Delta continues to threaten to sue SCOTTEVEST despite changes made to the contest to make abundantly clear Delta was not involved

Please read bottom up for an update on this situation. In sum, I believed that the changed we made to our contest page per Delta's original threat were sufficient to put this matter to rest, http://www.scottevest.com/company/carry-on_contest.shtml.  Apparantly, Delta did not think so.  In my effort for complete transparency, see the most recent correspondence below, reading bottom up.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Scott Jordan <
Date: Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 12:53 PM
Subject: Re: Delta Air Lines, Inc. - Misuse and unauthorized use of the DELTA trademark by Scott Jordan/SCOTTeVEST LLC
To: "Hecht, Chloe" 
Cc: "Black, Meloney" 

Hi Chloe and Meloney,

I have reviewed your email with my counsel.  

If I understand your issue now it is that certain statements contained in my video contradict other information contained in the page itself and thus is misleading.  After recording that video upon receipt of your letter, I decided that the winner of the contest should not be limited to airlines other than Delta but rather they will be able to select any airlines that AMEX points can be redeemed for, including Delta.  We have informed the winner of this, and they were very happy with this decision.  For your information, the winner (nor anyone viewing the website to my knowledge) believed that Delta had anything whatsoever to do with the contest.

I plan to record another video shortly making this minor point clear, and will post it to the webpage in issue, together with this correspondence.  In the meantime, I don't believe that any reasonable person viewing this webpage can come to the conclusion that Delta has sponsored or was involved in this contest in any manner as your original letter claimed, nor do I believe the information contained thereon is misleading in any material respects.  Thus, I don't believe your claim of misuse of Delta's trademark has any validity whatsoever.  

On the advice of counsel, we believe that we may use Frequent Flyer points transferred from AMEX for contests, or any other legal purpose, so long as make it clear that Delta and the other airlines (and AMEX) are not sponsoring any of these contests.  We believe that we are within our legal rights to give away anything we own so long as we make it abundantly clear, as we have done in this case, that Delta and others are not sponsoring, etc., the contest.  If you have any direct statute or case law to the contrary, I would appreciate seeing the reference so that I can better appreciate your position.

In the absence of such direct reference, we view this matter as concluded.  Please know, however, that we will vigorously defend our rights.  Please note that the address you have on file is not accurate.  Any notices should be sent to:

511 E. 4th Street

PO Box 2626

Ketchum, Idaho 83340-2626

Thanks for your time and attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Scott Jordan, CEO
www.SCOTTEVEST.com

On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 10:16 AM, Hecht, Chloe <checht@> wrote:

Dear Scott,

Thank you for your email.

We note that you have included a disclaimer in the www.scottevest.com website content which reads, "*Trademarks of any third-party companies mentioned on this site are property of those respective companies, and no endorsement or ownership is either implied or shall be inferred."

The main image at the top of your website continues to read: "WHAT'S IN YOUR SCOTTEVEST CARRY-ON CONTEST  Tell us what you would carry in your SeV to save money on baggage fees, & pocket the savings  Winner Gets Free U.S. Domestic Flight on Delta* and SeV Carry-On Coat".

You have also posted website content, however, which states that the contest prize will no longer be frequent flyer miles applicable to flights served by Delta. In your video blog post, you state, "So we're trying to figure out you know what to do with the contest, whether we just you know give money for a flight, give frequent flyer miles to another airline, we are in the process of contacting Southwest to see if they want to sponsor the contest. I want to apologize most sincerely because it's not my intent to change the contest rules in the middle of the contest..."

Regardless of the propriety of your use of Delta's trademarks in the first instance, since you no longer intend to offer a flight serviced by Delta as the prize for the contest, your use of the DELTA name and mark in connection with the contest continues to be misleading and constitutes a misuse and an unauthorized use of the DELTA mark, which violates Delta's rights in its trademarks and intellectual property. We therefore must insist that you remove any use of the DELTA name and mark in connection with this contest from your website.

Best regards,
Chloe

Chloe A. Hecht
Ladas & Parry LLP
224 S. Michigan Ave., Ste 1600
Chicago, IL 60604

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