Chrysler being sued by publisher of Choose Your Own Adventure books
Chooseco LLC (nice name) has filed a trademark lawsuit against DaimlerChrysler for Jeep's new marketing campaign that uses the tag line "Choose Your Adventure," which apparently is too close to the publisher's popular series of "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. Remember those? They were the books that always got checked out first from your grade school library, forcing you to look for dirty words in the encyclopedia instead. The publisher is miffed at not just the similar tagline, but the entire campaign, which it claims is aimed at men in their 20s and 30s who grew up reading "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. Both sides are currently talking, though Jason Vines, head communicator for the Chrysler Group, says his company offered to link to the publisher's website from the Jeep brand webpage. "Obviously, they're looking for money," he said. "We'd offered to link our site, which gets nine katrillion times more traffic, to their site." Truly a maestro of words, that Vines.
Though DCX was hit with a cease and desist letter on March 16th, the campaign is already in full force, with magazine and TV ads already out there. Airtime during the NCAA finals this weekend has also been bought, as well. There's no putting the toothpaste back in this tube, so we'll likely see Chooseco settle for an easy payday.
NOTE: The book shown is not an actual CYOA title, just one of many farcical photochops found on the net.
[Source: WCAX.com via Winding Road]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Paul 5:52PM (3/29/2007)
"They were the books that always got checked out first from your grade school library, forcing you to look for dirty words in the encyclopedia instead."
Amen. And that's a really funny picture.
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akintz 4:25PM (3/29/2007)
Ahaha... Thanks Autoblog...
Katrillion.
Holy Shit Where Am I?
I needed that!
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BKadalur 4:34PM (3/29/2007)
wow, these guys should trying selling books for money instead of suing others for it.
they should take the link and make money from there.
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CJ 4:59PM (3/29/2007)
Holy Schmoely! I have the original version (prechopped) of that book! Loved it!
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polar 4:46PM (3/29/2007)
"nine katrillion"
Well that is a lot more than 0.
I
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polar 4:51PM (3/29/2007)
"nine katrillion"
Well that is a lot more than 0.
I loved those books, and I never read the ends first... ever.
/need an edit function.
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CaliberSRT4 4:52PM (3/29/2007)
Never heard of the books...so I could care less. But hopefully CYOA Publishers lose.
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Dub 6:13PM (3/29/2007)
Haha, Vines cracks me up. For everything from them being "on the record" he sure doesn't talk like a manager, which IMHO is a good thing.
And FWIW, I'm 30, and don't remember those books at all. I remember similar books (make a decision, turn a specific page, continue, etc), but none of that name. Maybe I should have gotten to the library earlier?
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Phil L. 5:03PM (3/29/2007)
My favorite line today:
"There's no putting the toothpaste back in this tube..."
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abaron 6:57PM (3/29/2007)
To me, this is perfectly valid. The publishers are required to file suit if someone uses their intellectual property without permission. If they do not, they're not seen to be protecting their copyright and it's then free for anyone to legally use, at that point they loose any value associated with their name, or "brand".
Besides, Chrysler did bad here, they used this without permission, CYOA deserve compensation. A link on the website is not nearly sufficient. This is much like someone stealing a high dollar engine from you and using it in their own race car and when you approach them they say that they'll stick your name in little letters somewhere on the car, you'd certainly want more then that wouldn't you?
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Eric 3:42AM (3/30/2007)
I loved that one it was called "The Race Forever", I always used the Lancia.
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Atomicbri 5:44PM (3/29/2007)
LOVED CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE BOOKS! I had almost all of them. I actually thought of that when I saw the Jeep commercials...I would choose to link my site... and a lil cash payout. Its obvious someone in Jeep's or their ad agency loved those books when they were young.
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Bill Hancock 6:00PM (3/29/2007)
Thanks Autoblog...i like the toothpaste line
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David 7:04PM (3/29/2007)
suzuki also had a choose your own adventure for the promotion of the sx4
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c 1:03AM (3/30/2007)
Better watch some idiot is going to sue you for using the word AUTO or BLOG,I should sue the clown I work with for having the same first name as me!!
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adam 1:21PM (3/30/2007)
I had this one too, but I always used the Saab, not the Lancia. I think it was Saab 900, Lancia Stratos, Toyota Land Cruiser, or Land Rover, right?
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