Chapter 1298: Chapter 1297: Federation Characteristics
An ordinary celebration.
No big surprises, but it wasn’t disappointing either. After all, for those who love social interactions, this was good enough.
With so many big figures attending, any invitee could feel their status elevated after participating in this celebration.
Originally, Lynch planned to go to York State with Mr. Douglas in a couple of days. They had plenty of time on the road to discuss topics of interest. But at this moment, Momo gave him a call.
The name of the magazine "Vanguard" had already been registered.
If the name "Vanguard" hadn’t been publicized, if the cover of the magazine hadn’t been finalized, Lynch might consider changing the name, just consider.
He really liked the name "Vanguard" and hoped his magazine would be called Vanguard, but the problem was that now this magazine name had already been registered.
This means using "Vanguard" as the name of his magazine for publication would infringe upon the rights of the holder of the "Vanguard" trademark — it’s a criminal act!
Momo had never dealt with such matters before and appeared somewhat flustered, and Lynch’s assistant did not quite understand how far Lynch was willing to go, so he didn’t express an opinion.
Ultimately, Lynch decided to first return to Bupen to handle this matter. As for the private meeting with Mr. Douglas, they would have plenty of time in the future.
There wouldn’t be any issues with York State either. He would communicate with Mr. Adelaide, who, he presumed, would understand why Lynch couldn’t attend the celebration.
The next day, he bid farewell to Ms. Trish and embarked on the journey back to Bupen.
Arriving in Bupen at midnight, after a night’s rest, he met with Momo and the publishing house staff by the next morning.
By nine thirty in the morning, Lynch was already seated in the meeting room, flipping through the documents organized in his hand.
The "Vanguard" magazine was founded four years ago and was distributed in a neighboring state to Bupen. However, when registering the magazine name and trademark, it was registered as a nationwide one for the Federation.
The magazine’s circulation was quite average, with less than ten thousand copies per issue. At a time when print media is still mainstream, such circulation meant the magazine was practically finished.
Indeed, if there weren’t a few subscriber contracts yet to be fulfilled and some advertisers still willing to pay, the publishing house would have long since shut it down.
But it turns out even such a barely surviving magazine could see the dawn of spring.
When Lynch founded Darkstone Media Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries and was about to launch, the news quickly spread throughout the Federation’s publishing industry.
The publishing industry has its own rules and methods of internal communication.
When this half-dead magazine’s publisher heard that Lynch’s magazine was also planning to be called "Vanguard", they suddenly got excited.
They sent a lawyer’s letter to Momo, the gist of it being that "Vanguard" is a registered trademark protected by federal trademark law.
They also mentioned hearing rumors that Lynch’s publishing house intended to launch a magazine called "Vanguard" too, so they thoughtfully reminded them not to infringe.
That’s pretty much what it meant.
After reading the materials and lawyer’s letter, Lynch looked at an assistant next to Momo, "What do you think?"
The assistant adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose, "Mr. Lynch, I think their intention is to sell us this trademark...", he emphasized, "...for a hefty price!"
Lynch nodded slightly, he also believed this was the case, first reminding himself not to infringe, then sending an email to suggest discussing acquisition or cooperation.
Indeed, there are people in Bupen who play it that way.
Some trademark merchants will look for locally renowned enterprises across the Federation. If these enterprises haven’t perfected their trademark aspects, they would preemptively register the trademark and then sue these people.
This game has been around for many years, existing since the "Trademark Law" appeared, but some people forget things in the pursuit of profit, leaving these folks with living grounds until today.
Momo frowned too; her first encounter with management matters made her realize transitioning to a backstage role wasn’t so easy.
There’s so much to learn.
"Here’s a phone number, call them to ask how much they want.", Lynch tossed the file onto the table, pointed to the footer on the last page where a number was listed.
He said this while looking at Momo, who took a deep breath and picked up the phone, dialing the number in front of Lynch and the assistant.
After brief mutual introductions, the call was transferred to the person said to be the president.
"Ms. Momo, I’m very sorry, I heard from a friend there’s a magazine about to launch in the Federation with the same name as ours, so I had to let the lawyer remind you."
"I express sincere apologies if this has caused you any trouble."
Such gentle words, but after Lynch saw through his disguise, it appeared disgusting.
Momo didn’t dwell on empty talk either, she went straight to the subject, "How much do I need to pay to buy your trademark?"
"Buy?", the voice on the phone was surprised, "No no no, Ms. Momo, you misunderstood, this trademark is not for sale, we won’t sell it."
"It’s the dream of my colleagues and me, whatever happens, we won’t sell our dream!"
The transmission effect of the Federation was quite good, Lynch heard a fervent emotion from the retrieved voice.
But... emotion, it’s worthless.
"We are very sincere, you can name a price...", Momo further probed, even giving the pricing power to the other party.
The president on the other end seemed firm on this point, "I said, we won’t sell the trademark in our hands, but we do have a cooperation method..."
Momo glanced at Lynch, and Lynch wore a mocking smile, nodding slightly to let the call continue.
Actually, it didn’t need to continue, he roughly guessed what the other party was going to do. If they didn’t sell their trademark but Lynch could still use it, then what solution was that?
Of course, it was Lynch’s most adept cooperation method — they authorize Lynch to use the trademark and reap benefits, functioning on percentages, even drawing from pure profits.
This can’t be criticized for their appetite being too big, nor for their greed, this is precisely the raw face of capital.
Whenever there’s a chance, capital will seek the maximum return rate.
Let alone now they hold all the advantages, they naturally want more!
For this magazine, whether Lynch uses the name "Vanguard" or not makes little difference. They only need to hype it later, and the trademark can still fetch a good price.
Not even needing to sell, just by re-operating it, the magazine might be revived!
Sure enough, after Momo asked for conditions, the other side proposed their cooperation method.
"We can allow you to use the trademark, but you need to pay us 30% of the sales revenue as license fees, and when it comes to advertising placement, we also have priority rights..."
Among a string of conditions, there was also a requirement for certain page numbers to be reserved for them, like giving them columns or such. Overall, it was excessively outrageous.
After hearing this, Momo said "We will consider it" and hung up the call at Lynch’s instruction.
She looked at Lynch, "These demands are too excessive."
Lynch nodded, "Yes, they are too greedy."
"Then what do we..."
Lynch shook his finger, picked up the phone, and shortly thereafter, the legal advisor from the Group company’s partnership relations office came over.
A highly professional and highly reputable lawyer, apart from the firm’s star lawyer, there were two lawyers specifically handling trademark cases.
These lawyers are proficient in the trademark laws of all states in the Federation, which is the reason for their high charges. They can offer clients the best legal and business support within the shortest time.
"If they don’t sell us the trademark, what way do we have to wrest the trademark from them?"
The first sentence left Momo and her assistant sitting aside staring wide-eyed, their minds unable to turn a corner.
This.... Are these the visions of big capitalists?
If they can’t buy it and aren’t willing to cooperate, just take it completely?
The star lawyer from the law firm wasn’t surprised or amused; he’d handled many similar tasks.
Wealth in the Federation is indeed highly respected, but some people are rather stubborn and unwilling to bow to wealth.
This is where lawyers can play their role, using legal means to force those who refuse to bow to wealth into submission.
He looked at the materials in hand for a moment, then nodded and said, "Of course, Mr. Lynch, it’s not difficult at all. We just need to transfer the trademark into the hands willing to sell to us."
Lynch signaled him to continue speaking, then lit a cigarette.
"This is a mid-small-scale publishing house. They have a total of five periodic publications and also sign book works for printing and distribution."
"I note their business situation isn’t ideal, and the unsuccessful periodicals have trapped them in a sort of plight."
"This also indicates they don’t have much liquidity. If they are caught up in various lawsuits, it doesn’t need to last long, just high density..."
The star lawyer smiled at Lynch, "It might sound a bit complicated, but my meaning is just to make them go bankrupt, and the bank will help us solve these problems."
"And our job is to find a way to make them bankrupt!"
Lynch applauded the star lawyer’s swift solution. Sometimes, professional matters need professional people to handle them.
Actually, Lynch had more ways; he did this merely to show Momo a method of capital power.
We are never afraid of opposition, for we can eliminate them anytime, anywhere!
And legally, logically, sensibly!
This is the true Federation!
