At 05:55 PM 12/27/97 -0800, Kent Crispin wrote:
>Cost of xerox.firm: $100
>Legal cost to xerox to go to court: $5000
>
>I offer "xerox.firm" to xerox for $3000
>They save $5000-$3000: $2000
>I make $3000-$100: $2900
>
>It's a no-lose proposition for me. All I need is a 10% chance that
>the company will take my offer, and I'm in business.
Would that human decision-making were so rational and predictable. Besides
the fact that it isn't and that even very professionally run companies can
be extremely emotional sometimes, there are also "rational" reasons your
scenario won't always work:
Xerox notes the potential for this problem recurring with other small-time
greedy folk and wishes to make an example of you. They note that they have
big pockets and you have small. They are easily willing to spend the $5K,
since it will hurt them less than it will hurt you. This way they send a
message to other folk like yourself that such folks will a) lose the name,
and b) lose $5000.
Think of it as a kind of pre-emptive class action suit.
d/
--------------------
Dave Crocker +1 408 246 8253
Brandenburg Consulting fax: +1 408 249 6205
675 Spruce Dr. dcrocker@brandenburg.com
Sunnyvale, CA 94086 USA http://www.brandenburg.com
Internet Mail Consortium info@imc.org, http://www.imc.org
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