ON-SALE ITEMS OF THE MANY STORES PLUS TIPS IF ITEMS HAVE COUPONS AVAILABLE FOR REDEEMING. IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE COUPON THEN THERE IS ALSO COUPON TRADING HERE. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, A LOT OF PEOPLE LIKE ME CAME TO ENJOY COUPONING. IT’S LIKE PLAYING A GAME FOR POINTS ONLY THAT YOU DO SAVE REAL MONEY ON THIS.
Amanda I feel you .. in terms of being bad mouthed by others on a blog on here.
YEEEEHAWWWWW!!!RIDE’EM COWBOY!!!IF THERE’S ANY SMART CANUCKERS THAT HAVEN’T POSTED IN HERE YET THEN GIT IN HERE!!!NOW!!!THE SHERRIF’S A COMIN’ AND IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!!!IT’S LIKE THE MARX BROTHERS AND RIP TORN HAVE COME BACK FROM THE DEAD FOR THE WORLD’S BIGGEST PILLOW FIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A THREE RING CIRCUS WITH FIREWORKS DURING AN EARTHQUAKE!!!ON ACID!!!
oh dear oh dear where’s my nitro glycerin tablets?!!!
I’okay now. BTW, have I mentioned that I think things have gotten a little out of hand on this thread?
Wal-Mart Stores has pulled a national advertisement that says consumers can save $700 a year shopping at its stores after H-E-B challenged the ad and filed its objections with an industry group
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6496210.html
good morning
Sorry i am so pathetic… i really dont make all that money. i just wanted attention.
i’m not a lawyer but the letter clearly refers to the fact that you don’t have permission to use their images on the website and are therefore they are demanding that you to stop using them. although your intentions are good every company has a similar policy and can sue you if you don’t stop.
i think the rebate form is a problem because it contains their logo and was posted on your server without permission. if you simply changed it to link to their website it probably wouldn’t be an issue.
some companies (especially multinationals like walmart and mcd’s) can be very strict about the use of their images and logos as they want to have maximum control over their marketing and avoid any negative use. therefore, i can understand why they would protest against their logo and images of their rebate offer being posted on sc.
i agree with others that they should be happy for the promotion you are giving them and overlook the legalese, as other retailers have, but the fact is that they own the logo and have the right to dictate its use.
i think you should send them a letter (include the marketing person inquiring about advertising) explaining the purpose of the site and asking for permission to use their images for promotional purposes. as long as its not being used in the complaints section or in any derogatory way they may agree. if not, stop use their images.
I don’t think you should remove Walmart content from this site. if you did this for every company that had a similar complaint, you’d eventually end up with no content.
you are free to talk about them as long as you don’t use their images.
resorting to the use of a ficticious name is juvenile and desperate. i’d rather see all content boycotted rather than have this site lower itself to that level.
its a shame that they’ve made such a big deal about this, but they are legally entitled to do so.
I’ve been boycotting Wal-mart (Am I allowed to say the word or will they sue me?) for years now because they are a horrible corporation. What a bunch of bullies! I hope others will join me in my boycott.
As for the letter, I’d remove the content alright and never mention them again. I don’t think that they can demand that you send a letter in response though. Who are they? Big brother?
Furthermore, I would start another blog that we could all join that talks about the problems with Wal-mart and encourages a boycott but be sure not to include any images. Make sure you link to it from Smart Canucks and post the link to that nasty letter on it.
“Glad you could make it Wally…what do you want to talk about this week?”, the psychiatrist asked peering over his glasses.
“I want to talk about the beginning, when I was just a little shop going to school….it all started then…the bullying…the taunts….the name calling….Zellers and the Bay were the worst…Walfart…Big Fat Wallyburger….Rollback Wally….then they started spray painting my logo all over the place….I mean…if a kid’s mark isn’t his own….you didn’t see me spray painting big Z’s all over the place….that’s when it all began…..I vowed if anyone ever took my name in vain or tried to make me look like a bad guy, I would defend my territory to the death…and now…this SmartCanucks guy….Bloo or Boot …whatever…is splashing my name all over his website….makes me feel real bad…just like in school…..Well a store’s gotta do what a store’s gotta do….Don’t you see Doc??…I got my name to protect.”
“Of course I understand Wally….but time’s up for this week…we’ll see you same time next week…and put on a happy face.”
Miramar residents relish defeating Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart has scrapped a plan for a supercenter in Miramar, bringing relief to the residents who fought it.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1185444.html
Seriously? Almost 400 posts?
Boo, opinions are great to receive, but you need to seek out real legal advice on this issue. A reputable lawyer will not post legal advice in this forum, as it would be completely inappropriate to do so in accordance with the rules of professional conduct as set out by most (if not all) law societies governing lawyers in each province. Opinions are not advice, and more often than not are incorrect in the eyes of the law.
This is a civil litigation matter. If you cannot locate a civil litigation lawyer in your town, you can use the lawyer referral service from the Law Society of Upper Canada at http://www.lsuc.on.ca. (Click on the “For the Public Tab”.) Best of luck.
LMAO so now their is someone posing as me????Pathietic!!!!!!!!!!!i take back nothing i said and to the poser “Amanda” get a freaking life,its monday morning shouldnt u be at work???????lol TIME THEFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have a fre day the other “Amanda” come on down to edmonton, come on…….yeah thats what i thought.
That was a scary letter at the end… I don’t know that it needed to be that threatening for a first contact! Good luck and I would at least seek legal advice just to be prepared – oh and take off all those trademarked pics ASAP!
I do not want to continue on here however i will not tolerate someone pretending to be me, i know my life is so great just proves u are jealous imposter. And as for not being able to afford things if a job is lost etc… i completely understand that and we have taken precautions, we own everything we have; house, car, trucks, and everything in them.. we lived with nothing for years to be able to do that, as well we both have insurance policies that would cover such an event as well as one through walmart 🙂
Stop living off borrowed money thats the big problem these days cause people cant wait for anything it seems, they need the big screen now, the car now even dogs can get financed at W.E.M. which shocked me.lol Be patient and save and buy with good ol’ fashioned hard earned cash vs. credit.
K so now i am leaving beware there is an Amanda imposter in here with whom i will deal with via email thanks to IP identification. Bye all 🙂
*sighs*
i am better than everyone!!!! Y’all better come on down to EDMONTON so i can show you how i live without using credit cards!!!
my god, people need to calm down. stick to the topic. if you dont have advice for boo SHUTUP
Wow, this has become quite an intriguing discussion. I have to admit that I stayed up way past my bedtime reading all these posts last night. 🙂
I just wanted to pipe in and say that I completely understand where Amanda is coming from. I, too, have made numerous material sacrifices for years, so I could live comfortably now. Although neither my husband nor I make quite as much money as Amanda’s husband does, we are so blessed to own everything we have and have a little nest egg on the side, just in case. And even though we really don’t need to save any money, frugality is a way of life for us and visiting sites like this one makes me feel so great about being able to get the most bang for my buck. So I believe I will continue to use coupons and look for deals even if I were a millionaire. And if I end up stocking up on way more stuff than I could ever use (which I am verging on now), hey, there’s always charity. So there’s no way to lose. 🙂 It’s a hobby that keeps on giving. So thanks for the awesome site, Boo!
That being said, I sympathize with Boo’s predicament and my initial reaction to the letter he received was “What the hell is wrong with Walmart?” However, after reading the various insights posted here, I now understand that Walmart is just making sure that their name is not abused, even if they are going overboard in this case. Unfortunately, life is not always fun and games and every once in a while, seemingly unfair situations slap us in the face. Please let us know if you managed to resolve the dispute, Boo! I hope it all ends peacefully.
As for boycotting Walmart, I for one will continue shopping there, as I find it a convenient and competitively priced retailer. Plus, there is one cashier in particular at my local Walmart who gives outstanding customer service and I’m sure she’ll be going places, just like Amanda’s husband is. I don’t have all the facts about their alleged “employee abuse”, but they are just doing their best to stay competitive, as so many companies are doing. If it was such an utterly evil and law-breaking employer, I’m sure they would have gone out of business a long time ago. Anyway, like I said I hope this dispute gets resolved to everyone’s benefit. Sorry for the long message. Yikes! 🙂
Can we PLEASE go back to posting deals already
With all due respect, Beastmaster, I believe the letter said to cease and desist. Not to stop and decease. Decease means to depart from life, die. We would prefer SC not to do that.
Amanda, you said it takes a self confident person to discuss what salary they make. No, Amanda, it takes a braggart to discuss what salary they make when it is as much as what your husband makes.
Although I do agree that the logos must be removed, which is what you previously said, I fail to see the reason why you must make comments such as the people on here must be very undereducated.
Didn’t your mother ever tell you that if you don’t have any nice to say, then to shut the F up.
My rant is done.
Yeah, three days without any deals. What’s up with that? Boo must be enlisting the help of all his moderators in writing his rebuttal letter to Walmart. It must be a masterpiece by now. 🙂 I’d sure like to see it!
Does it go something like “Dear Walmart, you suck! Respectfully (up) yours, Boo” 😀
From Human Rights Watch:
Wal-Mart is a Poster Child For What is Wrong with Labor Laws
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2007/05/15/wal-mart-poster-child-what-wrong-labor-laws
Yeah, yeah, Walmart abuses children in Africa, Walmart fries little Chinese kittens for breakfast, I’m sure Walmart even has something to do with gays and lesbians being illegal in Burundi (see link on the right side of your article). We get it! They’re evil! And all the people posting these links are good! Now let’s go deal hunting! Yay!
I just wanted to be the 400th comment. Woo!
Can we put down the torches and pitchforks for just a moment and look at this rationally . . . the ‘inflamatory’ letter is just a boilerplate that they send to ALL the bloggers out there using their material because, let’s face it, many are scammers. It would have been in Walmarts best interest to investigate this site better and realize that Boo poses no threat and is great free advertising. Their loss. They did not accuse anyone of collecting personal data for the sake of spamming, they simply said they are concerned that this could be happening (as it very often does in other places). Of course we know that’s a silly concern, but then we have all had plenty of experience on this site and they have not. Smart Canucks is almost an institution in and of itself in Canada now. Most retailers probably appreciate the exposure. Clearly the American giant just didn’t take the time to understand the fringe benefits and that’s their loss. Boo, you were legally and technically in the wrong, their letter is perfectly legit and reasonable, and you must comply. Simply don’t post Walmart stuff anymore (if you are offended, as I would be) but if this went to littigation, you are completely in the wrong and that would look very bad for you in the future . . . you’ll be red-flagged by other companies. It’s really not worth fighting about. To avoid the wrath of any other major players in the future, you should probably add a tag to each post that includes pictures and logos from other websites/companies stating that the material was borrowed from so-and-so’s official website and that the company has not endorsed it’s use on this website. If they tell you to stop, you still have to, but at least it’s clear that you are not trying to mislead anyone and the chances are better that they will leave you alone. I know it feels like an attack on your character and integrity, but honsetly, it’s not personal . . . Walmart is too big to do anything personal anymore!
Abfab is correct — The only issue of contention is that you were using their trademarked image without permission, and (this is a stretch) that the information was being displayed in such a way that would lead a customer to believe that the information you are posting is on behalf of Walmart rather than just a deal hunter spreading the word.
To prevent something like this in the future, on your site you should have a terms & conditions section specifying that the images and marks used on this site are property of their respective owners (among other disclaimers you should also be making).
Retain an IP/internet lawyer and draft something like this up to protect yourself from future litigation.
“Boo poses no threat and is great free advertising.”
ask Maple Leaf and all the stores who were ripped off if they appreciated boos “exposure”!
You can really fight them. They’re too big. Just do what they said. I know it’s unfair, but I wouldn’t want them suing me.
Google Images lists 832,000 images for walmart gift cards. They gave them all permission right?? I don’t think so. Have they given Google permission to show those images in their search engine?? I think not. If Walmart is singling you out, you should call them on it. Why pick on you and not those other 831,999 images? Isn’t there some kind of law against that?
http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=walmart+gift+card&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=0&oq=walmart+gi
Denis.
Josi – ha!! Luv it.
After browsing thru the entire post, I’m pretty disappointed to see only handful of useful comments (including but not limited to john, Rambo, Abattoir, Patty, Nelly,and abfab). It doesn’t say much about the members in this site. Please read and re-read the letter posted. It strictly deals with the trademark infringement, impression of false affiliation, and protecting consumers from possible fraud activities. The free advertising that SC might or might not provide to Walmart brand is not the issue here. If the members really wanted to help out SC, then perhaps all should have started their own research instead talking out of *you know what*. Unfortunately, Boo’s post created a platform for Walmart haters to preach and it turned into one heck of a bashing session. I would hate to see this site detract from what made it so successful – shopping, deals, & saving money!
Luca
Canadian union intensifies online campaign against Walmart court filing
http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=54200
This is part of why I don’t shop @ Walmart… they try to intimidate the small player. BTW for those that believe Zeller’s is a Canadian owned company, nope. HBC was bought out in 2008…
In 2008, after Zucker’s death, the company was sold to NRDC Equity Partners, the private equity firm of Purchase, New York-based National Realty & Development Corporation.
Just FYI.
Uh oh… Zellers not Canadian anymore. Thanks for the sharing the fact.
i worked at walmart and it was the worst experience ever. All of the CSM’s were rude and snotty, the manager of front end was the worst, and they were so strict. i got a “verbal coaching” for walking the so called ‘long way’ to the tills after clocking in. I also received a “verbal coaching” for buying something on my break. The worst part of it all is that i was accused for stealing money from the till which i didnt and wouldnt do. everyone who heard about it was shocked because they know im not the type of person to do that. the security ‘lady’ took me in a room and told me what her job was then started questioning me about when was the first time i stole money and how much was it etc, and telling me to admit it and i will just maybe be terminated. they wouldnte stop trying to make me say i did it, when i DID NOT steal anything. im only jusy turned 17 and i continually asked for them to call me mom. they said we will but not until after we call the cops. the continued to try and tell me to say it and wouldnt call my mom and i begged them to call someone else then, cops, or a lawyer but they just blew it off, eventually my mom came in but they still wouldnt let her see the video of my supposedly stealing. they then told my mom that i was being terminiated for intergrity issues and not for ‘stealing’. its such B.S and my family is boycotting walmart. There just looking out for their company they dont care about their customers or their employees just their money. Save money live shorter is a good slogan for them because if you call in sick for more that 6 days, it could lead to terminiation, even WITH a doctors note. please listen to this and leave walmart. i was also BANNED from the store, which sucks because i live in a tiny town where all we have is walmart and grocery stores… but i will not go their again.
SaveMoneyLiveShorter
Thanks for the post. I just read it though it is from late 2009.
Truely this retailer lacks respect for Canadians and our sense of fairness.
Why are WM flyers still being posted on this website after the threatening letter they sent you ?
If they don’t want FREE advertising than so be it .. its their loss not yours .
If I were in your place I wouldn’t allow a single WM related flyer or post on this site after that letter they sent you , after all that’s what they want don’t they ?
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I’m no lawyer, but could it be as easy as adding a line that clearly states “Smart Canucks is in no way affiliated with Walmart” ?
You’ve addressed the concern they raised in regards to phishing and credit fraud… so that part should be a non-issue.
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I would post a disclaimer in the footer to the extent of “SmartCanucks (smartcanucks.ca) is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the companies mentioned herein unless otherwise specified” with a link to a full disclaimer.
I did a bit of research and pulled together what would be relevant to visitors of my blog as a disclaimer here: http://erroraccessdenied.com/disclaimer You’d probably need some tweaking for smartcanucks, such as the addition of that ‘not affiliated or endorsed by’ clause.
/I am not a lawyer, but as a blog owner, I’ve done some research into the topic for just such an occasion.
For the time being, I’d just erase the whole article in question as per their wishes. In future, with the ‘not affiliated or endorsed by’ on the bottom of the site, and without a Walmart logo or other ‘property’, you should be on their good side.
Maybe you need a series of generic-ish images for the various types of deals if no usable pictures are available? Such as Get Coupons, Free after Coupons, 50% off Sale, Buy one get one free sale, buy one get one 50% off sale, etc?
Hope that helps, Boo!
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Really clearly put.
This post appears to recieve a good ammount of visitors. How do you advertise it? It offers a nice unique spin on things. I guess having something real or substantial to say is the most important factor.
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