I have to admit, I'm starting to find the whole BattleFoam versus Outrider Hobbies legal mess to be very entertaining the more it unfolds. I've had some run-ins with the owner of BattleFoam in the past on Privateer Press's forums, and when I disagreed about some claims he made about his products, and even proved some of the claims wrong, he went as far as insulting me in a public forum. Fact remains his friends at Privateer Press even went as far as censoring me, while they let him roam freely hawking his wares, and jumping at every chance he could to interrupt a thread asking about similar products to promote his own.
One claim the guy made was that he started BattleFoam just 2 years ago with ONLY $1,000 in the bank and he works 80-hours a week, blaah blaah blaaah, in response to some comments I made about how the world was in an economic crisis, and how $300 miniature bags weren't helping, and many are on unemployment compensation to boot. So he tried to make out out like he's “one of us” with that comment.
Another guy saw the exchange and sent me a message stating this guy has acted like this before on other forums to do with baseball bats, and he informed me that BattleFoam's owner was also the owner of Diablo Bats. So I checked it out. The website clearly states that the company has been in business since 2001 I believe, and they sell high-end $50-$200+ each specialized baseball bats. So it's hard to believe there was truth in his statement, when he clearly owned and operated Diablo Bats all this time. By looking at the website and reading the testimonials, it's clear he's been doing quite well, and to fathom the guy only had $1,000 in the bank to start BattleFoam, became even harder to believe after seeing the facts provided by Diablo Bats website. So to me, the guy just seams slippery, very much like the fast talking snake-oil salesmen of days gone by.
So today I read the latest on the entire BattleFoam versus Outrider Hobbies filings, and the guy who runs Outrider dug up some really interesting dirt to help his cause. It appears that the so called “witness” who claims he was confused that Outrider's foam trays were BattleFoam trays, shares the same exact name of a guy who had a testimonial on the Diablo Bats website, praising Diablo Bats. This would prove a relationship exists between the owner of both Diablo Bats/BattleFoam, and the witness, and no doubt should nullify the “confusing trademark” argument. The document exhibit A also said that since Outrider Hobbies brought these details to the attention of BattleFoam's lawyers, that the testimonial in question has since disappeared from the Diablo Bats website.
Ouch! All I have to say is good for him! That just sounds so slippery, and so downright low. There's also the fact that the BattleFoam side of the argument has tried since day 1 to make New Hampshire the venue for the court proceedings, when both BattleFoam and Outrider exist in Arizona. In doing so it puts a huge financial strain on Outrider, and it goes to show how some people try and play dirty ball even legally (no pun intended, but it is quite funny since Diablo Bats has entered the mix eh?).
I honestly hope Outrider wins this one.
Here's the dirt in its entirety