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- Topics: Active | Unanswered
- NY Giants82
- Rep: 26
Re: DR. PEPPER ISSUES CHALLENGE TO AXL ROSE!
And we're talking about a huge corporation, Dr Pepper. Not some rinky dink company that may not have the best legal representation money can buy. They wouldnt have done this with the possibility of legal action, the mere possibility.
Re: DR. PEPPER ISSUES CHALLENGE TO AXL ROSE!
About the legal implications...
In my business law class this term, we studied a case whereby a lady released a baby-care ad for public promotion. The video featured toys but she did not have the permission of the toy company. The company caught wind of it and successfully sued her. The company successfully argued that they did not endorse her product and therefore felt that the lady misrepresented herself as affiliated with the company.
I don't see how this case would be argued differently. Sure, a different decision would probably be met, but Axl could at least get this case brought to court... If not now, then when the promotion is actually released. Although it's possible that Dr Pepper's marketing team would develop this strategy without contacting anyone in the GNR camp, it's unlikely that they would. Especially if they have a competent legal team. It's far more likely that they contacted all parties involved before investing anything into the campaign. Otherwise, the promotion would be a potential disaster. Think about it. Even though Dr Pepper has the promotion worded as a challenge to GNR and they would probably be able to successfully argue that this doesn't harm GNR or the label or anything else in a court of law, there would be legal costs on top of everything else in order to fight it. It's far more logical to assume that the company would contact everyone involved prior to releasing the ad campaign to avoid such costs. Moreover, those who argue that the campaign hasn't been officially released yet so GNR probably didn't know beforehand, well, if the company waited until the last minute to get permission from the band and label and didn't receive approval, all of a sudden they're out the millions they've invested into the campaign. Corporate marketing and legal teams aren't stupid.
For the record, I'm not saying Axl's lying... it's all part of the promotion. It's a game. Dr Pepper challenges and Axl Rose remains mysterious and accepts the challenge without ever saying the album will definitely come out in 2008. It's creating a buzz.
You are absolutely right. Dr Pepper would have had to contact GNR's legal teams to use the names GNR, Axl and Chinese Democracy. This would have had to be planned out so they didn't risk a lawsuit. With a company as big as Dr Pepper, there is no way their marketting teams would be so dumb as to leave any risk of a lawsuit when they know who they are dealing with.
Re: DR. PEPPER ISSUES CHALLENGE TO AXL ROSE!
Dr Pepper would have had to contact GNR's legal teams to use the names GNR, Axl and Chinese Democracy.
maybe...but....how do you explain Mick Wall's book which uses the gnr brand to sell copies?
or those other unofficial books?
or unofficial merchandise?
or these forums?
which have gnr and cd and pretty much everything else plastered all over their designs...we even use the gnr logos to promote ourselves...
its a valid point, but somewhere, there must be a "public domain" loophole....besides, Dr. Pepper didn't execute any artwork with CD or GNR on it...nor did they do anything other than a blog entry...and blogs are a public domain, therefore it should be pretty legit....
Re: DR. PEPPER ISSUES CHALLENGE TO AXL ROSE!
- BurningHills
- Rep: 15
Re: DR. PEPPER ISSUES CHALLENGE TO AXL ROSE!
HAHAHAHAHAHA! 
Looks more like Mick Mars than 
though!
Re: DR. PEPPER ISSUES CHALLENGE TO AXL ROSE!
Backslash wrote:About the legal implications...
In my business law class this term, we studied a case whereby a lady released a baby-care ad for public promotion. The video featured toys but she did not have the permission of the toy company. The company caught wind of it and successfully sued her. The company successfully argued that they did not endorse her product and therefore felt that the lady misrepresented herself as affiliated with the company.
I don't see how this case would be argued differently. Sure, a different decision would probably be met, but Axl could at least get this case brought to court... If not now, then when the promotion is actually released. Although it's possible that Dr Pepper's marketing team would develop this strategy without contacting anyone in the GNR camp, it's unlikely that they would. Especially if they have a competent legal team. It's far more likely that they contacted all parties involved before investing anything into the campaign. Otherwise, the promotion would be a potential disaster. Think about it. Even though Dr Pepper has the promotion worded as a challenge to GNR and they would probably be able to successfully argue that this doesn't harm GNR or the label or anything else in a court of law, there would be legal costs on top of everything else in order to fight it. It's far more logical to assume that the company would contact everyone involved prior to releasing the ad campaign to avoid such costs. Moreover, those who argue that the campaign hasn't been officially released yet so GNR probably didn't know beforehand, well, if the company waited until the last minute to get permission from the band and label and didn't receive approval, all of a sudden they're out the millions they've invested into the campaign. Corporate marketing and legal teams aren't stupid.
For the record, I'm not saying Axl's lying... it's all part of the promotion. It's a game. Dr Pepper challenges and Axl Rose remains mysterious and accepts the challenge without ever saying the album will definitely come out in 2008. It's creating a buzz.
You are absolutely right. Dr Pepper would have had to contact GNR's legal teams to use the names GNR, Axl and Chinese Democracy. This would have had to be planned out so they didn't risk a lawsuit. With a company as big as Dr Pepper, there is no way their marketting teams would be so dumb as to leave any risk of a lawsuit when they know who they are dealing with.
Well if that's the case then the overly cautious legal team of Dr Pepper's must have also contacted Buckethead and Slash to use their names as well. I mean if you need permission to use Axl's name then surely you need Slash and BH's too. I mean you would really have to get their permission more so than anyone elses since the marketing campaing makes them look like dicks and clearly discriminates against them. Obviously this legal team contacted them and they said sure go ahead and use our name to make fun of us where do I sign to consent to this?
I mean lets be honest Dr Pepper and their team of legal eagles along with the marketing team wouldn't be so dumb as to risk a lawsuit from these guys. So even though BH and Slash will probably deny it, it stands to reason that they have also been in on this campagin since the beginning.
- DoubleTalkingJive
- Rep: 74
Re: DR. PEPPER ISSUES CHALLENGE TO AXL ROSE!
maybe thats why it was initially released as a blog entry...so the company could wash their hands of it if Axl balked
This is exactly what I have been saying all along. They hadn't done anything professional wise before Axl got news of it. They released this news on the net which is perfectly legal to use anyones name. We use GNR, Axl, etc and we have promoted our site, the old site was promoted on Youtube and we have no legal issues. We aren't making money off this and Dr. Pepper isn't making money off what they posted on the net.
Now ofcource if they go forward with some professional ads and what have you then yes they would need full permission of GNR and GNR's blessing.
