Something Wicked This Way Comes Part 3: "CardLauncher"!

[Mike Ratledge]

You can read the text of the joint press release, although I wasn't speaking in an official capacity for USPCC nor Bicycle brand, I was authorized to release the information that I did at noon today. It's on Facebook on the CardLauncher.com page, as well as a few other places.

Basically, somebody with legal woke Mike Slaughter (USPCC President) up early this morning with a question about "what the heck was going on?" and we had our business casual meeting from 11AM until just before 11:30 with Ruth Ella Girvin (his Executive Secretary and "keeper of the keys" for branding and name recognition - and a legal counsel present, and the conclusion was that we both needed to quite dealing with the rumor mill and "he has my number and e-mail, and I have his", so we don't need to deal through proxies any more, it will be 1-on-1.

Bottom line: we both see a whole lot of great decks coming out before Christmas, and beginning August 1st, CardLauncher will indeed officially represent (and defend) the brands, marks and IP of both firms. They are as jealous about guarding their IP as I am, so it's "a match made in heaven".

[montecarlojoe]

So what does this mean in practical terms? If CL officially represents USPCC, are creators more likely to get approval for their brands on CL, or are we talking the basic partnership price breaks etc?

Do you have a link to teh press release (if there is one yet)?

[Mike Ratledge]

So what does this mean in practical terms? If CL officially represents USPCC, are creators more likely to get approval for their brands on CL, or are we talking the basic partnership price breaks etc?

Do you have a link to teh press release (if there is one yet)?

"All the above!": Pseudo press release on FB

[TGunitedcardists]

Bottom line: we both see a whole lot of great decks coming out before Christmas, and beginning August 1st, CardLauncher will indeed officially represent (and defend) the brands, marks and IP of both firms. They are as jealous about guarding their IP as I am, so it's "a match made in heaven".

Does this also mean defending the brands of obvious infringements. For example, I can't see how the "Get MADE! Mob-Themed" deck got through the common sense is it or is it not copyright infringement test. As of 3 days left to go in the campaign, they are at almost $49,000. While the artwork is good, the foundation is shaky. I'm curious if these decks will actually be delivered. Seems like a future Hall of Shame candidate.

How can USPCC explain the importance of defending their Brand at the same time letting others violate someone else's rights? The rights of Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando and Paramount Pictures have obviously signed off on this project, right?

How would CrowdLauncher handle a deck like this?

[Lotrek]

About fulfillment centers: When I did "Venexiana", I was very sorry I could not get the decks to Greece and pack them myself. After having packed just 20-30 items, I'm very happy that there are fulfillment centers to do the job. It's a terrible mess, very time consuming and also costly. You may pay your wrapping material about as much as you'll pay the fulfillment center for their whole service, as they are buying material in much lower prices (because of the quantity).

[Mike Ratledge]

Does this also mean defending the brands of obvious infringements. For example, I can't see how the "Get MADE! Mob-Themed" deck got through the common sense is it or is it not copyright infringement test. As of 3 days left to go in the campaign, they are at almost $49,000. While the artwork is good, the foundation is shaky. I'm curious if these decks will actually be delivered. Seems like a future Hall of Shame candidate.

How can USPCC explain the importance of defending their Brand at the same time letting others violate someone else's rights? The rights of Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando and Paramount Pictures have obviously signed off on this project, right?

How would CrowdLauncher handle a deck like this?

The thing is, there's really nothing to do as far as any infringement, because "Made" is such a common word, and nobody has laid claim to it - ever. I don't know how you could, than again we're told there is no way to 'trademark' a word like "Windows", either, but apparently if you've got enough money and good lawyers, you can.

The project is being run by Scott King, same person that did the Gentleman's 52 deck and "Vikings" series decks. I don't see how you would think it's an unreliable project. I suppose anything is possible, but I"d have to say "highly unlikely" in this case.

[Mike Ratledge]

Executive summary to avoid "TL;DR" comments: Backer Cart, Multi Rewards Selector and True Shipping+Handling work together to provide a new backer experience and eliminate confusion.

When I talked about us going ahead and implementing "True Shipping+Handling" I didn't really go into how all of that fits together and works in a synergistic way: basically, when you get down to it, our novel "Backer Cart" paradigm is closely tied with the "Multi Rewards Selector" functions and that calculates the "True Shipping+Handling" prices as you select rewards. You actually see the S+H pricing accumulate and move - depending on where the point of delivery is - 1) US 5-digit ZIP codes, 2) North America outside 5-ZIP land, mostly Canada & Mexico or 3) RoW ("Rest of World") being anything overseas.

These three key elements of the redesigned backer experience in CardLauncher work so closely hand-in-hand that they are difficult to separate, in fact they are all part of the remodeling of the actual selection of the rewards, which has always been a "add on costs + shipping (if you're not US)" method, and now it's clearly defined for all backers, to the point you physically don't need to add funds to purchase anything, although of course I can see a couple of times it might be needed. When you're in the new "Back Cart" using "Multi Rewards Selector" to determine the "True Shipping+Handling" amount, it all works seamlessly together, and creates a much smoother way of looking at things - especially from the backer perspective, but the fact is that it's a major win for the project campaign creators as well, because it clearly separates and keeps track of shipping and handling costs separately from the pledge tier items, even though of course we have to count it towards the total funding goal. Doing anything else would make it too painful and require a whole not set of rules as far as setting funding goals. We've seen a few big missteps in that arena recently, projects just setting totally unrealistic (unnecessarily high?) goals in some cases, and so we're putting together guidelines to help assist people - especially new creators - with setting realistic and attainable funding goals.

Unfortunately the one big thing we found trying to determine exactly what needed to be changed was that the "one tier fits all" model used in CrowdFunding everywhere else just doesn't fit 75-80% of the backers - at least not in Playing Card Decks project campaigns. We examined quite a few and those percentages very a good bit, but overall that's a very precise number, because in most cases it's only one in 4 or 5 backers that actually end up only getting one item. So, there we have the new backer experience: cart model, take what you want, pay actual calculated handling fee and shipping cost. Easy enough from the perspective of the backers, but it sure took a lot of work to get it done! Basically, we through a monkey wrench in the entire CrowdFunding paradigm as far as rewards selection goes, and the result is astonishingly well thought out in every aspect, and backers will benefit in every case from the new model. Do you remember $6 to $8 decks? We do, and using our separation of S+H from the base tier price eliminates all problems with the supposedly 'hidden' shipping costs for US backers especially, there is no way to hide it any more.

It's not something I can put my hands on - yet, but it will be. We can't be responsible for what you pick as your funding goal, but we can help you set realistic expectations depending on how many decks you plan to produce and which production facility / partner you are using. There's a fine line between reasonable and attainable and sometimes hurting yourself by setting goals too high.

The distinction has to be made between our "Backer Cart" model and the retail shopping cart - they both look the same, but it's not intended to blur the lines between purchase and funding items. We are still only one thing: "CrowdFunding for Playing Card Decks projects" and campaigns are designed to let people put their money where their mouth (heart?) is, as always. Campaign success or failure depends on the backers in every case, and few projects are ever a 'given' except for those run by the true masters of the art of funding playing cards, and there are quite a few of course. Company's like "Uusi" and similar groups have completely re-jiggered exactly what we expect for certain aspects of campaigns and quality, and done so with great skill and wisdom, to the point that they are beyond question some of the best decks available. In fact, the Pagan decks Uusi just did are already close to sold out, which is a phenomenal thing for a pair of decks made so recently. Linnea & Peter have definitely made us a new way of thinking as far as the project campaigns go, and we're all better off for it. I hope we can convince them in a few months not to "hand up their shingle" after Deck #6, which I'm sure it already being crafted behind the scenes, with HotCakes closing in on the horizon.

[Sher]

Does this also mean defending the brands of obvious infringements. For example, I can't see how the "Get MADE! Mob-Themed" deck got through the common sense is it or is it not copyright infringement test. As of 3 days left to go in the campaign, they are at almost $49,000. While the artwork is good, the foundation is shaky. I'm curious if these decks will actually be delivered. Seems like a future Hall of Shame candidate.

How can USPCC explain the importance of defending their Brand at the same time letting others violate someone else's rights? The rights of Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando and Paramount Pictures have obviously signed off on this project, right?

How would CrowdLauncher handle a deck like this?

The thing is, there's really nothing to do as far as any infringement, because "Made" is such a common word, and nobody has laid claim to it - ever. I don't know how you could, than again we're told there is no way to 'trademark' a word like "Windows", either, but apparently if you've got enough money and good lawyers, you can.

The project is being run by Scott King, same person that did the Gentleman's 52 deck and "Vikings" series decks. I don't see how you would think it's an unreliable project. I suppose anything is possible, but I"d have to say "highly unlikely" in this case.

Mike, it's not the name of the deck that's a concern. It's the likeness of some of the court cards to popular actors who've portrayed mob characters in films (Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando).

[TGunitedcardists]

Does this also mean defending the brands of obvious infringements. For example, I can't see how the "Get MADE! Mob-Themed" deck got through the common sense is it or is it not copyright infringement test. As of 3 days left to go in the campaign, they are at almost $49,000. While the artwork is good, the foundation is shaky. I'm curious if these decks will actually be delivered. Seems like a future Hall of Shame candidate.

How can USPCC explain the importance of defending their Brand at the same time letting others violate someone else's rights? The rights of Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando and Paramount Pictures have obviously signed off on this project, right?

How would CrowdLauncher handle a deck like this?

The thing is, there's really nothing to do as far as any infringement, because "Made" is such a common word, and nobody has laid claim to it - ever. I don't know how you could, than again we're told there is no way to 'trademark' a word like "Windows", either, but apparently if you've got enough money and good lawyers, you can.

The project is being run by Scott King, same person that did the Gentleman's 52 deck and "Vikings" series decks. I don't see how you would think it's an unreliable project. I suppose anything is possible, but I"d have to say "highly unlikely" in this case.

Mike, it's not the name of the deck that's a concern. It's the likeness of some of the court cards to popular actors who've portrayed mob characters in films (Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando).

Exactly. Exhibit #1

[Mike Ratledge]

Mike, it's not the name of the deck that's a concern. It's the likeness of some of the court cards to popular actors who've portrayed mob characters in films (Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando).

The problem with that is that there is a resemblance, and it is of course intentional, but it's just far enough away from the point of infringing on anyone. I can't argue that it's not there, because it is. I just don't see anyone that cares enough to do anything. In the first place it's not close enough to warrant legal inspection, although as I always say IANAL. I'd have to say that you'd be throwing money away if you even thought about challenging it, and all they would have to do is make a few more slight changes and they'd be way beyond scrutiny.

The case can be made that knowing this, they could have made more changes, but they didn't. Scott and his crew run a pretty tight ship, and I have to agree that this one is close, but not over the line to where anything 'actionable' is there to throw something and see if it sticks.

The card shown that is obviously aimed at saying "This is deNiro's role" is fortunately - for them - also looking like it could have hints of Brando's role and a bit of Sherlock Holmes thrown in for good measure. That's just enough differentiation that there's just no leg to stand on, IMHO. The name surely fits, but then again anybody can edit/change the filename.

TG: I've got a totally unrelated question: can you tell me why Japan isn't considered to be part of the Asia/Pacific/Oceania region? Baffles me, but I am working on getting some shipping/fulfillment partner(s) in the area and much to my dismay found that Japan isn't considered to be Asian? Go figure. The region covers everything west to India, south to Antarctica and east to almost Hawai'i - close enough, and yes - I know it's two or three time-zones away from it depending on whether or not we're in Daylight Saving Time - or is it 3 & 4? Really doesn't matter, Hawai'i (and Guam) are both in the 5-digit ZIP code system, so they are already covered by domestic shipping. I'm trying to figure out how to have Expert PCC projects made in Taiwan delivered to the region 3 to 4 weeks before they even arrive on the US shores. I think it's worth doing, and maybe even about time the area including Australia was first instead of last - getting their rewards and other items. That one thing would be a real game-changer for Asia/Pacific/Oceania backers, and I'll admit that they aren't a huge percentage, but - kind of my point, that's not the metric I use. They are and have been inconvenience "forever", and shipping to them direct from Taiwan where the decks factory is manufacturing them would be something that truly set that right - for once. I'd have to have a few air freighted into the states, frankly. It's just that good of an idea, and our people in Singapore are working directly to get this done.

[Sher]

The name surely fits, but then again anybody can edit/change the filename.

It's named that way because it's probably a screenshot from TGUnitedCardists. It's not proof of anything since he named it himself. Btw, I'm just clarifying his point when I made that previous post. I haven't yet made up my mind about this particular issue about the MADE deck.

TG, CardLauncher will be reviewing each project before launch and will do its best to prevent campaigns using copyright images from launching. Also, CardLauncher reserves that right to cancel a campaign without advance notice should CardLauncher discover that there is indeed copyright material in the campaign that was somehow missed during the approval process.

[TGunitedcardists]

Mike, it's not the name of the deck that's a concern. It's the likeness of some of the court cards to popular actors who've portrayed mob characters in films (Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando).

The problem with that is that there is a resemblance, and it is of course intentional, but it's just far enough away from the point of infringing on anyone. I can't argue that it's not there, because it is. I just don't see anyone that cares enough to do anything. In the first place it's not close enough to warrant legal inspection, although as I always say IANAL. I'd have to say that you'd be throwing money away if you even thought about challenging it, and all they would have to do is make a few more slight changes and they'd be way beyond scrutiny.

The case can be made that knowing this, they could have made more changes, but they didn't. Scott and his crew run a pretty tight ship, and I have to agree that this one is close, but not over the line to where anything 'actionable' is there to throw something and see if it sticks.

The card shown that is obviously aimed at saying "This is deNiro's role" is fortunately - for them - also looking like it could have hints of Brando's role and a bit of Sherlock Holmes thrown in for good measure. That's just enough differentiation that there's just no leg to stand on, IMHO. The name surely fits, but then again anybody can edit/change the filename.

While I appreciate the time you took to answer, I think this link is more informative. It seems Paramount Pictures has a case for infringement and the actors have a right of publicity.

http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-i ... 35063.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More here:

http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/is-it ... 27882.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mike Ratledge]

While I appreciate the time you took to answer, I think this link is more informative. It seems Paramount Pictures has a case for infringement and the actors have a right of publicity.

http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-i ... 35063.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;..

More here:

http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/is-it ... 27882.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh, I have seen these, but I think they are without merit, but like I said, "I Am Not A Lawyer" and certainly not even close to the mindset of a judge. We'll see, but I really think that it is doubtful and even if part of it is, I don't see how a they don't just change the images just enough, it's been done so many times before. I am not saying that it is right, to the contrary, they would not even have the issue if they had been a little (lot?) more discrete with the likenesses, but they didn't. I am glad that I am not a judge, because I think this one might get me in trouble if I was. The images would have to change, but I am sure that I could not see my way clear to anything more than a slap on the wrist. Damages? Monetary - possible, but not likely, especially anything beyond a second slap on the wrists. As I have said even many more times "I have been known to be wrong before".

[Mike Ratledge]

Two days and less than 90 minutes to opening. If you are not amongst the 4687 people who signed up for notifications, here's the link to the opening invitation: http://us8.campaign-archive1.com/?u=7bf ... e7ff0a2d92

[Norbie]

Is there somewhere I could go to see how the website looks?

[Mike Ratledge]

Is there somewhere I could go to see how the website looks?

Norbie, it's "locked down" until tomorrow night late so the project creators can build their campaigns in peace, but the look and feel for the website it there if you to to http://CardLauncher.com

[Eoghann]

Shouldn't there be an option to register? So far I've only seen the option to subscribe. When I go to register, it sends me back to the subscribe menu. Tomorrow night there will be literally thousands of people creating accounts come midnight. Might get pretty chaotic.

[ecNate]

Shouldn't there be an option to register? So far I've only seen the option to subscribe. When I go to register, it sends me back to the subscribe menu. Tomorrow night there will be literally thousands of people creating accounts come midnight. Might get pretty chaotic.

This post on Facebook doesn't help either since it implies that an invite to formally register was sent:

A large number of people signed up after the "invitation" went out last night, as in more than 300.

So we have to quickly come to the site when it opens, register and then quickly try and pledge for decks that may have limited options? That's a lot to do all at once. I sure hope your system was stress tested and the provider can handle it.

[WillHart CthulhuWho1]

Mike, I think you are too close to the forest to see the trees...

What you are calling an invitation by saying, "here's the link to the opening invitation: http://us8.campaign-archive1.com/?u=7bf ... e7ff0a2d92" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" isn't what I would call an "Invitation."

I've received it by email too, but I just read it as an Announcement or Notice, but have still kept looking for the promised "Invitation."

An "Invitation" usually includes a link to, confirm, register, or at-least respond; but this "Invitation" doesn't let me go anywhere.

I keep looking for a way to get registered, or to at least log-in with my Deck Refinery account, so I can be all-prepared and registered on the site before the Midnight bell rings.

So how about letting all of us interested in CardLauncher get signed up and registered before the actual doors open?

Will Hart
Fullerton, California

[chach]

Mike, I think you are too close to the forest to see the trees...

What you are calling an invitation by saying, "here's the link to the opening invitation: http://us8.campaign-archive1.com/?u=7bf ... e7ff0a2d92" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.." isn't what I would call an "Invitation."

I've received it by email too, but I just read it as an Announcement or Notice, but have still kept looking for the promised "Invitation."

An "Invitation" usually includes a link to, confirm, register, or at-least respond; but this "Invitation" doesn't let me go anywhere.

I keep looking for a way to get registered, or to at least log-in with my Deck Refinery account, so I can be all-prepared and registered on the site before the Midnight bell rings.

So how about letting all of us interested in CardLauncher get signed up and registered before the actual doors open?

Will Hart
Fullerton, California

Couldn't have said it better myself. Saw that post on Facebook a bit ago and was like, "WTF? Did I miss my chance at winning one of the decks for every 25 registered people up to 300?" Went back and double checked email and yeah, only one I have is more of a memorandum reminding you of what's going down with no links other than a few YouTube ones.

[Mike Ratledge]

Yep, my fault for calling it an "invitation", it's the "2-day warning" message that was promised before we were ready to open - tomorrow night. Not really an invitation as such at all. A better word would be "preview" of what will be available tomorrow night at midnight.

[Eoghann]

What about the above observations, Mike? Come midnight, we all register then it's off to the races? I think everyone would be considerably more at ease having an account setup and ready to pounce...so to speak.

Any chance of that happening before the floodgates open?

[Mike Ratledge]

What about the above observations, Mike? Come midnight, we all register then it's off to the races? I think everyone would be considerably more at ease having an account setup and ready to pounce...so to speak.

Any chance of that happening before the floodgates open?

Well, I agree. If I can, I'll unlock the door at 10PM - two hours early, and only launch the projects at midnight. Of course, I can't promise, but that's what I'll try to do. I'll send another notifications around this evening stating that it's going to be open for registration ONLY two hours early, and then the campaigns launch at midnight. I'll let the four campaigns know that I'll do the launching instead of them, which will make it easier. Normally we won't be doing that for them, it's up to them, but for a coordinated attack all at once, that's probably the easy way to go.

[Eoghann]

Awesome. Thank you, good sir!

[lolo]

Hello Mike,

I red your email about the preregistration this morning just after i woke up. And I will be a bit rude about it...

It's too loooonnnnnnggggggggg ! It's not an promotional or informational email, it's like a New York times article : It's absolutly horrible to read it from the beginning to the end. I want to read a Sun article (if possible like the one on every page 3) : easy to read, easy to understand .

Please : simplify your communication.

It's an email about preregistration and there are details about other things than registration process :
- 35-day project ;
- Amazon Cloud Services for hosting ;
- 100 PoPs (Points of Presence)
- ...

Who care about these details. Is it related to the main subject ? No !
There would be questions about registration process ? Do a online FAQ !
There is other things to explain not related to the main subject ? Do another email !

Another thing (and last one ) : don't use "Tomorrow". your tomorrow is not mine. I could have read this email on next monday.

[montecarlojoe]

I tend to agree - people (in general) will better absorb information in bite sized chunks.

You really need to talk about one thing and keep it concise.

You'd be better off making short dedicated posts over at DR or dedicated blog and then linking to those articles as extra reading.

Still - exciting stuff!

[Maddest Hammer]

Something else, and I guess I'm a minority here because nobody else brought it up, but midnight east coast, is 5 am in England, and 6 am central Europe. So, unless it's fun staying up late, or getting up early, the only folks that are really going to be on top of it are in Asia.

Not complaining, just an observation. I'll be on a bus, somewhere in Poland, so I'm going to miss opening weekend (and the potential of snagging a free no. 17) altogether.

That aside, looking forward to getting in on Venexiana and the Good Deck when I get home!

[montecarlojoe]

All the more reason to allow sign up before projects start. Even a full day head start wouldnt have been unreasonable (if we'd thought of it earlier!)

[Slavich]

I also think that the time for registrations is too early for us Europeans. Do I want to wake up between 4 and 6 am in order to get it done early, not really. Do I want to be one of the first to pledge, yes. So it doesn't leave me much choice than wake up at least 20min before 6am to go through registration and be ready for opening. I'm not complaining, just think that better time could have been picked Can't wait for it anyway!

[MagikFingerz]

Something else, and I guess I'm a minority here because nobody else brought it up, but midnight east coast, is 5 am in England, and 6 am central Europe. So, unless it's fun staying up late, or getting up early, the only folks that are really going to be on top of it are in Asia.

Not complaining, just an observation. I'll be on a bus, somewhere in Poland, so I'm going to miss opening weekend (and the potential of snagging a free no. 17) altogether.

That aside, looking forward to getting in on Venexiana and the Good Deck when I get home!

Yeah, I'll be missing it for the same reason.

Mike, you might want to consider having the projects either launced at different times (a few hours between) or at least change the launch time of the next batch of projects to even things out for Europeans.