CAG, DVDTalk, CC & Speedy's Ads

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As you may have heard, DVDTalk is in some legal trouble over Speedy's ads.

They have locked down the CC threads and such, and the speculation in the DVDTalk thread seems to focus on the copyright laws regarding posting pictures or text from the ads, and specifically the recent PS3 price drop announcement.

DVDTalk Owner Geoff has said this:

I appreciate all your feedback on this issue.

Unfortunately since there's actual legal action here on behalf of Circuit City it goes beyond a cease and desist and thus an immediate need to act.

My attorney has advised me not to comment further on the details of a pending legal matter.

Rest assured we're working on it.

I appreciate your patience in this matter.

Geoff

While I don't want to hit the panic alarm, I think this is concerning... considering Speedy posts them there and here (and I believe these are the only 2 sites he does). I thought it was worth bringing up to the community.
 
Yes, this certainly caught my attention. From what's been discussed so far, Cheapy's been notified. Some members believe that removing, or at least closing, Speedy's current threads would be advisable.
 
Jesus if speedy actually got sued for helping CC's advertising wouldn't that be true corporate idiocy?

I think we should all of us, everyone from CAG, DVDTalk, FW, SD, and any other bargain sites, should all chip in $5 to try to help speedy, if indeed this does go through; think of all he's done for the bargain community, you owe him, at the very least that small contribution
 
[quote name='Moxio']Yes, this certainly caught my attention. From what's been discussed so far, Cheapy's been notified. Some members believe that removing, or at least closing, Speedy's current threads would be advisable.[/quote]
That would appear to be the best course of action given the situation.

[quote name='I AM WILLIAM H. MACY']Jesus if speedy actually got sued for helping CC's advertising wouldn't that be true corporate idiocy?

I think we should all of us, everyone from CAG, DVDTalk, FW, SD, and any other bargain sites, should all chip in $5 to try to help speedy, if indeed this does go through; think of all he's done for the bargain community, you owe him, at the very least that small contribution[/quote]

I don't believe he is the one with legal action against him. It's DVDTalk.
 
Yeah, I know all about it. I'll update you when I can.
At this point, I will not lock down or remove the threads.

One thing I will mention, is that I do not believe the DVDtalk management has been specific at all about the pending legal action, so all of that discussion thread is just speculation from their users.
Hopefully, we can avoid that kind of talk here.
 
[quote name='botticus']Took them long enough to raise a fuss... I bet Sony whined.[/quote]

I bet they didn't. Not a single other company EXCEPT Circuit City has said anything about the weekly ads. This is 100% all Circuit City's doing.
 
[quote name='mtxbass1']I bet they didn't. Not a single other company EXCEPT Circuit City has said anything about the weekly ads. This is 100% all Circuit City's doing.[/quote]

Then why wait until now? Outside influence is not out of the question, especially considering the coverage the PS3 drop got due to his ad posting.
 
[quote name='I AM WILLIAM H. MACY']Jesus if speedy actually got sued for helping CC's advertising wouldn't that be true corporate idiocy?

I think we should all of us, everyone from CAG, DVDTalk, FW, SD, and any other bargain sites, should all chip in $5 to try to help speedy, if indeed this does go through; think of all he's done for the bargain community, you owe him, at the very least that small contribution[/QUOTE]

dvdtalk is in trouble not Speedy
 
[quote name='Rocko']Then why wait until now? Outside influence is not out of the question, especially considering the coverage the PS3 drop got due to his ad posting.[/quote]

You realize it takes a few weeks(days) or so to form a case, file it, then present it right? The price drop occurred a few weeks ago. They didn't exactly wait long. This isn't a "cease and desist"...

Circuit City probably found out about the problem a week or so into the posting. The lawyers probably looked it over, decided to persue action, and went on a spree. It's barely been what, 3 weeks since the price drop?
 
[quote name='Moxio']Yes, this certainly caught my attention. From what's been discussed so far, Cheapy's been notified. Some members believe that removing, or at least closing, Speedy's current threads would be advisable.[/QUOTE]
Honestly, I don't think it'd help. Circuit City's lawyers would have been idiots if they hadn't made a backup copy of the threads. If they did, they'll probably notice that he makes references to CAG, and since we're the first Google hit for the acronym, it wouldn't be too hard for them to realize that the ads have been posted here as well.

Even easier than that would be Googling his user name. Same end results - currently, one of speedy's ad threads from July posted here is the first result.
 
Maybe Speedy should just PM the ads to the people that actually take the time to read the threads in the first place.

Because, from looking at the VGD forum, I think there's a grand total of about twenty people who don't rush here Sunday morning and try to tell us what's in the ads.
 
I'm not sure the technical limitations of mass PMs, but is there a way to sign up for a group here on CAG and be part of a mailing list in case we can no longer have ads up in the future? Having the ads at least a week ahead of time is such a big help when making my purchasing decisions. Thanks as always, speedy.
 
[quote name='mtxbass1']You realize it takes a few weeks(days) or so to form a case, file it, then present it right? The price drop occurred a few weeks ago. They didn't exactly wait long. This isn't a "cease and desist"...

Circuit City probably found out about the problem a week or so into the posting. The lawyers probably looked it over, decided to persue action, and went on a spree. It's barely been what, 3 weeks since the price drop?[/quote]

You misunderstand me. If you say it's not due to an outside influence but only CC themselves, why wait until now, since the ads have been posted for months? The timing of the price drop and this action would suggest an outside influence pressuring CC to action. You certainly can't rule it out.
 
[quote name='Rocko']You misunderstand me. If you say it's not due to an outside influence but only CC themselves, why wait until now, since the ads have been posted for months? The timing of the price drop and this action would suggest an outside influence pressuring CC to action. You certainly can't rule it out.[/quote]

Ahh, indeed I did. My best guess would be due to the "major" media picking up on these price drops now before stores (such as CC) want to let it be known. I just don't see what CC stands to lose here. They are getting more sales from this free advertisement. If anything, this will only hurt them. I know I won't be shopping there anymore (not like I did anyway).
 
[quote name='mtxbass1']Ahh, indeed I did. My best guess would be due to the "major" media picking up on these price drops now before stores (such as CC) want to let it be known. I just don't see what CC stands to lose here. They are getting more sales from this free advertisement. If anything, this will only hurt them. I know I won't be shopping there anymore (not like I did anyway).[/quote]

Yeah, I agree. I suppose the argument that it's copyrighted material is viable, but it seems rather foolish to sue over free advertisement.
 
Nooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is horrible. We've had the ads in advance for several years now (going on at least 3) from Speedy or trust (aka College Dropout), etc. Why all of a sudden this big fuss? Why should they actually care? If something does indeed happen to either DVDTalk, CAG, or Speedy I say we all go on a boycott of CC and spread the word around the net. I'm the first one to nominate a boycott if any legal action is taken against the ads, which were doing CC and the rest more good than bad. If we as cheapasses still need CC deals, we can do a quick, simple, and easy PM at Walmart, Fry's, BB, etc.

If CC is stupid enough to sue for something stupid like this, then they deserve to go out of business as they soon will be doing like CompUSA.

Whatever Cheapy find out, if it's something big like the legal action going through, then we as a bargain community should all show our support (FW, SD, TechBargains, Bensbargains, etc. etc. etc.) and post the boycott of CC and the front/home pages of the respective site. Throw it up on Digg and have Gamespot or the mainstream media pick up on it.
 
Given Circuit City's past business decisions, and now this, it amazes me they haven't gone bankrupt yet.

Long live speedy!
 
After the way the Live point card thing went down last week I was pretty irritated with CC.

Now this? Even if they leave CAG alone, I think I'm done with them, unless it's to only buy loss-leader stuff.
 
I would really enjoy to hear if Cheapy addresses this in the next CAGcast to hear what's the current situation/what's going on.

Will we still get the ads if DVDTalk isn't?
 
I was really looking forward to the next couple weeks of ads, especially for Serenity: Collectors Edition and the Heroes DVD boxset. Hope this whole thing has a good outcome.
 
[quote name='hiccupleftovers']I would really enjoy to hear if Cheapy addresses this in the next CAGcast to hear what's the current situation/what's going on.
[/QUOTE]
Ask and ye shall receive. It will be up early Friday morning.
 
Companies always try to bully people with legal threats.

Threats being the keyword.

Tell them to fuck off until you recieve a complaint via registered mail. No serious lawyer uses email.
 
[quote name='CheapyD']Ask and ye shall receive. It will be up early Friday morning.[/quote]

Yay!! Thanks CheapyD. You're a great host and a great site owner/admin/etc.
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']Be sure to transcribe for those of us who don't listen to it.[/quote]
Yes, please.
 
i believe this ground has been tread on earlier black friday threads on other forums. how can it be copyright violation if he doesnt post the actual ad? you can't copyright a list of prices.
 
Not too shocked about this. CC shat all over themself thanks to printing out news about price cuts for both the 360 and PS3 before they should of. Oh, and let's not forget their stupid move to price match items that were bought the week earlier (microsoft points). Maybe they should fix their own problems before attacking Speedy.
 
listening to the latest CAGcast now ... wow, what a fucking asshole move by CC. I strongly suggest a site-wide retail boycott of CC until this issue is resolved.
 
You can't copyright knowledge. Thanks Cheapy for sticking up for Speedy. I will not be buying anything at Circuit City.
 
so they're mad that people can know in advance what they want to buy at their store...gg cc.
 
While I can understand attacking those who flip items on eBay (fucking hoarderd), attacking a single man who advertises your deals is total bull. Depending on how this plays out, I'm leaning towards three options:

1. CAG mass mails them letters (real ones, not email), about their anger.
2. Outright boycott of Circuit City.
3. Price Matching the really hard hitting BB or Wal-Mart ads, and not the "save some cash ones" (anyone recall the Avatar Season 1 DVD set ad error for $12.95? Retails at $55).

It may not be much, but I imagine the loss of 100,000 customers will hit home at some point.

Major props to CheapyD for jumping to the defense of his fellow CAGs. You sir, have my respect.

~HotShotX
 
[quote name='Apossum']so they're mad that people can know in advance what they want to buy at their store...gg cc.[/quote]

Yeah it's pretty stupid, this will have the effect of stopping me going into CC, I only ever went in for the Sunday deals and now I'll have to check online on a Sunday morning which knowing me I'll forget to do.

This has got to be related to the PS3 drop, didn't they even mention the leak specifically in their E3 press conference.
 
The only time i ever go to CC (closest is an hour away) is when Speedy posts the ads, and i see there is a fantastic deal i just can't pass up and it becomes worth my trouble.

If Circuit City is really going to follow through with this, i have no trouble boycotting and mailing, or donating money to speedy for whatever. I've been boycotting Gamestop for almost 4 years now, so adding another vendor is perfectly fine by me.
 
Lets be honest here though, posting the PS3 and 360 (or any other) price drops weeks beforehand doesnt help Circuit City in the slightest, the more people know about the pricedrops the more people will hold off on buying them at their original price and CC loses money, Thats just business.

But it still sucks that that can garner legal action, and Im pulling for Speedy who does do such a great service to the community.
 
That's terrible. Thanks for sticking up for your members, Cheapy. I hope this blows over, and CAG and DVDTalk will stay unscathed.

[quote name='Dante Devil']CC will receive none of my business. Ahhh...crap, does that mean I have to resort to purchasing at Best Buy?[/QUOTE]Ugh, lose-lose situation.
 
Where's a link to the CAG legal defence fund? We should run that for donations this year as opposed to childs play.

Javery- would we have any standing as consumers to write amicus curiae briefs in support of a motion to quash or for a directed verdict if it gets that far? Administrative law guys don't deal with this too much.
 
bread's done
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