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FedEx Cracks Down on Box Furniture, Citing DMCA
nospmiS remoH writes "Wired is running an article about a guy with no money making furniture out of FedEx boxes. If that weren't strange enough, FedEx is going after him, legally citing the DMCA. Yes, the DMCA. Apparently they are not upset about the furniture itself but rather this site that he put up with pictures of his creations (pretty good work really). My favorite quote from the article, '...Avila clearly intended to operate a business from his website because he used the .com domain suffix, the "commercial level domain," rather than .net.' You just can't make this stuff up."
It's only a matter of time before FedEx starts going after the homeless that live in FedEx boxes...
They put out these stupid phone directories. No one wanted them. They were the biggest waste of money, and they ended up sitting outside on huge stacks for people to grab. One night, we took a whole bunch of them, added some duct tape, and we had a couch for our dorm room. The only problem was that the covers were glossy and we would also slide off the couch.
Is the server made out of fedex boxes.
Wired is running an article about a guy with no money making furniture out of FedEx boxes. If that weren't strange enough, FedEx is going after him, legally citing the DMCA. Yes, the DMCA.
Its common for homeless people or people without money to commit stupid crimes in order to get locked up for a while in order to get a free place to stay and food. This guy must have been clever to be able to first get temporary free furniture and then a temporary free place to stay and free food.
Very clever.
...and, erm, send him on his way.
My favorite part of the site, the footer:
/dev/null. By emailing us any questions or comments you give fedexfurniture.com the right to post any such message, and or replies on our site.
If any shipping corporations have problems with our site please feel free to forward requests to
How many roads must a man walk down? 42.
But information (and shipping boxes) WANT to be free... :-)
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Yeah it's like...
Insane Lawyer: "hey, this guy is making our logo and related corporate branding imagery get seen by millions of people worldwide... hmm... let's ruin our reputation with every single one of those people!"
CEO: "hey yeah good idea! proposal approved!"
Fedex gave him warning, then posted a link to his site in a ./ article.
When I was in college my roommate and I made a couch out of cases of empty (beer) returnables. Can I sue somebody to get free beer?
Probably cheaper & safer than hiring "Luigi's take your stuff and jack up our rates while we hold your stuff for ransom movers".
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
And, by making sure he gets Slashdotted, they've already succeeded!
He can't catch a break.
Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different. -- Earl of Chesterfield
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I doubt FedEx really cares about the suit; they just wanted to do something crazy enough to pop up on the /. radar so we'd all go over and melt down his server.
:-/
We've been duped!!
"Creativity is allowing ones self to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep" - Scott Adams
Hmm..
:)
1) Someone puts up a website that irritates your corporation
2) File a frivolous lawsuit against the website
3) Wait until Slashdot picks up the resulting story
4) Watch the site go down in flames due to the subsequent slashdotting.
5) Objective achived, site is offline!
Slashdot - greater threat to free speech than the DMCA?
It just goes to show the level of interest / level of readership both sites have. I saw this on Wired earlier, clicked the link and had a butchers, saw lots of nice photos of furniture made from cardboard and then got back to doing some proper work. Then this appears in my RSS reader and I go back to have another chortle and the damn thing is unreachable. Slashdot and aa419.org should team up and become the worlds largest manual instigated DDOS system
It's a classic story. The crusader is attacked by evil copyright bad-guys. He refuses to submit and puts his website back online. In a cruel twist, his site is ultimately annihilated by those who support him.
Same as before (read: currently) with the record industry:
"I dont get it. We sue the fuck out of them and they STILL won't buy our products!"
-Valiss
I wonder if he can make a new webserver out of FedEx boxes ;)
---- "Logoff! That cookie shit makes me nervous!" - A. Soprano
And the reason he couldn't actually test his bed with two people on it obvious.... right?
Looks like he made his webserver out of FedEx boxes too!
Maybe if U-Haul and similar places didn't overcharge severly for boxes. I'd be happy to pay anyone for boxes if they weren't overpriced.
You should be irritated with the pricing (both the high prices and the free giveaways) on both sides.
At least he's not a loudmouth.
Christ, why are the "ethical" people all so fucking loud and annoying?
Well, one's thing is for sure -- I won't be posting pictures on my website showing off my USPS poster tube bong (DISCLAIMER: For tobacco use only) anytime soon. My USPS "toilet" probably wouldn't go over too well either . . .
A B A C A B B
I guess that makes slashdot.org a "non-profit" organization...
If you have a non-decent judge, you better hope his robe stays closed...
Jose Avila: I'm broke! See how broke I am? I'm funny too! Can't you spare just a little change?
Lawyer: See! Right there, I told you so! If you allow Mr. Avila to continue using the FedEx trademark, customers will become confused, and may think they're donating money to the REAL FedEx corporation!
So, does that mean when he can't pay the legal fees to defend himself he will be forced to sell his furniture and get sued again?!?!
My USPS "toilet" probably wouldn't go over too well either . . .
Wow! When the box is full, where do you ship the stuff?
"Judges and juries, man. They don't get nothin'. They don't know that sometimes God wants you to kill your family and, like, do stuff with their body parts. Read the Bible, man - God's all into that. So, what you in here for, man?"
"Eh.. I got these boxes from the Post Office.."
Before USPS will send you your order they will make you sign an Affidavit stating that you will not use their boxes for any other purpose. Having said that, they make great boxes for Christmas gifts...
I'd pay this guy to replace all his furniture with UPS boxes and come out looking like a hero!
Oh yeah, I should go into PR!
I would offer to help him and send him all of the packaging materials he needs..... You couldn't buy that kind of advertising.
New UPS Commercial: "What can Brown do for you? Help you stick it to FedEx and furnish your apartment...."
Who is the master of foxhounds, and who says the hunt has begun? -Pink Floyd
...Wow! When the box is full, where do you ship the stuff...
I'm sure it could be sent to SCO...considering that's what they're full of...
Hope be with ye,
Cyan
Can't make a raft out of 'em, either, I'll bet.
MjM
XKCD:Xeric Knowledge Comically Dispen
.com domains were established for commercial enterprises. I think it's perfectly reasonable to postulate that a web site in the .com domain is commercial! What's so outrageous about that? The police department of a town near me has a web site in the .com domain. http://harborpd.com/ . Since the town was established and exists primarily as a speed trap, it seems perfectly reasonable that they advertise themselves as a for-profit organization. ;-)
I think FedEx has a case here. I went to that site and thought I was at FedEx.com, no lie. For some reason it took longer to type into my browser than fedex.com, but I was still confused between the FedEx brand and this guy's attempt to make furniture.
In other news...
* Scotch brand tape will be suing anybody making a 3D contruct of tape similar to a ball
* Swingline will be suing anyone who makes a CD/floppy eject tool out of a paperclip
* International Paper will literally crucify anyone who makes paper footballs,
* various rubber-band manufacturers have formed a consortium specifically to pursue legal action against anyone that uses a rubber-band as a device similar to a slingshot or a projectile in itself
* the Ticonderoga pencil company will be after anyone who bundles pencils together into a tube shape to simulate a solid piece of wood
Sounds ridiculous? Wait and see!!!
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart, he dreams himself your master."
While offtopic, it's fun to talk about...
When I worked at Dell in the safety investigation labs, I would often inspect failed PCs via unusual means. Most of the time, it's because of smoke or "pop" sounds from a failed power supply (bad capacitor sounds like a fire cracker). At any rate, about 1/10 of those PCs failed due to ROACHS!!! That's right, roaches are attracted to the ionized air created by the power supply. They often find them steril and clean enough to lay eggs in. By the time we get those PCs, they eggs have already hatched.
Let me tell you something... I ALWAYS open the side case cover very very carefully. You never know when a swarm of 20+ roaches come crawling out the moment they see some light.
Life is not for the lazy.
But seriously now. The USPS is not independent. You wouldn't call me "independent" from my girlfriend if I required her signature to spend money, would you? It's a government-owned, government-regulated corporate entity. The fact that it's "corporate" doesn't make it "independent" at all!
And it's a federal offense in the same way that many kinds of tamperings with federal affairs are. Destruction of currency, for example. Feel free to assume it's not a federal offense, though. A few discarded envelopes, and we won't have to worry about you posting on Slashdot anymore. Or do they have the Internets in Federal Pound-Me-In-The-Ass Prison now?
Not only must we stop the insidious production of box furniture but we must see that box cutters, packing tape, and rulers are destroyed as well. These are the evil tools these evil doers use to violate our rights.
Then....on to Web Browsers and HTTP Servers! Then to the mother of all violators....Operating Systems. No other tool has caused so much duplication and distribution of our most sacred IP.
We cannot let such things to continue.
I think UPS' slogan says it all: "what can brown do for you?"