TIME FOR THE TRADEMARK TROLL TO EAT HUMBLE PIE: IN OTHER WORDS AN APOLOGY

In an earlier post I moaned on about the conduct of the company that produces AUSTRALIAN GOLD tanning lotion. Understandably brand owners want to have their cake an eat it too. That is, when a brand owner sells a product that has large profit margins- the brand owner will want to control the pricing structure of that product. But almost as surely as day follows night someone in the chain of distribution will break ranks and undermine the efforts of the brand owner to control the pricing of its products. Of course, consumers almost always benefit from this fact. And, as I tried to convey in the earlier post, often, no skirts are clean in these circumstances.

But my use of the world sleazeball to characterize the defendant was wrong. I was trying to make the point that even though we as consumers benefit, for the brand owner, any reseller who refuses to play the game is automatically sleazy. Not as a matter of fact but as a matter of status.

But wrong is wrong. And for that I apologize and ask for forgiveness.