My First Cease & Desist Order!
Got an email today from a lawyer firm handing me a cease and desist order for a review I wrote on Max International, hahaha! I have until April 17th before legal action is going to be taken.
Here are some of the things they pointed out.
- Use of Max Internationals trademarks to divert traffic to promote your own products or services.
- False, misleading, deceptive statements that are designed to endorse another commercial endeavour.
- Lack of full disclosure of my commercial purposes.
It's my first one of these in all the time i have been online. I can see where I went wrong with the trademarks as I used their logo within my featured image.
On all my other posts I have a disclosure stating that I am not affiliated with the company I am reviewing, I also state what I do and how I do it (Affiliate Marketing with WA). For some reason I didn't have it on this post. Not sure why.
As for the misleading and deception, I guess that's the nature of writing negative review on products we don't use with the intention of directing them towards WA or any other opportunity for that fact.
Hopefully Kyle can see this post so he can give his POV.
I have made the changes to the post and will be communicating with them. I'll keep everyone posted.
Here is the URL: https://totallifestylefreedom.com/review/max-international-review-legit-or-scam/
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Quick update: I removed the images they were crying about, put a notice at the top of my page that I am an affiliate for WA and emailed the, back. They replied telling me they did not accept anything less than me deleting the post.
I replied with something that rhymes with Ged Ducked and I haven't heard from them since LOL
I would not use the word "scheme" after the words multi-level marketing. Multi-level marketing is a business model used by many publicly owned companies including some listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The Federal Trade Commission also makes a distinction between MLM and pyramid schemes.
Thanks for writing about this. I'll aim not to use logos in images and always disclose what I do. But wondering now, with the changes you've made, might the review be acceptable or is it a case of when you attract their attention they target you to intimidate action they would like to see, regardless?
Yep, skip the logos and put that disclosure in there. Rookie mistakes!
I'll send them a polite email stating the changes I have made and we will see what happens from there. I'll keep everyone updated.
To be honest, I'm not bothered or intimidated.
Wow Beau, this is some next-level threat. Do you think this was inevitable, or simply because you missed the disclaimer? Should I be including the disclaimer on every post?
I think not including the disclaimer definitely started this. I have also got a lot of negative comments from Max International members haha!
To be honest I'm not too worried. This term is worth 50 searches per month so meh.
When we neg review products with the intention to redirect them to WA then I can see how this can be questionable practice. This was the first site I created here at WA and you can definitely tell.
If you are reviewing products I would always put a disclaimer. Either on every post or in the footer.
I had a similar experience a few years ago. Mine was a DMCA takedown which is different, but still using lawyers to intimidate me. In the end, they couldn't do anything about it. They don't like negative reviews but, tough! That's the cost of doing business online.
I appreciate your humility in admitting some areas you may have erred. All the best in sorting through the mess, Beau.
I seen that! Did you see the article on how Google Home was stating that all women are evil... I lost my sh*t when I read that hahaha. Well done Google *sarcasm of course*
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Great insight! This is how I'd have handled it as well.