In October 1998
CATS - R - US was threatened with legal action by T0YSRUS, we refused to change
our name and T.R.U. graciously backed down and promised to take no further
action.
Charity anger at 'bully' toy giant
The Northern
Echo
BESSIE ROBINSON
THE world's
biggest toy shop chain has flexed its corporate muscle to force a tiny
North-East charity to drop its name.
Toys 'R' Us,
which has reported profits of 1m-a-week, has given the animal rescue charity
Cats-R-Us two weeks to ditch its name - or face the threat of legal action.
The Shildon charity, which survives on £100-a-week, is reeling
after receiving a letter out of the blue from the corporation's lawyers.
The company
says that the R Us mark links the two organisations in people's minds - even
though one is a struggling charity finding homes for stray and sick cats and
the other a 1,500 mega-store enterprise scattered around the globe.
Cats-R-Us
proprietor Marion Maychell said: "Toys 'R' Us
earn billions every year. I am lucky to reach four figures. How can I take them
on? "I can't see how anything I am doing can hurt a big company like that.
I am sure that nobody associates us with them. It's ridiculous.
"Whatever
I do I will lose out. If I change the name it will be expensive. I will even
have to reapply to the Charity Commission which accepted the name without
question when I registered in 1996." A spokesman for the Cats Protection
League in
"She takes
on the animals that nobody else wants. A lot of them have been bought because
people think they are toys. When they step out of line they are thrown
out." London lawyers Cameron McKenna have asked Marion to give an
undertaking within 14 days to drop R Us from all her letters, phone listings
and promotional material.
They wrote:
"Our clients believe that anyone who sees the R Us mark associates it with
them.
"Such
confusion is likely to damage our clients' goodwill, giving them a right of
action against you for an injunction to restrain passing-off and for damages
and costs." Cameron McKenna told Marion that not even a change to Cats Are
Us would be acceptable.
The bombshell
could hardly have come at the worst time for the charity, as it was preparing
to launch a pre-Christmas fund raising appeal.
Marion's budget
is literally eaten up by hundreds of mainly sick and injured animals, which she
finds homes for every year.
She has no
money to launch a legal battle, so she has made a global appeal through the
Internet for backing against what, she says, are corporate bully-boy tactics.
Cat lovers
around the world have told Marion that they are so upset at the company's
antics that they will boycott its stores.
Marion added:
"Most people are outraged. They are promising me a lot of support. In the
end it is the animals that will suffer.
"Our name
just suits us. It has nothing to do with the toy store. No one seems able to
help us and I thought people should know how mean Toys 'R' Us can be.
"The sort
of money we need is nothing to them. It would have been more appropriate for
them to have supported us because of our name instead of knocking us."
Toys 'R' Us would make no comment last night because, said a spokeswoman, it
was a "legal matter".
Charity urged to fight off toy giant
The Northern
Echo 21/10/1998
BESSIE ROBINSON
CAT lovers have
urged a tiny North-East animal charity to fight off a legal bid by the world's
biggest toy chain to force it to drop its name.
Defiant
Cats-R-Us boss Marion Maychell says she will stand
firm in her David and Goliath battle with giant corporation Toys 'R' Us, even
though they have offered to pay for the change.
The company's
lawyers gave Marion 14 days to ditch the title she has used since 1994.
They said the
R-Us mark linked the two organisations in people's minds and could damage the
company's goodwill.
As calls from wellwishers flooded in to Marion's Shildon
home yesterday, she said she would be letting her supporters down if she caved
in.
And a transport
company revealed that it had stood out against a similar move by the company
against them.
Ipswich-based
Trucks-R-Us, whose depot is one and a half miles from a Toys 'R' Us store, said
it had been given the same treatment.
A spokesman
advised Marion to stand firm. "She should tell them to get stuffed. They
tried these bully-boy tactics on us but we are still here.
"We are a
long-established family firm and we stuck to our principles. We refused to give
in to the pressure and there was nothing they could do." Marion said last
night: "I think if I gave up now I would be lynched. So many people have
offered to help. At first I thought I had no chance against them but now I know
I have." Yesterday Apsley Nailforth,
public relations coordinator for Toys 'R' Us, contacted The Northern Echo to
offer Marion an olive branch. "We are not bully boys. We are asking them
very politely. They don't have to fight us. We are very reasonable people and
we will look at this very sympathetically," he said.
"Obviously
we need to protect our trademark. We understand that they are a charity and it
isn't our intention to harm their work or let them incur any costs as a result
of changing their name."
Sorry, says toy group
THE JOURNAL
22/10/1998
A TOY giant has
backed down and made a donation after threatening a County Durham animal
charity with legal action.
Global chain
store Toys R Us claimed Shildon cat sanctuary
Cats-R-Us, set up by Marion Maychell, 43, infringed
the copyright on its name. But she refused to change the name.
Yesterday she said the company had apologised, had withdrawn its action, and offered a donation.
Toy giant humbled by little people
The Northern
Echo 22/10/1998
BESSIE ROBINSON
IT was a
champagne moment for the tiny North-East charity which left the world's biggest
toy shop chain with egg on its face.
The full
corporate strength of ToysRUs proved powerless
against animal loving readers of The Northern Echo who came forward in their
hundreds when a cat rescue service was threatened.
The American
corporation, which reported makes weekly profits of 1m, tried to force Marion Maychell's Cats-R-Us charity, which survives on
£100-a-week, to ditch its name.
Lawyers told
Marion, who runs the charity from her Shildon home,
that people might confuse the two organisations and ToysRUs
might be harmed.
However,
callers who contacted Marion and The Northern Echo were very clear whose side
they were on, threatening to drop ToysRUs stores from
their Christmas shopping list.
Red-faced
company spokesman Apsley Nailforth
apologised to
"Now we are
so well known our name is more important to us than ever. It is what we are all
about.
"Thanks to
The Northern Echo, we have stood up to them and won. I can't believe how many
people have contacted me because they read the paper. I want them to know how much
their support has meant.
"Once I
knew so many people were behind me, I couldn't let them down." Until her
story appeared, Marion had feared she would have to give in to the company
because she simply could not afford to fight.
Mr Nailforth said that lawyers had written to Marion without
telling the company. He said: We are very embarrassed. It is not our policy to
go after charities."
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