JD Blanks

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3Peake

Member
Joined
May 20, 2010
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331
Location
Lancashire, England
I bought some of the JD Blanks from a member on here and received the certificate with them. Made the pens and some keyrings and have them advertised on my website using a photo with the certificate . All was well but I have now received emails from someone saying they work for Jack Daniels and telling me I have to remove all pics and mention of the certificate. Anyone have any Idea how I stand with this as I do state that they are not officially licensed products but I would still like to sell them with the certificate but I don't fancy fighting Jack Daniels. Anybody???
 
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If you bought the blanks from someone who bought the barrel I do not see how JD can tell you how to use them. I would ask them to send me a registered letter from JD stating the reason you can not use them> I think someone is bluffing and messing with you.
 
I wouldn't give that much attention. I would contact the supplier you bought them from and give him a heads up. From searching and what I recall I believe Jim got permission from J.D. to authenticate them. Also Wood Turningz sells them here with a COA http://woodturningz.com/Wood_Pen_Blanks.aspx

I took a look at your site and didn't see them. I wouldn't pull it, thing's may be a little different there in England, but here heck it would take a LOT more than a few emails to get me to pull something. I wouldn't even respond to an email.

JMO
 
3Peake said:
I bought some of the JD Blanks from a member on here and received the certificate with them. Made the pens and some keyrings and have them advertised on my website using a photo with the certificate . All was well but I have now received emails from someone saying they work for Jack Daniels and telling me I have to remove all pics and mention of the certificate. Anyone have any Idea how I stand with this as I do state that they are not officially licensed products but I would still like to sell them with the certificate but I don't fancy fighting Jack Daniels. Anybody???
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Can you give us a link to the website page in question? We may be able to give you some advice. Right off the top of my head, I imagine that it would be an issue if you have a picture of their logo or a bottle of their product. Also, the wording that you use could be an issue. When we sell these, we state simply that they are made from a JD barrel rather than calling them JD pens.
 
I have already altered the site as there was some pens on that I had called Jack Daniel's pens but I also had a picture of it with the certificate and that seems to be the problem. The fact that it has the badge and correct font. There is a picture on Martin's handturned pens and gifts - Pen and Keyring Sets and it shows a pen , keyring with the certificate.
Just to clarify this is NOTa dig at suppliers I was just wondering if anybody else has had this problem.
 
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I would not include any image of their logo or their font. If they are on your CoAs, than I would not have the CoAs in the pic.

"Jack Daniels Pen" will result in a penalty flag. "Made from a Jack Daniel's whiskey barrel likely will not.
 
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bruce119 said:
I wouldn't give that much attention. I would contact the supplier you bought them from and give him a heads up. From searching and what I recall I believe Jim got permission from J.D. to authenticate them. Also Wood Turningz sells them here with a COA http://woodturningz.com/Wood_Pen_Blanks.aspx
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A couple thoughts about woodturningz offerings:
  1. You will note that they used neither JD's logo nor font.
  2. They sell their CoAs separately from the blanks. This pretty much makes the CoA worthless, in my opinion. Of course, these CoAs are already worth no more than one that you print up on your own.
  3. They do call the blanks 'JD Blanks' and 'Jim Beam blanks'. I'm thinking that perhaps JD and Jim Beam haven't yet noticed the website.
 
sbell111 said:
I would not include any image of their logo or their font. If they are on your CoAs, than I would not have the CoAs in the pic.

"Jack Daniels Pen" will result in a penalty flag. "Made from a Jack Daniel's whiskey barrel likely will not.
Click to expand...

This is a Trademark issue. Without explicit permissions, use of trademarks puts one into a place where infringements can become expensive.

The statement above describing the source is factual rather than one using a trademarked term as a descriptor.

Note that trademarks are enforced by the holder, and they have to protect the trademark or risk losing it.
 
3Peake said:
I have already altered the site as there was some pens on that I had called Jack Daniel's pens but I also had a picture of it with the certificate and that seems to be the problem. The fact that it has the badge and correct font. There is a picture on Martin's handturned pens and gifts - Pen and Keyring Sets and it shows a pen , keyring with the certificate.
Just to clarify this is NOTa dig at suppliers I was just wondering if anybody else has had this problem.
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Martin,
Can I offer a friendly criticism of your site?
It may be my eyes (they're about twice the age of yours) but I find the text and colors on your pages very hard to read... you need more contrast between the dark background and your text...
 
not to get off topic, but does anyone know how to get extra COAs? most of the blanks i use go on a Sierra style, so i sometimes get 2 pens out of one blank but not enough COAs to cover all the projects.
 
3Peake said:
I bought some of the JD Blanks from a member on here and received the certificate with them. Made the pens and some keyrings and have them advertised on my website using a photo with the certificate . All was well but I have now received emails from someone saying they work for Jack Daniels and telling me I have to remove all pics and mention of the certificate. Anyone have any Idea how I stand with this as I do state that they are not officially licensed products but I would still like to sell them with the certificate but I don't fancy fighting Jack Daniels. Anybody???
Click to expand...
Martin,

I had a look at a photo in your IAP photo album and if this is what they are taking exception too, Personally, I would think twice about using it.

It's a little hard to read but I believe the caption towards the bottom says....

"These turnings have been carefully crafted to match the Jack Daniels Distillery level of excellence"

To me that implies the turnings themselves were made to Jack Daniels specifications and looks like someone took a little liberty by adding a few lines of their own text to the certificate. This goes way beyond just using some wood from used oak barrels.

Here is the photo I saw, is this the one that was on your site causing the problems?

1_ads002-1.jpg
 
Woodturningz has Coa's cheap. By the way,I was in Lynchburg, Tn.( the home of Jack Daniels and 1 hour from me) this past Sat. at their annual BBQ competition and craft fair. Very good show. Across the square from my booth was the Lynchburg Hardware Store where they have all things Jack Daniels. I bought 2 barrel staves from a used barrel to make pens out of. Ordered CoA's from Woodturnings. I am going back in 2 weeks to get 2 used barrels. (empty ,of course.)
 
I think the problem is with the COA, not the fact that it is a pen made from a JD barrel. I had a look at the COAs of JD blanks supplied by other vendors and they are nothing like the one you have. Their COAs are plain and just state that the wood used is from a JD barrel.

CERT-JACKDAN.jpg



The COA you seem to have has a couple of lines that might imply that JD had some direct involvment with the making of the pen. Plus the blatant use of their logo and font. They are protecting their trademarks and reputation.

I had a similar situation many years ago when I had an internet provider business. I had a customer with a permanent dial-up connection, who asked to have the connection named "I-like-popular cola". A few months later I got a fax from popular cola's lawyers. When I rang them, I was told that it was possible that anything that customer said or did using that connection name could be misconstrued as comming from popular cola and so damage their brand or reputation. Seems these companies employ people specifically looking for breaches of trademark or anything that might affect their brands reputations.

As a side note, none of these COAs (JD, JB, BOW, etc) can actually prove the providence of the blanks. Anyone could get this type of COA printed up. You really need tracable signatures or official stamps.
 
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