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Tamara Holder and Lis Wiehl on Fox News discuss trademark battle between former congressman and his supporters
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Tamara Holder and Lis Wiehl on Fox News discuss trademark battle between former congressman and his supporters
Every headline seems to run the meme "against his supporters".
Well I'm one of those supporters and he hasn't done anything to me and I have no respect for what the domain owner is doing
lol Ron Paul's sure off to a great start at ruining his legacy.
I wonder what multiple of annual free cash-flow $250,000 is for that website.
My guess is that 5x is an extremely, extremely, extremely far too low for an estimate.
I mean if the owner really wanted $250,000 for it, he could easily justify it by having a CPA do a certification of the cashflow, and then state a multiple based on that figure that gets to $250,000.
Lady in the pink dress is pleading an emotional argument. Lady in white is more level headed.
Lady in pink needs to be shown the door.
They'll never show you how much they make because then they will lose the 'grassroots support' because we will find out they make entirely way too much. There is a blatant reason why they left out their earnings from the 'letter' but instead talked about how hard they worked and how much they sacrificed. They figure if they can play to everybody's emotion, they'll look RP bad for trying to get the domain.
Disappoint
They should quit calling them supporters and instead call them what they are. People making a living off of the liberty movement.
I have to wonder if Ron Paul is really behind this. It doesn't seem like something he'd push to the point of a lawsuit.
I put extensive comments on this on the other thread. We don't know what happened and do know the site owner is trying to stir up public opinion against Ron for 'going to the UN' when the tribunal is specified in the site owner's own agreement with the domain, which also specifies the rules that allowed the site owner to snap up Ron's sites over the years and also specifies the basis for this claim.
Having said that, I am surprised at this action, but not knowing why Ron did it, I am giving him every benefit of the doubt until I find out the facts.
In the meantime I think the site owner who has this site on whosis to sell to anyone including Ron's enemies right now, from what I can tell, should suggest a fair mechanism for neutral valuation of the site. Ron has an estimate saying it is worth $50,000. If that isn't correct, suggest another method.
Getting bored with it.Just go get them,Ron.Calling themselves 'supporters' is just cr#p.
They also said the take it or leave it was because they wanted not to sell it after all, yet as of yesterday it was listed on whosis for ANYONE to buy. That it might have been on the verge of being sold potentially to people who would try to cause trouble for his new project (an Adelson funded group like the one attacking Hagel or something) might have been what precipitated the claim. No idea, but as I said, I'm giving Ron the benefit of the doubt.
This wasn't on TV (in case anybody was wondering).
http://www.ronpaul.com/images/Annexes.pdf
Page 32 & 38, he signed the affidavit, and his daughter notarized.
For what it's worth, I recall Josh and myself having tried many times to find out who the people behind the site were, but I know I never got anywhere with that. I wanted to talk to them about transcripts and captioning videos. I sent numerous emails to them over a period of four years and never once heard back. The people running that site never passed the smell test for me. But that's just me.
The people holding RonPaul.com stopped being supporters of Ron Paul precisely when they failed to cooperate with Ron Paul.
The use of "supporters" in the press is evidence of slanting this story in a certain fashion (Or of lazy journalism).
Ugh, what a bunch of nonsense this is.
I can't stand to watch the video again to verify the explicit accuracy of the following statement, but I want to say that literally everything stated in the video is false. That was really, really bad analysis coming from a layperson, much less so called legal experts.
This isn't a lawsuit, it isn't against 'his supporters'. Outrageously horrid video. Shame shame.
Do you think after all their fees/expenses, they really pull down $5,000 a month for the site? It just seems like...a lot....for a Ron Paul supporter site that I absolutely never visit.
If they really make that after fees/expenses, I imagine somewhere in the range of 1x-1.5x would be a fair price, so $70,000-$105,000?
heres my problem with it. the site has been owned for years by someone else. but now that $250k is to much to ask, there is now a problem? where does the free market come in at? i do understand the other side of the argument, but whats to stop all the other couple hundred ron pauls from suing ron himself for the site?? i just dont agree with this suit.
It's not a suit, and the only information at this point that we have has been released by someone with a horse in the race, who has an interest in making himself look good and RP look bad... I would wait until more information is available before making up my mind about anything.
I agree, I just don't get it. I would think Ron would pay the fair market value of the site (hey if the guy is making $70,000 on it after fees/expenses, that's a decent living). Ron can't just expect the guy to say "oh okay, here's a $70k donation to you" (or $250k if that's a good figure). Live by the market, die by the market, Ron.
But the fact of the matter is, none of us have any clue what the cashflow is from the site.
Comedy Central has picked up on this now.
ht tp://www.indecisionforever.com/blog/2013/02/11/ron-paul-sends-black-helicopters-after-ronpaul-com
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Ron Paul Sends Black Helicopters After RonPaul.com
http://www.indecisionforever.com/fil...l2-570x320.jpg
On May 1, 2008, a group of Ron Paul supporters launched RonPaul.com, a website dedicated to promoting Ron Paul's political ambitions and, in the spirit of the free market, making a few doubloons for the site's proprietors.
It was a lot like Ron Paul's newsletters, except with 100% fewer predictions of race riots and 50% more fawning over the good doctor's foreign policy views.
But as of last week, there is trouble in anarcho-capitalist paradise.
On February 7, an attorney for Paul filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization, an agency of the United Nations–an organization Ron Paul likes about as much as he likes the Federal Reserve–demanding control of the RonPaul.com domain.
What's happening here? Is Paul becoming a statist who sends his supporters "off to a UN tribunal" as claimed by RonPaul.com? Will he now sell his books exclusively for Ameros?
A few commenters on RonPaul.com stood by the site's owners:
Rob Zulan: "Ron Paul, Don't become like Metallica alienate your fan base by trying to sieze RonPaul.com [sic]. Take the offer for the free domain name RonPaul.org and apologize to RonPaul.com. We don't expect you to be fully competent with Internet technology at your age, and maybe it's your lawyer who filed without your knowledge or understanding. God knows that lawyers are the scum of the earth. They don't understand how anything works and are the first to take action (cough… cough… Obama)."
The chances of Paul becoming "like Metallica" are about as good as the man becoming president, and considering he signed an affidavit attached to the WIPO complaint, it's pretty clear that Paul knew what he was doing. Interestingly, most commenters who live in the 10% of the Internet dedicated to all things Ron Paul are supportive of their libertarian hero:
Priscilla: "How could you people treat Ron Paul in such a way as this!! This is absolutely un- called for.You should be ashamed of your selves!!"
Greedy: PLEASE GIVE UP THIS DOMAIN TO IT'S OWNER RON PAUL. COME ON! ARE YOU GUYS SERIOUS? ARE YOU REALLY FOR PAUL OR JUST IN FOR THE MONEY?
Chad: You've profited on someone else's name, appearance, and wealth. Now, you’re mad that RP is forced to go directly to the managing authority. I wish we could just settle it without government intervention, because you'd get the beat down you deserve. I would wish you luck, but I hope you lose… badly.
Maybe it is ironic that Ron Paul is using the UN to grab a domain name from his supporters, but it's not as hypocritical as it seems. Anyone who registers a domain name agrees to abide by the rules set out by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a private non-profit that has designated the UN's WIPO as the arbiter of domain trademark disputes.
In other words, anyone who registers a domain subjects themselves to a "UN tribunal."
You'd just think that a bunch of libertarians could solve this with a shake of the invisible hand, rather than going through this arbitration nonsense.
I can't speak to what's happening right now with the contention for site ownership of RonPaul.com, but I will say that during the last election cycle the owner of that site did work with us promoting the moneybombs and some of the supporter projects on both the site he owns as well as through the social media pages he's set up on facebook, youtube videos, etc. Although it's true at time communication was intermittent he was responsive at least for me, for the most part, in terms of getting specific grassroots information out on the net.
Seems to me although I agree that the domain should go to Ron Paul I think the guy who currently owns it should be compensated in some way, he did something not even Ron Paul's own staff did and that can not be overlooked.