Ninja or Zen You Decide

Posted • October 31, 2008 • Comments Off

Can a company, especially one that is no longer in business, keep you from reporting facts about them on your website?

Here is an attempt by one such company. This ex-catering company wants to be perceived as zen but comes off as ninja.

Are they really protecting something or are they just being bullies?

As of August 1, 2007, we will not be scheduling any further caterings. Jennifer and I have decided it’s time to see the world and pursue new professional opportunities.”

When this catering company moved out of it’s building and left it vacant my client moved in and reported that they had moved into a building with a sustainable history and mentioned such on their website. The bully catering company wasn’t the first catering company in this location with a sustainable history and that was reported also.

Zen or Ninja?

The Power of Attorney Threats

They sent my client the following in an email:

We received a phone call last week from a previous client of ours who was confused to find our company name on your company’s website. As we are not affiliated with you, we were confused as well.

While I appreciate that you are indeed in our location, and hopefully enjoying it as much as we did, we are requesting that you remove any instance of our company from your website effective immediately. This includes the use of Zen Kitchen Catering, Zen Kitchen Inc., and www.zencatering.com in your content and/or metatags, as well as images affiliated with Zen Kitchen.

I have included our attorney on this email as well. Please let me know if you have any questions.”

Upon my clients request I removed any reference to the retired catering company.

Now if this would have been one of my sites I would have left it the way it was. All we were doing was reporting actual facts, not any affiliations. The only connections we sited were the location and the sustainability mind set.

Interesting facts about culinary arts or culinary artists exist in their actions. “Just the facts Mam”. Can someone control the use of their expired company name being used in the reporting of actual facts?

I believe Zen Kitchen was being very heavy handed in their handling of this. Maybe they will send me an email for quoting them and using their name on my blog?

Late,
Gary Pool

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