11 Pages ..... Really?

Hey Guys. This Trademark situation has gotten way out of hand. I honestly can’t believe this topic was worthy of 11 pages within 24 hours. Seriously, companies have been caught committing fraud, shaving, lying, stealing and their threads were a few pages. We try to protect our trademark and it’s an 11 page blow out? I mean in all honesty compared to us advertising on RedTube this seems like small peanuts. I guess I broke “Bro Law 4.3” which states...
Don’t reply to gfy threads that attack you it will only make the situation worse. Ignore them and they will go away.
Serves me right for going against the “Bro Commandments”

Anyhow, I’m not surprised some of you hate me for this Trademark situation. I’m not surprised some of you hate me for advertising on tubes. And I’m definitely not surprised some of you hate me for having the smartest and coolest wife alive ;) You guys have every right to hate me and voice your opinion when you disagree with decisions we make. Free speech is a wonderful thing and it helps us all learn and get better.

As many of you probably know I’m not a Trademark lawyer. I know very little about trademark law. In fact I know very little about most things. One of the few things I know a lot about is marketing, selling porn and keeping members happy. So as a result I try to stick to doing that and leave the other stuff up to specialists who know better than I do. Before porn I had never run a company so I have no experience in dealing with Trademark law. I rely heavily on the information and feedback I get from our lawyers. I’ve consulted multiple lawyers and I’ve received the same feedback from all of them: it is very important to protect your trademark.

That said I think it’s important to note that most of the facts people are going on are false. Here are the facts.
We registered SexTube.com in 2004
In November 2006 we started actively using SexTube.com
In December 2006 we launched SexTube.com tube site.
In December 2006 we applied for the US and Canadian Trademark on the term “SexTube”
In 2007 our Canadian and US trademark was approved.

As far as I know nobody was using the mark prior to us. I understand many of you think it’s a BS Trademark. I’m not the one that issued it. I certainly had no idea it would blow up to be as popular as it is. Now I’m stuck in a lose lose situation. If I do what I’m being told protects my business then I’m considered a greedy asshole. If I do nothing I risk losing my trademark and possibly putting at risk my investment in SexTube. Our intention was never to get free traffic from anyone. Our intention is to protect our mark.

I’m not perfect. I’ve always been 100% honest here on the board. We’ve made mistakes and done some things that were wrong. I’ve never denied our mistakes or things we’ve done. I’ve always stood up and taken responsibility for them. At the end of the day I try to run a really honest business. I take good care of my members, I take good care of my affiliates, I take good care of my employees, I take good care of my business partners (hosting companies, photographers, etc), I try to do good and honest business with every single person we come in contact with. Yet we still manage to upset, piss off and turn away a large number of you. I’m disappointed in that but realize it is inevitable. I hate that some of you consider me the scum of the earth but realize there is probably very little I could do to change that. I’m not greedy but I am ambitious. My goal is to grow Twistys as large as I possibly can. I know that’s going to come with attacks, criticism and those that flat out despise us.

I'd also like to update everyone on the HardSexTube situation. Myself and the owner of HardSexTube had a really good conversation today. We are working on a resolution that we will both be happy with. I believe we are on the same page and will have a resolution in the near future. Sorry to disappoint GFY folk but no details will be provided. All you have to know is that we are working on something that we will both be very happy with. I think that will speak for itself. As I have mentioned all along our intention is not to get free traffic but to protect our mark. I'm sure the owner of HardSexTube would tell you the same.

That's it. I won't be spending all day and night on here like I did last night. I've got too much business to take care of. We have some really big things coming to Twistys that need my attention. If any of you need to reach me mrshap at twistys dot com. Hit me up