The Lones Group, a Real Estate Marketing and Social Media company, has filed a lawsuit against Real Estate Agent and Blogger, Daniel Rothamel and his brokerage, Strong Team Realtors, Inc, for using the word “Zebra” in his blog.
While The Lones Group has written about “The Evolution Of A Company Brand” on their WordPress.com hosted blog, it looks like they may not have fully considered the negative impact their lawsuit would have on the real estate blogging / social media community.
An interesting twist to this story, which I believe has added fuel to the fire, is that The Lones Group claims to have “Started The Real Estate Marketing Revolution.” However, many of the seasoned real estate bloggers who are commenting on this story are stating that they have never heard of Denise Lones or The Lones Group.
On a personal note, what bothers me the most about this lawsuit is that The Lones Group appears to be asking for Daniel Rothamel to shut down a blog that he has spent 5 years building.
While I’m not an attorney experienced in reading trademark lawsuits, that is simply my interpretation of the legal document I read, which states:
“The Lones Group seeks an injunction restraining Rothamel and the brokerage from using “in any manner” the trademarks The Zebra Blog or The Zebra Report, “and any other term or terms likely to cause confusion,” including “Real Estate Zebra.”
To me, it just seems unreasonable to attack a real estate agent on the other side of the country on the basis of similar branding that “may” confuse The Lones Group’s potential clients.
In my opinion, it’s a black and white issue – Daniel is a real estate agent that sells houses, and The Lones Group sells Internet marketing products and services to real estate agents.
Again – my opinion.
I am not an attorney, and what I have to say obviously does not reflect the opinions of WannaNetwork.com or its other contributors.
Basically, I’m just a real estate blogger working hard to feed my family and make an honest living, much like the real estate agent getting sued by The Lones Group for using a Zebra.
I’m sure we’ll have a chance to hear both sides of the story as this drama plays out on the web over the next few weeks, and I have a feeling there will be many lessons in social media, web 2.0, trademarks and general marketing to learn from.
I’ll continue to update this post as time allows in order to keep track of the lawsuit, videos and my personal thoughts.
The following video is from Daniel Rothamel –
Denise Lones posts here reaction to this lawsuit in the following video:
Here is her post – CLICK HERE
In her defense, she states that only one person contacted her for her side of the story. Probably one of the best lessons that can be taken away from this story is how important it is to do a little digging before opinions are expressed online.
Daniel explains his decision to give up the stripes.
Link to Daniel’s post: CLICK HERE
We are not the FHA, VA, USDA, HUD or any other government organization. The content on this blog is intended for information purposes only.
I would personally stay away. Not that I’m super worried about getting sued, but just not willing to take the chance.
I really doubt the owner of “The Lones Group” was really expecting this kind of publicity when she filed her lawsuit against Daniel. Maybe after reading all the blog, Facebook and Twitter posts, she might reconsider moving forward.
Can you imagine what the conversation is between the Lones Group CEO and her lawyer?
I bet that lawyer-dude is backing up as fast as he can just trying to keep billing her as many hours as he can.
Social Media > Bully Lawyers ?
Whatever guys, she’s an adult and could have determined whether it was right or wrong to sue someone over something like this. Lawsuits cause pain, anxiety and financial loss. So basically, she make a decision to hurt someone else.
I probably wouldn’t be so hard on The Lones Group if they hadn’t of said that they “started the real estate marketing revolution.”
Come on… if someone makes a living promoting themselves as an “expert” at online marketing, then they have to be held accountable for bad PR decisions.
I have no Idea the the “The Lones Group” is nor do I want to have anything to do with them now!
Just out of curiosity I searched for them in google and found most of page one in google was about this ridiculous lawsuit. I am glad we have some good friends in the blogging world and can band together.
It sounds like that the lones group really isn’t in it to help out RE agents. Sounds like they are in it just for the money and they must be pretty desperate.
Sounds like a real firestorm. I will refrain from using any animals in my blogs until this one is settled. LOL
Those are my Facebook comments on the #fail picture! I’m not in real estate, but I am into common sense, and Denise Lones seems to be the single dumbest person in the world, so, I had to call her out. I also enjoy calling out folks who are “social media leaders” but have 50 Facebook fans, 100 Twitter followers, 400 Tweets, etc… #delusional.
As an aside, though, what’s the zebra motif (for both parties)? Is there some sort of significance?
Bobby – I hid the face and name on those Facebook comments on purpose, but then decided to take it down all together since the comments were removed from the actual Facebook page.
Lawsuit and all of that other drama aside, I definitely agree with you about calling someone out who claims to have “started the real estate marketing revolution” – yet doesn’t have the web presence to prove it.
I’ve just never heard of anyone suing to protect a reputation that others didn’t know they had in the first place.
But, to be fair, maybe she was talking about a different revolution than we’re thinking… Farming a neighborhood with door hangers, blast faxing, cold calling, sending recipe books?
Either way, I assume this entire debate and online discussion will wear itself out over the next few weeks, and probably be forgotten in a couple of months.
Bobby – sorry, to answer your question about the Zebra:
From Daniel –
“Aside from being a REALTOR, I am also a basketball official. I officiate High School basketball in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and NCAA D-III basketball in two conferences. I love officiating, and I love real estate, and The Real Estate Zebra is my way of sharing it. The things that I have learned through officiating have helped me tremendously in real estate, and vice versa. I love to help people, and I love to educate and inform people. Hopefully, I will be able to successfully do both, while keeping you entertained along the way.”
From Denise –
“One night, Denise came across a show on the Discovery Channel called “Growing Up Zebra”. It highlighted the efforts of Louise Joubert and her SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa, whose purpose is to save all injured animals – from Black Rhinos to Striped Field Mice, Antelope to Zebras (of course).”
Let me say right off the bat, that I personally know Denise Lones. She has been a mentor of mine for years and someone that I deeply respect and looke up to. I was shocked to read this blog concerning her.
Denise is an accredited real estate instructor in Washington state, as am I. She been in the business forever and has helped thousands of people. I have found her character to be flawless and a very honorable person. I say this because I worked as an independent consultant for her company a few years back.
I hope that this situation gets worked out and that everyone is able to come to some closure about what the law says concerning this.
Best to everyone,
Nicole Ocean
I’m sorry Nicole, I feel your anger and frustration. Nobody likes to see their friends attacked or misrepresented.
If your mentor is as honorable as you say, then maybe she’ll reconsider this lawsuit that is only going to cause pain to The Lones Group and Daniel.
My problem with this lawsuit is that Daniel has spent years building his own blog, and it appears that she’s asking him to turn it off and / or give it up. It just seems a little overreaching, especially since she is on the other side of the country and serves a different target audience.
**I’m not an attorney, so I probably don’t know what I’m talking about, but that is what my perception of this case is**
And like I mentioned above, it just seems ironic that someone who claims to have “started the real estate marketing revolution” didn’t anticipate this type of social media response to what appears to be simply bullying. I mean, really?
Thanks for commenting on this post though. Hopefully she has other good friends like you that might be able to help her make the right decision.
Maybe there’s a personal conflict between both parties. Anyways, lets just leave them to sort things out. They’re all grown ups. They could figure what to do with the situation.
Fair enough, Sean. After watching the video of Denise, it’s apparent that there are two very different sides to this story. Either way, I updated the post with recent videos from both parties. I guess we’ll see what happens.
I am the person Denise references when she says only one person contacted her.
I did not know Denise Lones before this issue erupted. I know Daniel and I like Daniel. I watched as blogs were launch and conversation ensued and there was something about the rush to judgment that did not add up.
Denise Lones made a business decision to proceed according to a legal plan, following her attorney’s advice. Her legal firm specializes in intellectual property rights. Daniel took an important legal document to an attorney who bills herself as a “domestic relations” specialist. My hunch is things would play differently today if he made a smarter choice in attorney selection last year.
There is a firestorm of rhetoric about this matter in the RE.net by a group of online thugs who are happy to characterize themselves as “Feral Internet Wolfpack” (Rob Hahn’s words, not mine). I hardly think that is something to be proud about.
I choose to believe the Rule of Law trumps the Rule of the Mob, regardless of what Feral Internet Wolfpack claims.
I think Denise Lones will emerge from this episode stronger, with a fortified brand. That is not what the Feral Internet Wolfpack thinks. We’ll see …
Francces –
It was very considerate and professional of you to pick up the phone and contact The Lones Group before sharing your opinion online.
I actually haven’t had a chance to pay attention to this story in the past week, but I hope they’re all figuring things out. Lawsuits are painful and costly for everyone involved.
The thought of a real estate marketing company suing a real estate agent over the Zebra term frustrates me. I just think that there are better ways of working this out. But, I’ll let them deal with it on their own.
Either way, I’m happy to update this post with any new videos or relevant news that you think would serve as a good education. Or, go ahead and share your links in the comment section, and I’ll make sure they get approved.
I am completely surprised by the number of people jumping on the bandwagon to side with Daniel. I personally know Denise, she has been my trainer, coach, and mentor for years. She is incredibly intelligent, exceptionally ethical, an honest and hard worker. Denise truly cares about her clients, and her clients truly care about her. Those relationships don’t come from poor judgement.
I’m not sure why people don’t understand the lawsuit. Denise has used Zebras in her marketing for years, and has had the Zebra Report and Zebra Blog for years as well. She is well known in the industry and travels the entire country teaching real estate classes and helping agents with the branding needs. The face that Daniel is on one side of the country and Denise on the other doesn’t matter. Denise travels the country with her business. Denise is also a licensed agent, broker, teacher, coach, etc. so there are overlapping areas in their businesses. I understand Daniel wanting to use the Zebra because of his referee affiliation, but Denise does have a trademark and I’m afraid Daniel will probably need to change his marketing. Nobody will win with all this bad press, I suggest Daniel realize the trademark, and the overlap in their two businesses and move on. It is unfortunate, but he has now had a lot of publicity, his exposure has been increased at least. For Denise, people are already passing judgement without knowing the entire story. Stop the school yard antics, and stop bashing this wonderful lady.
Daniel, if you want someone to change your image, you could hire Denise Lones, she does a fabulous job!
Good Luck to All,
Robin Cook
Updated: http://danielrothamel.com/on-endings-and-beginnings
@ Robin – thanks for the feedback. I haven’t paid attention to this topic in a while, are there any other posts or videos on the web that tell the story from a different point of view? I’d be happy to post the links in this article to bring some balance to my post.
Thanks
Mark, I don’t know if you have seen this interview with Denise or not, but here it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evf21PU1LUM
Robin Cook
Yep, thanks Robin. I’ve got her video embedded in this post under the 3/7/11 update, as well as a link back to her response.