Quote:
Originally posted by WolfeMacleod
Ahile ago, I posted about a possibility of getting screwed by someone...
Well, I received his business proposal. Yep, I think this guy want to screw me in a fairly unpleasant way.
Here's the gist of it. A three-phase proposal.
Starting with:
Cease taking all orders, refer people directly to him, remove any material from my website and my marking from the product, and sell him completed product for resale.
Then:
Cease manufacturing entire product model, and sell him only partial product for assembly completion by him.
Then:
Cease model production entirely, giving him complete control, including manufaturing techniques, specification, supply chains, and all.
Sounds like a raw f*cking deal to me.
My wife is currently in in his area on business and want to go drop a flaming bag of poo on his doorstep.
I'd tell him where to stick it, but I don't think it's big enough to fit what I had in mind...
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Agree - it seems clear he wants to put it to you. There has been good advice so far. I'll toss in a couple of additional thoughts, for whatever they are worth.
Step One: get past any flaming bag fantasies and remember Sun Tzu's axiom that "It is the unemotional, reserved, calm, detached warrior who wins, not the hothead seeking vengeance...." You need a lawyer, but you also need a strategic plan; he is on the offense, so you want to turn that around. Begin by having your lawyer ensure your technologies - including processes - are properly protected, but recognize that if he chooses to make a competing product in China, they won't care about any patents or processes; your legal battle will end up here after he is in production.
Step Two: analyze your strengths and weaknesses. Clearly your strengths include core technology and manufacturing processes, or he wouldn't be trying to extract them from you. Your weakness is unknown, but it sounds like there is better product identification for the model he helped modify.
Step Three: analyze his strengths and weaknesses. Strength seems to be that his version of your product appears to be more desirable - whether that is a factual improvement or only one of labeling, don't know. He clearly wants to have you 'gone' and transfer your core technologies to himself, therefore he seems to be over-reaching to make a grab for complete control.
Step Four: match your strengths to his weaknesses wherever possible.
Hopefully, "his" version of the product is not your only model. You are in a much stronger position if you still produce your original. In any event, I would consider ensuring product differentiation. At a minimum there should be the "Wolfe Original" and the "Wolfe Model B" - plus I would put some thought into creating a third variant , the "Wolfe Model C" that does not include any of his ideas. Redesign your web page to promote the "Model C" improvement. Back page the original somewhat but give it the aura of the revered ancestor of the line. Further back page his model. Do the same with any packaging you might have.
Now that he is put in a defensive position, consider raising his wholesale cost from you slightly. The price increase should coincide with receiving a letter from the attorney that will demand that any product he moves must prominently mention that it is the "Wolfe Model B" and packaging/promotion must meet certain standards - yada, yada.
Require that all sales must be through you - orders taken and product shipped to the customer. Any web site he has to promote your product must only link to your site for sales. You should be paying him a royalty on his product ideas beyond your core technologies. Don't let him control the customer base under any circumstances. If he wants to be exclusive in representing [your]"Wolfe Model B"[/i] he gets less than if you have freedom to promote it through other channels.