Here's how to personally contact the NBA: Click Here: http://www.checkdomain.com/cgi-bin/checkdomain.pl?domain=www.nba.com ------------------ RKMAN President of "The Matt Maloney & Rudy T. Haters Club."
Write them a letter here: National Basketball Association c/o Television and New Media Ventures 645 5th Ave., 10th Floor New York, NY 10022 United States of America ------------------ RKMAN President of "The Matt Maloney & Rudy T. Haters Club."
we are with you clutch. this is all true right? i mean this isn't a joke like the one you pulled on april fools. well anyways i e-mailed lance zerlain since he is a fan of the site maybe he can help
I told my wife what's going on here, and her immediate guess is that the letter is a fraud intended to trick Clutch into shutting down the site -- perpetrated by Clutch's wife.
I'm not saying Clutch should challenge the NBA and make himself a legal test case. I'm saying the legal burden is on the NBA to make a case against Clutch. And in the meantime, Clutch is not in jail or obliged to post bail. So my advice is to politely (and with a minimum of effort on Clutch's part) drag out an exchange of letters -- say, every two months -- asking the NBA for documentation of its most far-fetched claims, starting with ownership of the phrase "Clutch City." This is how a guerrilla army beats a superpower. It's our terrain, and it's their money bleeding out with every billable hour. Make it hurt. My $50 check to the Clutch Legal Defense Fund goes in the mail Monday. And if Clutch ends up not needing a legal defense, the check is transferrable to the clutchcity.net Foundation, chartered as of today to maintain the site on a nonprofit basis so that Clutch can give the NBA what it sincerely deserves: the finger.
The things I miss while I am away on vacation! Terrible. No way are we gonna let them shut this site down without a fight! Clutch, I'm not a practicing lawyer (yet!) but I have finished 2 years of law school and would like to help in whatever way possible. I'll do some research at work tomorrow and see what sort of precedents we can come up with. The case mentioned by Jeff sounds like a good place to start.
Im in where do I send the check to support the cause? Also everyone please keep posting email addresses to email our opinions to. Im sure if they get enough letters, they will have to comment and create more publicity and recognize the true fan support for this site. ------------------ Its not how hard you push along the way, its having something left in you to finish. IS IT IN YOU?
I still can't believe that Clutch City might not exist in the near future. It's been a pretty big part of my "Internet Life." Anyway, Clutch, hopefully everything will turn out fine. Do you have an update on the situation? Has anyone heard your story? Who has been willing to help?
Well, since I write about 78 posts too late, all the good suggestions are taken up! BUt I share everyone's sentiments towards this disgraceful and classless tactic by the NBA (National Bull**** Association) Clutch, obviously you can't ignore the situation, and despite the NBA's power they still don't have a real case here. Add into the fact that individuals and small companies are starting to have their way with the big corporations as of late, take into account the public support and it really gives the league no merit. I will join the cause to fight this injustice and do anything in my power to battle in the name of Clutchcity. I've sent some emails to some of the addresses y'all listed and please keep us updated if there is any progress Clutch. You, no we, will win the battle. (damn, that was a little too corny!) Azim da Dream ------------------ "Realize if you have time to whine and complain about something, you have time to do something about it." [This message has been edited by Azim da Dream (edited August 08, 1999).]
Thanks to everyone for the support and thank you Will and the others for wanting to send money, but please don't send any money. I really, really, really do appreciate it, but right now I'm not sure if we're going to need it and I don't want to do this for the money. I just enjoy doing it when I can. I will let you guys know though down the road if it's going to be required in some sort of "legal fund". I've gotten a lot of advice and offers for help, and this hasn't gone up on the page yet either, so I feel good about it. Here are copies of the letters. They were sent to Frank Swindle at Digital Media. Since I couldn't reach him last night to get permission to post them, I blacked out his address and the phone numbers to the NBA offices. I'm not sure how we should attack this yet so don't want any "loose cannons" calling their office... yet. <div align="center"> <table cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="300"> <TR> <TD width="100" valign="top"><a href="http://www.clutchcity.net/nba_letter/letter1a.jpg"><div align="center"><img src="http://www.clutchcity.net/nba_letter/letter1a_thumb.jpg" border="0"></div></a></TD> <TD width="100" valign="top"><a href="http://www.clutchcity.net/nba_letter/letter1b.jpg"><div align="center"><img src="http://www.clutchcity.net/nba_letter/letter1b_thumb.jpg" border="0"></div></a></TD> <TD width="100" valign="top"><a href="http://www.clutchcity.net/nba_letter/letter1c.jpg"><div align="center"><img src="http://www.clutchcity.net/nba_letter/letter1c_thumb.jpg" border="0"></div></a></TD> </TR> </TABLE> </div> <BR CLEAR="ALL"> Few notes from the letter: They never say we must shut down the site. But they are trying to cripple it severely, primarily with the domain name issue. The fact they try to get us to change the domain name clutchcity.net since they have "Clutch City" as a registered trademark is just stupid. I think this here is going to be the sticking point -- it certainly is the part I am the most upset about. Just as stupid -- "Clutch City uses the name and registered trademark of the Houston Rockets" -- they mean the words? I can understand the audio, even though it's silly. Also the "framed" links to nba.com ("unauthorized links") ... I always use non-frames so I hardly ever pay attention to it. This is an <a href="http://www.builder.com/Business/Law/?tag=st.cn.sr1.dir.">excellent source for web laws concerning copyrights, trademarks, etc</A>. It gives a lot of example cases/lawsuits that have gone on lately. All in all I just think the NBA is cutting off their own nose with this one. I'll keep everyone posted on the issue, but I'm waiting to see what we do before putting this all over the main page. Thanks again for everyone's help. ------------------ Clutch Coming soon to clutchcity.net... HOUSTON ROCKET p*rn! www.clutchcity.net
Amazing. I can't believe the league would spend their time pursuing this...has it really been THAT long since the lockout??? However, I can't believe that mass emails to the nba or other authorities would be helpful at this point. Personally, I'll take the lead from Clutch...if he wants to raise a stink, I'll do it. But for now, I'll just voice my support for the site, and let them determine what the next course of action should be.
Geez. I'm supremely flattered to be associated with something of the level of quality and professionalism that it could be mistaken for the official site. Why do I doubt that Krusty Garza received a similar letter...? However, I'm insulted-- no one's gonna mistake clutchcity.net for that piece of **** NBA.com site. ------------------ "All there really is, virtue and vice-- well it's been a nice life" TBC
Just another example of the man trying to keep the brother down. Kill whitey, er, I mean David Stern!!!! ------------------ HOW SWEET IT WAS (AND COULD BE AGAIN)!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Clutch, I know this is a serious topic and all but, don't you think you should close the thread? I mean, it has nothing to do with this forum. Maybe you should move it to BBS Hangout. I know if I or anyone else started a topic that did not belong in this forum, it would be closed or removed. Just my opinion. GO CC Y2K! ------------------ RKMAN President of "The Matt Maloney & Rudy T. Haters Club."
RKMAN -- Technically you're right, but if this matter isn't resolved, it won't be this thread that will be closed. It will be the whole forum. ------------------ Clutch Coming soon to clutchcity.net... HOUSTON ROCKET p*rn! www.clutchcity.net
Clutch, I talked to a lawyer yesterday about NBAP, Inc.. Basically, he said the NBA has no case. They're just trying to exploit you because they know you're a die-hard fan. Basically, they're trying to scare you into giving up. Keep with it. You've got a lot of people behind you. ------------------ Nuggets4 The Pinnacle - Rising to the Top With the Denver Nuggets http://www.nugspinnacle.com
NBA.com deserves what its getting for being so lazy by not providing us(the fans) what we want and deserve. The geeks at nba.com are so concerned with profit, that they have completely alienated the average knowledgable fan. the cobwebs are mounting at the nba's rockets page, but instead of looking at what they're doing wrong, they seem to have a knack of attacking the people who are doing it right. Unfortunately, on every aspect the nba has degraded itself into nothing more than a business and for diehard fans like me who enjoy the game in its purest form, its quite a disgrace. We need more people like clutch who has the passion and the spirit to bring us what we sorely need - An extensive houston rockets (basketball in general) info medium w/out any aspect of greed, power and money to contaminate its true purpose. Everytime I go on-line I make sure and visit this site because it simply is the best. I love Hakeem and the rockets and this site gives me everything I want and need-and then some. Clutch: respect and love for your efforts, I'm behind you all the way... raZi
