March 11, 1999 11:06
Silver Star International, Inc. Today Announced Victory In The First
Battle Of 'The Beanie Wars' Against Toy Giant Ty, Inc.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Silver Star International Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board:
SVSR) disclosed that the law firm for Ty Inc., makers of Beanie Babies had sent a "Cease and Desist"
letter to the Company, dated March 1, 1999. In that letter, the law firm of Welsh & Katz, Ltd. of Chicago
alleged that Silver Star International, Inc. and their Beanie Brigade Line infringed upon Ty's trademarks by
using the word Beanie, using a web site of beaniebrigade.com, and by using colors in Silver
Star's logo for the Beanie Brigade. They further demanded that Silver Star comply with all of their
demands, and provide a "full accounting" of Beanie Brigade sales by March 5.
Silver Star President Michael Faessler stated, "Since that time, faxes have gone back and forth. As of
March 9, at 2:00 p.m., ...only 8 days after Ty, Inc. fired the 'first round' at us, Ty's attorneys stated that,
they 'anticipating Silver Star International's willingness to change its product name to 'Bean Brigade' and
to change its internet web site to beanbrigade.com within 30 days, will thereafter close their
files with respect to this matter'."
Faessler added, "We neither fully complied with their demands, nor provided a 'full accounting' of sales.
But, we did agree to bring our product to market, for now, under the name BEAN BRIGADE, another
trademark for which we had previously filed. We consider this news very positive, and a major victory for
our small Company. We believe that this recent fax from Ty's attorneys was sent to us in record time due
in large part to the firm legal ground upon which we stand. Additionally, we feel that our ability to rally
support within the industry and generate media coverage gained us respect as 'an adversary not to be
taken lightly.' I believe Ty, Inc. realized that we were prepared to 'do battle with the bully' in the court of
public opinion, where -- in our judgment -- they are already suffering from some major anti-Ty sentiments
for the way they treat almost everyone...from the media to customers, to their retailers."
Silver Star International, just weeks ago, announced the product debut of their Beanie Brigade plush toy
line. Since that time, Company Vice President John Rosseel stated that Silver Star International has
already received hundreds of phone calls and e-mail inquiries from retailers, shareholders, potential new
investors, the media and numerous other interested parties. Rosseel also indicated that initial orders were
very encouraging.
Silver Star President Mike Faessler commented, "They wasted no time in firing the first round at us. We
consider all three allegations without basis, and have maintained that we, Silver Star International, are on
firm legal ground to use 'Beanie Brigade', a trademark filed for by our Company. We anticipated this move
by Ty, as their bully tactics are well documented within the industry. We immediately fired back with our
own response, and posted it on our web site at silverstarintl.com. It was well read, picked up
by local media, and cross-linked to more than a dozen leading beanie web sites since posting it last
Friday March 5. As a result, we have been flooded with phone calls, e-mails and all kinds of 'you go get
'em' support from retailers, customers, apparent collectors, writers within the industry and potential new
customers. Apparently many thousands of retailers can not even get product from Ty, Inc., as Ty seems
reluctant to add to their customer list and ship product to lots of business owners."
Faessler confirmed that also on March 5, his "new legal team" sent a three-page fax disputing Ty's
common law claims to the word "Beanie" and citing ample case law to support their position. Silver Star's
law firm of Johnson, Blakely , Pope, Bokor, Ruppel & Burns of Clearwater/Tampa "fired back shots of their
own," informing Ty's attorneys that, "Ty, Inc. is improperly seeking to misuse its trademarks and
copyrights to unlawfully extend its power and control over the plush toy market." Further, "that Silver Star
is prepared to zealously and aggressively defend any unjustified legal actions instituted by Ty, Inc."
Silver Star Vice President John Rosseel said of their response, "that Silver Star clearly conveyed that,
'Beanie Brigade' is our mark. Rosseel added, "however, in the essence of minimizing the current
'downside risk' to our young Company, we were willing to begin marketing our product line under the name
'BEAN BRIGADE', for the time being. This was a calculated move on our part, a sort of 'tactical business
retreat' to better, more attractive and defensible, legal terrain. We're drawing a new line in the sand, and
telling the bully not to cross it. If we had not acted in this way, it is likely, today, that we would be
receiving the same Ty, Inc. letter alleging infringement for using the words 'BEAN' as they may sound too
similar to 'beanie'. Through our most recent actions, we have significantly reduced the continuing threat of
these type of harassing lawsuits, which have become commonplace by Ty, Inc.'s legal team. Our future
potential use of 'Beanie Brigade' as a mark and product name will be addressed after we hear back from
the Patent & Trademark Office. The Bean Brigade will arrive to retailers in June, just as we promised."
SOURCE Silver Star International, Inc.
/CONTACT: Sales, John Donegan, doneganj@svsr.com, or, Investor Relations,
John Rosseel, rosseelj@svsr.com, or Media, Mike Faessler, faesslerm@svsr.com,
all of Silver Star International, 727-571-3545 or fax, 727-572-8485/
/Web site: silverstarintl.com
/Web site: beaniebrigade.com
(SVSR) |
