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[Black Cat Cricket]

I can confirm that the bat that has appeared on ebay claiming to be a black cat bat is in fact not, but is a fake.

I have reported him to ebay, and have emailed him asking him in no uncertain terms to remove any references to our brand, and to say that the bat it not a Black Cat, as previously stated.

I received an email from him a few weeks back, asking for sponsorship, as his deal with Slazenger was coming to an end, and he didn't want to renew as their bats were poor quality.  I told him to do what a lot of professionals do, and sell the sticker space on his bat to the highest bidder, and then buy blanks from us.  Clearly this gave him the idea.  I can confirm that at no point did Dan Rigby buy a bat from Black Cat, to sticker as a Slazenger, or otherwise.

Coincidentally (or not..?), I notice he did buy the following bat on the 26th August. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230369675542 Surely this can't be the bat that now has Slaz stickers on...?

His ebay ID is rigerz24, and http://rmsocceracademy.com/drigbyprofile.aspx this is a page on him.

I'd stick to the football coaching if I were him.

Thanks to those on the forum who alerted me to this bat.

Cheers

Charlie

[Tom]

There's very little you can do really, I'd be suprised if Ebay took it off due to using the name of Black Cat. If Slazenger reported him it would be a different story.

I personally think he may have done you a favour.

[Black Cat Cricket]

Not sure what favour that would be- the bat's a dog!

And I don't think Slazenger have a case... he's clearly stated it is not a Slazenger, and he's not trying to pass it off as one.

[Tom]

99.99% of people in cricket have never heard of Black Cat. Any publicity you can get is good surely? The bat is a dog, but anyone who googles Black Cat will go to your website and see your announcement. Therefore 1 more person has heard about Black Cat, who may tell someone else...

Slazenger have a trademark, he's in breach of that by using their stickers without prior permission. You're not a registered company (to my knowledge) or trademarked so there's little you can do.

[Tom]

P.S on your site.

The 170 tree plantation is  just over 20 years old, and will be harvested in the coming months. this puts us being in the unique position of being the only batmakers in the  country with our own willow supply.  Please see the willow section for more details . . .

Don't GN, Kippax, Newbery, Talisman have their own willow supply?

[Black Cat Cricket]

GN plant willow, but don't own it.  They planted mine, and looked after it for 5 years or so, but they don't own it, or any rights on it.  That's how it works.

As far as I'm aware, the others also do not own their own willow, with the exception of Kippax.  I did not know about their willow, and have contacted them.  If/when they confirm that the willow plantation is legally owned by the same person/entity that owns the bat busines, I will, of course, change the website.

You do not need to be a registered company to receive protection.  If I put a bat on ebay saying it was handcrafted by Tom Evans, and it wasn't, you would be protected, both by ebay and the law.  There is a certain level of inherent protection that brands have, regardless of the structure of their business.  If someone is deliberately using a brand name to pass something off as something else, this is illegal- 'gaining pecuniary advantage through deception'. 

As for the publicity- I'd prefer to slowly build a reputation as a quality cricket brand, rather than gain one quickly as a rubbish one.  I have only just, ten minutes ago, put the note on our website, whereas the listing has been up at least since last night.

[Tom]

Does Mike Brimble (of Talisman) not own willow then? Who did you get your plantation off and who cut it down if so?

Charlie, best of luck trying to get Ebay to remove it but I seriously doubt you will. If you had a trademark on "Back Cat Cricket" and had lawyers to write a letter to Ebay it may be a different story, but a small company chasing after someone the size of Ebay is going to do very little. As for saying it was handcrafted by Tom Evans, feel free to do so. I could do with the publicity.

Btw I don't disagree it's wrong, just there's little you can do about it so why not just see the positives which may come from it.

[Black Cat Cricket]

As far as I understand, Mike is a dealer.  At times, of coruse, he may own willow (as most batmakers also do), I don't think he personally owns land with willow on though.

I reported it to ebay as a formality, I have however had success in getting the description of the product changed.

He claims he bought it honestly, having been told by ajit_true_seller that it was a Black Cat, who also showed him our website as proof.

[atscricket]

hello Charlie, once again i want to clear that i have never said to anybody including Daniel that i sell Black CAT bats, u were the first person who bring BLACK CAT as a cricket brand to my knowledge ( just 2 days back ) by emailing me, before that i was unaware of BLACK CAT as a brand...so i would humbly request u NOT to associate my name any more with you, just bcoz anybody says that i am selling using ur name to sell my bats doesnot makes it a FACT...We simply sell plain bats coz people like them...what they do afterwards with bats is not our responsibily...i hope Tom agrees with it...

[Black Cat Cricket]

Your claim to have never heard of Black Cat until two days ago was somewhat more convincing before I knew you are a member of this forum.

Daniel said to me that you had sold it to him claiming it was one of ours, pointing him to our website.  I quote Daniel: 'I also asked for this bat to be customised, and the seller forwarded me your website for more info...'

From here it's between you and Daniel- our brand name is off the description, so I don't care anymore.

Pretty disappointing- Dan apologised unreservedly for what he claimed was an honest mistake, and said you had told him it was a Black Cat; you have denied all involvement...