"Free Stuff" from Hasbro: The story of UT's disappearance

Soo.. guys. Hi. Were back.. briefly.

We've been offline for the month after some "interesting" developments have transpired and I just wanted to keep you all in the loop of what's been happening to me, and essentially Urban Taggers in general. I guess a few of you have been wondering where I've been.  Non-Nerf things have kept me quite busy and to be honest, all has not been good in the world of Nerf and I'm seriously rethinking my fondness for Nerf given recent interactions with Hasbro and their lawyers.

So what went down to force this? Read on for the update.


I've had this blog for a while now and set Urban Taggers up as a source of information for toy blaster lovers everywhere, so you can imagine my delight when I receive the email below from Hasbro being so generous as to offer to send me some samples so long as I give them my postal address!

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On 15 March 2012 12:27, Gibson, Leigh 


Hi there,
I have some of the above in our office I can give to you as a giveaway – noticed you were wanting to know if they are in Australia. We ordered some as a gift with purchase but haven’t used them anywhere yet. Please let me know if you are interested and I can see how many we can spare.


Kind regards,
Leigh
Leigh Gibson | Pacific Product Manager | Hasbro Australia Limited 


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From: Pocket
Sent: Thursday, 15 March 2012 3:06 PM
To: Gibson, Leigh
Subject: Re: The Nerf Pinpoint Sight

Hi Leigh,
Thanks so much for your email, and good to hear from an official Hasbro channel! The Pinpoint sight IS probably one of the most sought after accessories so offering some to us for a giveaway would be fantastic and would definitely be a very popular prize. Did you have anything in mind you'd like to see us do/push/promote?
Thanks
Pocket
urbantaggers.com


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From: Gibson, Leigh
Date: 15 March 2012 15:11
Subject: RE: The Nerf Pinpoint Sight
To: "Pocket Esq." 
Cc: "Weavers, Peter"


Hi,
 No – they aren’t for sale anywhere – 
My colleague Pete will send some to you (plus one for yourself) if you can let us know where to send them. We should be able to spare 10 for giveaway so will send you 11 – Pete will confirm this qty.
Thanks,
Leigh
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The email looked legit enough - no promises of untold wealth in Nigeria and this is Hasbro after all - so I let them know my postal address.

The free stuff from Hasbro was pretty quick to come.  Because I'm such a generous guy, I'm going to share the free goodies that I received with all of you. 

See below:

That's right.  A free letter.  From their lawyers.  A.W.E.S.O.M.E.  To say that I was little bit disappointed was a bit of an understatement.  (Think Calvin with the helicopter beanie...)

I'm informed by a reliable source who used to work at a magic circle firm and a first tier firm here in Oz that Hasbro's legal eagles aren't even a first tier, magic circle or white shoe firm.  Because they were at least polite, I have wished them well with their efforts and referred them to Google images - which is where all of us find those wonderful images out there.

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From: Pocket
Sent: Thursday, 22 March 2012 3:27 PM
To: Arnold, Robert
Subject: Nerf Rampage/Urban Taggers.com

Attn: Robert Arnold, Partner Baker & McKenzie

Dear Robert,

Thanks for your letter from 21 March 2012 regarding the images of the "Nerf N-Strike Elite Rampage" that were posted on my blog.

I appreciate the polite and amicable tone of your letter so, as requested, I've taken the images relating to the Rampage down from my blog.

Regarding the other part of your letter, because my blog provides commentary and reviews about nerf products, it is open to the public and I receive many anonymous emails from readers regarding leads on new products on a regular basis.  As such, I frequently don't bother saving such emails after the relevant information has been posted on my blog.

I should point out that even if I did save the original contact details of the source, if anyone was providing me with information to post on my blog and I had promised to keep the identify of the informant confidential - then I would feel obliged to honour that promise.  I note that recent amendments to the Australian Evidence Act introduced express protections for journalists and their sources i.e. a person who gives information to a journalist in the normal course of the journalist's work in the expectation that the information may be published in a news medium. While blogging is a hobby of mine and I don't regard myself as a professional journalist, the wording seems quite broad given that "news medium" means any medium for the dissemination to the public or a section of the public of news and observations on news i.e. it could conceivably cover blogging.

Nonetheless, as mentioned, I do appreciate that you have attempted to resolve this matter without unpleasant threads and I do not want to be unhelpful, so if you are in search of more images with a view to identifying the source, you could try using Google/Google images to do a targetted search in the same way I do, using appropriate search parameters to narrow the scope of the search.  For instance, a quick search using Google has pulled up web sites like http://www.kapsis.gr/product.php/products_id=5564&language=en ).

I hope that helps

Kind regards

Urbantaggers.com
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Alas, this led to more 'free stuff' from Hasbro – or their lawyers:

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From: Arnold, Robert 
Date: 28 March 2012 11:38
Subject: Nerf Rampage/Urban Taggers.com
To: Pocket Esq 


Dear -

Thanks for your email. I'd like to discuss the position with you, if that would be OK with you. Do you have any time available tomorrow (Thursday) for a call? I can do before 10.30am or after 4.30pm.

Please let me know.

Regards,

Robert Arnold
Partner

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Meanwhile, the story got weirder and I got this email from Hasbro:

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From: Weavers, Peter 
Date: 27 March 2012 14:52
Subject: RE: The Nerf Pinpoint Sight
To: "Pocket Esq." 


Hi -
I have ordered 11 pin point sights for you. Can you please supply a delivery address.


Kind Regards,
Pete


PETER WEAVERS| Assistant Product Manager 
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It was doing my head in:

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From: Pocket
Sent: Wednesday, 28 March 2012 7:51 PM
To: Arnold, Robert
Subject: Re: Nerf Rampage/Urban Taggers.com
Dear Robert

Thanks for your email.

Given that I've already taken down the images in question and I don't have the information you want - I consider this matter at an end and that there isn't anything to discuss.  As mentioned, blogging about Nerf guns is a hobby of mine that I do for free, not a business - since receiving your letter, my blogging hobby isn't as fun as it used to be.  In future, for images used on my blog, I'll try to link to the original source URL in an effort to avoid this sort of confusion arising again.

As mentioned in my original email, given that the images in question are already widely available on the Internet, I really do think that your best chance of identifying the source of the images is to do further web searching.

Kind regards

PS: Just to satisfy my own curiosity - Hasbro recently asked me for my address so that they could send me free promotional Nerf samples.  I had assumed that this was actually for the purposes of sending me your letter rather than giving me free stuff.  The thing is, since receiving your letter, their marketing team has asked me for my address again - which is  a bit weird really.  Does this mean I am going to get another letter from you or will I actually get the free merchandising this time?

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My mate Robert (the lawyer guy) emailed again.  Maybe he was bored?

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From: Arnold, Robert 
Date: 30 March 2012 08:48
Subject: Nerf Rampage/Urban Taggers.com
To: Pocket Esq 


Dear - 

Thank you for your email. Sorry to have spoiled your fun, but Hasbro has real concerns about your ability to access NERF products before they are released to the market. We refer in particular to your reviews of the "Vortex Nitron" and "Rayven" models  in June and October 2011. Hasbro needs to know from whom you obtained the samples that you used for these reviews. 

You'll appreciate how important it is for Hasbro to maintain the integrity of its supply process. I hope that you'll reconsider and be prepared to discuss these issues with me.

As for your question about the request for your address, this had nothing to do with me. I can only assume that Hasbro really does want to send you some stuff. Hasbro actually admires what you are doing with your blogsite and has no wish to shut you down. But you must understand that Hasbro has got to find out where these samples came from.

I look forward to talking to you. 

Regards, 

Robert Arnold
Partner


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Flash forward to today- I forgot all about this for a bit and didn't reply to the latest letter from the lawyers.  Then I get stories from neighbours that some strange woman and some burly, repo-looking type is hanging around my apartment block.  How creepy is that?

Sadly they weren't here to give me free stuff.  Turns out they're from Hasbro's lawyers!!!  I told them the same stuff all over again and tried to explain that I got a bunch of stuff from ebay and taobao – of course they haven't heard of taobao and seem to want me to do their job for them.

What next?  Will they send thugs to break my legs and hit men to take me out?  Not cool Hasbro – also not cool lawyers, Hasbro's paying you the big bucks to get someone in Canberra to teach you how to use Google??? Soo.. I wrote back to Robert the lawyer guy with this:

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From: Pocket

Sent: Sunday, 22 April 2012 11:01 PM
To: Arnold, Robert
Subject: Nerf



Dear Robert

I realise I forgot to get back to you because I have been busy with work and non-Nerf matters but I really think that it was extremely unprofessional and wrong to send strange people to come and lurk around my apartment block menacingly like that.  You really freaked out the neighbours and people who live nearby mentioned some strange woman and a big-looking repo-man-looking guy hanging around suspiciously.

First of all, you're lucky that no one called the police.  Secondly, I really do not appreciate being ambushed by lawyers or their representatives on a Sunday afternoon when I haven't done anything wrong, I have taken down the images and it's not my fault that neither you nor Hasbro seem to be able to find out whoever the original source of the guns.  It would also have been appropriate to give me forewarning so that I could have a lawyer present.

I've told your friend 'Christine'  what I know but it was extremely rude to just show up on my doorstep and scare my neighbours like that.  Regarding Nitro and Rayven - I really wish that you'd been up front and mentioned the products in question in your first letter, it could have saved everyone a lot of time and Hasbro a lot of legal fees.

Regarding the "Vortex Nitron" and "Rayven", these products are freely available for purchase online at this website: http://www.taobao.com/index_global.php.  I don't have the listing details anymore, but if you search for Nerf stuff there, you should find it.  I realise that the products weren't officially released yet but it's not my fault they were on taobao and it's pretty common to find promo stuff on taobao/ebay that the recipients have decided to sell online … I've showed your friend Christine the site but I really can't be expected to teach people how to use an internet search engine.  You'll also have to learn how to read Chinese.  I don't read Chinese so I can't help you there.

So - I really hope that that's it.  As I keep telling you, my website is public and I receive a LOT of correspondence and most of it is anonymous.  As I have also told you, in future I will include URL links so that it's clear to Hasbro where images came from but I really can't go back and identify old information received - as you can appreciate, it is the internet - people rarely use real names unless you know someone in real life named spunkypineapplehead666 (that's just a hypothetical example by the way).  I mean for all I know, spunkypineapplehead666 could be an 88 year old granny in Florida or even be someone like YOU given that it's the internet.

The reason I didn't see the point in talking to you is that:

1.  It seems wrong for Hasbro to have to spend more in legal fees just so that I can tell you again over the phone that I can't help you because I don't have the information you seek (apart from giving you the taobao link) when I've already told you this several times in email.

2.  I really don't have the information you seek and I know that you probably don't mean it that way, but I don't think it's right for a law firm to try to make me feel like I should be fabricating information just to bring this matter to a close.  I know I'm not a lawyer or anything but that just seems really wrong to me ...  It also seems wrong to send strangers to my house without warning.  If I'd known you were going to show up like that, I'd have had a lawyer present for what would seem to many people to be unprofessional and intimidating conduct.

If it makes you happy, in future, if other people come to me trying to give me information, I'll tell them to go away.  That being said, I also don't think I am going to get any more leads on Nerf products, given everything that is happening so I am really a dead end in terms of your chain of investigation.
There really isn't anything more I can do for you given that:

1. the images have been taken down
2. I will tell future people to go away (yes, I would rather tell them to go away rather than dob)
3. I will attribute images in future
4. I don't have the information you seek
5. I don't see any problem with buying nerf products off of taobao or ebay.

Please don't send people around anymore.  Your time would seriously be better spent looking up taobao and Google.

Regards


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ETA:  Just because of some feedback I've received (and wow there has been a bootload and I thank you all for the support!)!  I wanted to respond and clarify a few things:

1. I did not put up the letter from Baker & McKenzie to be provocative.  I genuinely wanted to resolve this issue quietly and without fuss - which is why you're only reading about all of this now. Take a look - my last post was on 20 March.

2. I received the first letter from Baker & McKenzie on 21 March.  I did actually appreciate the courteous and reasonable tone used so elected to take the whole blog offline for the subsequent correspondence in an attempt to resolve the issue quietly. It was my choice to take it down while I was sorting out this matter.

3. It was only AFTER I received a visit at my home on 22 April that I decided to publish the entire chain of correspondence on my blog. I've been advised that the actions adopted by Baker & McKenzie are fairly ordinary/normal for law firms in the course of enforcement actions on behalf of clients.  I appreciate and understand this, but by the same token, I think that big corporates and law firms should realise how intimidating such behaviour will be to a non-lawyer/ordinary person and they should expect that we're going to be freaked out and respond accordingly.  What is normal for them is not normal for the ordinary guy ...yes, I a kinda ordinary really:)

4.  I wasn't at all trying to be rude and disrespectful but I felt as though bullying tactics were being adopted and given that my attempts to resolve the issue were unsuccessful and I was not able to make Baker &
McKenzie understand/believe that I really did not have the information that they were looking for - posting to the blog was really the ONLY way I had of setting out my side of the story and I just wanted to put it out there as it happened. I am not sure I could have been any clearer in my emails.

5.  I realise that this must have been very frustrating for the lawyers and that given that I appeared to be their only 'source' of information, they felt as though they had to keep pushing and pushing even though there was no point.   Again, the information and the products are out there on the Internet - they are there for all to
find. Really.

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ETA 26 April 2012: Hi all - I've just been told that Hasbro's made a statement on its official facebook page.

It looks like they are trying to look into this issue.  From the statement it does seem to be a horrible case of poor internal communication among all the parties concerned - maybe me, too because there have been heaps of people telling me that sending investigators to your door on a Sunday afternoon thing is very normal for enforcement investigations even in Australia. They've also explained to me why people do it.  If I'd known that before, maybe I wouldn't have been so freaked out.

Before any one asks, no I have not received the pinpoints and it's just a shame that the timing of the letters (all of them) seems to have been so unlucky.  Thanks all for your support.