Do I have a viable case?

Choirmistress

Mon, Aug 21 2023, 7:00 pm

Hi, fellow hobbyists/collectors.
For literally years, I have been sending emails to Bicycle Cards (USPCC) begging them to start printing a standard Rider Back deck in (semi)metallic copper or rose gold ink (on the backs).
I kept complaining and checking regularly until the past couple of months, since they answered (after quite a few rounds of "We'll have our R&D department look into it") that they have no current plans to produce decks of that colour.
Then about a week ago or a bit longer, I Googled the customary search string and discovered that, without notifying me OR thanking me for my original suggestion, they HAD started producing them, under the name "Rider Back Metalluxe Prototype Rose Gold". By the time I had discovered their existence, they had already sold out!
Is anyone here (acquainted with) a lawyer who can help me put authoritative and credible legal pressure on USPCC to send me ONE lousy deck in my favourite (and only missing) colour of Bicycle cards?

NechaMom

Mon, Aug 21 2023, 8:13 pm

amother Lilac wrote:

A lawyer? Seriously? You can't buy it online? A search showed me options from 10-100. Not sure what you want but $100 is cheaper than a lawyer.

She said it’s sold out.
I’m surprised she only wants to sue for one lousy deck. Being that it was her idea she should probably get a lot more than that.

amother

Coral

Mon, Aug 21 2023, 8:31 pm

amother White wrote:

So glad people have such concerns. I daven this shpupd be all youre missing in life.
Hope you get your deck of cards.

Gee thanks. Just because you can’t relate doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a right to be upset.

amother

Lilac

Mon, Aug 21 2023, 8:50 pm

NechaMom wrote:

She said it’s sold out.
I’m surprised she only wants to sue for one lousy deck. Being that it was her idea she should probably get a lot more than that.

You'll never prove it so forget it. Pay the inflated collector resale price and move on.

NechaMom

Mon, Aug 21 2023, 8:56 pm

amother Lilac wrote:

You'll never prove it so forget it. Pay the inflated collector resale price and move on.

If she has emails back and forth?
I wouldn’t waste time suing for a deck of cards but maybe she’s entitled to more than that.
OP maybe you can go on judge Judy!

NechaMom

Mon, Aug 21 2023, 8:58 pm

amother White wrote:

So glad people have such concerns. I daven this shpupd be all youre missing in life.
Hope you get your deck of cards.

Maybe she’s missing a lot more in life but had 5 minutes to post about her hobby as a form of self care?
Why the need to be nasty?

amother

Rose

Mon, Aug 21 2023, 8:58 pm

NechaMom wrote:

If she has emails back and forth?
I wouldn’t waste time suing for a deck of cards but maybe she’s entitled to more than that.
OP maybe you can go on judge Judy!

You cant claim copyright to a color.

kenz

Mon, Aug 21 2023, 8:59 pm

Choirmistress wrote:

Everyone is entitled to a hobby that makes them happy. Out of curiosity, how many decks do you own?

Choirmistress

Tue, Aug 22 2023, 3:03 am

Quote:

You cant claim copyright to a color.

Who said I wanted to impinge on Bicycle's copyright? What I want is at least one deck (two would be nicer) of the specified colour. If it takes hiring a lawyer to send them a strongly worded (note: not nasty) letter, then I will be very happy with just that one deck of copper/rose gold Rider Back cards.
And yes, I do have evidence: my electronic files on my computer as record of my repeated communication with the company.
And no, I cannot pay up to $100 for a "secondary market" (I.e., pre-owned) deck. One respondent seemed to think this deck is still available. If you have seen this colour still advertised as available, please let me know where and from whom.
Thank you all for both your helpful and less than helpful responses.

Choirmistress

Tue, Aug 22 2023, 3:14 am

Quote:

Everyone is entitled to a hobby that makes them happy. Out of curiosity, how many decks do you own?

Of Rider Back decks specifically, over a dozen in different colours. Of other styles by Bicycle, dozens more. Of decks by other manufacturers, more than those two categories combined.

And btw, collecting playing cards is not my foremost hobby. I am into composing and translating music, puzzles of many kinds (jigsaw mainly, the more pieces the better), trivia (oy, do I have a bumper sticker collection!), needlepoint, typesetting, adult colouring books, etc., etc.

amother

Leaf

Tue, Aug 22 2023, 4:24 am

Choirmistress wrote:

Quote:

You cant claim copyright to a color.

Did you email them about this prior to when the color came out (2019)?

And what are you claiming - that they stole your idea (which is unlikely, suggestions that "will be sent to R&D" don't always make it that far) or that they had a legal obligation to let you know when they did produce that color cards?

Choirmistress

Tue, Aug 22 2023, 5:07 am

It seems you are right about the Prototype's having come out in 2019.
That being the case, I have an even more legitimate complaint against USPCC:
It was in December of last year that I strongly suggested to the company that they begin producing the copper/rose gold colour, and included in that email the fact that I had been inquiring about it for months.
Their response seemed enthusiastic: "What a wonderful suggestion. We'll certainly forward it to our team." Not verbatim, but paraphrased.
So why, then, when I kept at them ever since, did they not inform me that they had already produced that colour?!
Thank you for prodding me to recheck my oldest emails to confirm the date.
They not only were unresponsive to my request, they did not even realize that I had been asking about a colour that they had already produced!
So now, BOY do I have a stronger case against them!

Last edited by Choirmistress on Tue, Aug 22 2023, 1:39 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Eggshell

Tue, Aug 22 2023, 5:32 am

Choirmistress wrote:

It seems you are right about the Prototype's having come out in 2019.
That being the case, I have an even more legitimate complaint against USPCC:
It was in December of last year that I strongly suggested to the company that they begin producing the copper/rose gold colour, and included in that email the fact that I had been inquiring about it for months.
Their response seemed enthusiastic: "What a wonderful suggestion. We'll certainly forward it to our team." Not verbatim, but paraphrased.
So why, then, when I kept at them ever since, did they not inform me that they had already produced that colour?!
Thank you for prodding me to recheck my oldest emails to confirm the date.
They not only were unresponsive to my request, they did not ever realize that I had been asking about a colour that they had already produced!
So now, BOY do I have a stronger case against them!

Sounds like they’re a company without the greatest customer service, but doesn’t mean you actually have a case against them.
Wondering why you didn’t turn up this available color in a Google search, when you were looking for this item? Wouldn’t you have attempted to search for this color first, before asking them why they don’t produce it?

WhatFor

Tue, Aug 22 2023, 6:30 am

Choirmistress wrote:

It seems you are right about the Prototype's having come out in 2019.
That being the case, I have an even more legitimate complaint against USPCC:
It was in December of last year that I strongly suggested to the company that they begin producing the copper/rose gold colour, and included in that email the fact that I had been inquiring about it for months.
Their response seemed enthusiastic: "What a wonderful suggestion. We'll certainly forward it to our team." Not verbatim, but paraphrased.
So why, then, when I kept at them ever since, did they not inform me that they had already produced that colour?!
Thank you for prodding me to recheck my oldest emails to confirm the date.
They not only were unresponsive to my request, they did not ever realize that I had been asking about a colour that they had already produced!
So now, BOY do I have a stronger case against them!

Can you please explain specifically what case you believe you have against them? They sound like they weren't exceptional at communicating with you, but what damages are you claiming that entitle you to a free deck of cards from them?

kenz

Tue, Aug 22 2023, 6:37 am

Choirmistress wrote:

Quote:

Everyone is entitled to a hobby that makes them happy. Out of curiosity, how many decks do you own?

I knew about the music already 😉. I wasn’t aware you had so many other interesting hobbies since you primarily post about music. Do you display them all as collections, or just knowing you have them is enough? (I find it fascInating since whenever I begin a collection I end up getting tired of it and stopping.)