The Lones Group sues Daniel “The Real Estate Zebra” Rotham

UPDATE 3-10-11: It appears that The Lones Group and Daniel Rothamel may be close to coming to an agreement out of court (click here to see Daniel Rothamel’s letter to The Lones Group – make sure you read all 4 pages of the letter). Unfortunately, it may mean that Daniel “The Real Estate Zebra” Rothamel may soon be referred to as Daniel, “formerly known as The Real Estate Zebra” Rothamel. It’s unfortunate that justice in this country is often determined by who has the bigger pockets and more high priced lawyer than what and who is actually right.

Yes, this is a hyper-local real estate blog site dedicated to Loudoun County real estate. No, this post has nothing to do with Loudoun County real estate. But it has everything to do with right and wrong and a great person who is one of the original real estate bloggers from “back in the day”.

Daniel Rothamel, also known as “The Real Estate Zebra” is a legend. Not only because he’s a great guy and a great agent. But also because he’s one of the pioneers of utilizing blogging and social media as a tool in real estate. The icing on the cake is that he gives of himself and shares his knowledge more than anyone else around.

And he’s been hit with a lawsuit.

Let me preface the following by saying that I am not an attorney and have little knowledge of IP law. This is my personal opinion based on my grasp on common sense what seems right and wrong. In no way does my personal opinion mean that Market Advantage Real Estate, its’ broker or other any other Market Advantage Real Estate agent feels the same way.

The lawsuit was filed by The Lones Group, located in Washington state, which “specializes in helping Real Estate Agents, Brokers and Business Owners implement new systems and effective marketing techniques to give them a competitive edge.” The lawsuit claims that Daniel Rothamel’s use of a Zebra, its stripes and the actual word “Zebra” is trademark infringement.

In The Lones Group’s own words…

“At the heart of the controversy was Mr. Rothamel’s use of “Real Estate Zebra”, which created confusion with our ‘Zebra Report’. In addition, Mr. Rothamel’s “trade dress” – the distinctive ‘look’ that people associate with a person’s services – is very similar to ours. This causes confusion. It’s in everybody’s best interest for the confusion to end.”

So what you (The Lones Group) are saying is…

1) Because you have a rainbow Zebra for your “Zebra Report” and a cropped photo of a Zebra’s face on your web site, no one else can use a Zebra or Zebra stripes in any way, shape or form on their site nor even mention the word “Zebra”…?!

2) People may confuse (aka people are stupid enough not to be able to distinguish between) a small town REALTOR(r) Daniel “The Real Estate Zebra” Rothamel in Virginia and a Washington state marketing firm The Lones Group and their Zebra Report…?!

Since, and I quote, “The Lones Group started the Real Estate marketing revolution… and we are darn proud of it!” (suuuuuure you did), perhaps it was also The Lones Group that created the Zebra (the actual animal) in which case I’m sure Daniel will gladly stop using the stripes and name of an animal which he was obviously falsely led to believe has been on this earth for 4 million years.

But then again…perhaps the Zebra has been around for 4 million years and people are stupid, I mean get confused easily. But then why are these companies and their logos able to legally and peacefully co-exist just fine…

Note: Mini is owned by BMW and Bentley is owned by Audi, competitors in the same industry yet, they and their logos get along just fine

For whatever reason, The Lones Group has decided to pick on possibly the nicest guy not only in real estate, but ever. In the process of picking on Daniel, The Lones Group has picked on his family, but not just his wife and kid, but his entire extended family - us.

And now that The Lones Group has involved Daniel’s entire family and we’ve spoken up, you’re accusing us of “aggressive online bullying”. Let me tell you something…I was a really fat kid growing up so I know bullying better than I ever want to know. This is not bullying. This is people giving their opinion after reading your official complaint and the reasoning behind it and then voicing their disagreement with it and calling you out on claims you make such as, “The Lones Group started the Real Estate marketing revolution….”

Regardless of the outcome in the court room, one thing is certain… Daniel Rothamel will be known more as “The Real Estate Zebra” than ever before and The Lones Group will sit alongside this case study some of you may remember from a few years ago in how not to manage your reputation.

Daniel – Don’t put away those stripes because you will always be “The Real Estate Zebra”

http://ZebraDefenseFund.com

#savethezebra

What I Learned at REBarCampDC and What It Means To You

This past Tuesday, I attended REBarCampDC – an informal “un-conference” focused on how to incorporate the latest social media and technology tools into your real estate business model. The event brought together some of the best and brightest Realtors and technology folks from around the Mid-Atlantic area – even as far away as California.

REBarCampDC proved to be a great learning experience. No matter how long you’ve been doing something, there’s always more to learn. There are always others that know more or do things differently that can give you a new/fresh perspective on things if you care to listen/learn.

But, more importantly, it proved to be a great event for my clients. Eve though my clients were not there, they will directly benefit in the form of better service and a better experience thanks to the tools I learned about at REBarCampDC.

Some of my personal highlights of the event were…

1. Home Search – the event reiterated the need to have a “Home Search” function available to my blog readers and clients. The general consensus was that FrankyMLS was the most up to date, accurate and user-friendly real estate search site in the DC/VA/MD area. I’m happy to say that I’ve had that feature available to blog readers and home buyers here on my blog since day 1.
2. Statistics – Home buyers, sellers, investors and the media want to see statistics. One of the technology gurus present present at the event was Mike Simonsen of Altos Research. Altos provides in-depth and up-to-date data in the form of tables and charts. I had the chance to sit down with Mike one-on-one to get a test run and tutorial of Altos’ new flash charts, which are interactive and should be a big hit with consumers. You can find an example of these charts on my previous blog post talking about Loudoun County housing inventory being down (click here).
3. Community Topics – Though home buyers and sellers want to know about real estate in the area, they also want to know about the area itself. Though I do talk about local businesses and community events from time to time, I will be focusing much more on this moving forward. I am currently working on several posts about local businesses and events by reaching out to owners and event coordinators for interviews, information, etc. And I’m not talking about posting the facts (What, Where, When) – I’m talking about the “feel” of these businesses and events and my personal take on them as a consumer/attendee.
4. Video – is where it’s at. This is according to many of those at the event that have been dabbling around with video. I tend to agree with them because I’ve done a few video tours of builder’s model homes and they’ve been a big hit with home buyers/consumers. Therefore, I will be doing video tours of all the builders’ model homes in the area over the next few months so that you can see what they look like from the privacy and comfort of your own home.
5. Knowing what you don’t know – is more important than knowing what you do know. Though it’s not necessarily a social media or technology topic, it was talked about a lot at the event. Blogging about or talking to clients about areas or topics that you are not an expert in is a disservice to your clients (and the general public). If you run across a buyer or seller that wants to buy or sell in an area that you’re not completely familiar with, refer them to someone who does. The consumer will value your honesty and integrity and will remember that for years to come. And what goes around comes around…the consumer you referred out as well as the Realtor that you referred them to will most likely refer people back to you at some point down the road. Same thing goes for blogging – Realtors should focus on blogging/talking about topics and area they’re familiar with rather than going outside their area of expertise for the sake of making more money.

Exchanged great ideas…one-on-one time with the top guy at a real estate technology firm…learned a lot…clients will benefit from what I learned…hung out with friends…made new friends… You can’t ask for much more!

Special thanks to Ainsley McDougal of NVAR for helping make the event possible!

Social Media, Social Networking Presentation For VA Realtors

Are you a Virginia REALTOR®? Interested in learning how to use social media and social networking within your busines to increase your success? Then come check out the "Social Media for the Technologically Challenged" presentation on Saturday, September 27th at the Virginia Association of REALTORS® convention in Baltimore (don't ask why it's in Maryland).

A fellow Realtor and I will be giving the 90-minute presentation beginning at 2:00pm. We're leaving the last 30 minutes open in order to answer your questions and show real-time examples of social media and social networking at work.

I'll be posting a comprehensive list of social media and social networking resources from the presentation tomorrow so come back to check that out.

Hope to see you there!

***UPDATE: The list of social media and social networking resources is now available.

A Way To Find Others With Similar Interests

Curious as to who has the same interests as you? Wondering what people are saying about and doing in Loudoun County? Want to make friends and communicate with others near you? One way to do so is through Twitter and TwitterLocal.

Twitter brings people together that have the same interests whether it be due to geographical area, work, organization or some other common thread. Twitter is a "micro-blogging" platform that allows you to post 140 character snippets (aka "Tweets") of what you’re doing, your thoughts, comments to other Twitters, etc.

Twitter is a good way to post about stuff that is not necessarily worth a phone call, blog post or email. Your friends and associates can "follow" you and get your updates sent to them directly on their computer or their cell phone. You can see who else has the same interests or likes to go to the same places as you do. The common interest brings you and them together online and eventually, offline/in person (if you choose to do so).

TwitterLocal is basically a search/reader for Twitter. Just put in a keyword such as "Ashburn" or "Loudoun County" and it will search through Twitter and send you all the "Tweets" that have those keywords in them. You can get real specific with the keywords such as "Ashburn Ice Rink" or "Spartan Football". You can see who’s talking about what’s of interest to you and see what they’re saying. Same goes for others – they can see that you’re talking about the same things of interest to them and get your take on it.

Twitter and TwitterLocal are an integral part of social media and social networking, a movement that is gaining tremendous momentum and will not be going away any time soon. It’s amazing how it can bring people and information together that may never have been brought together otherwise.

For a great and simple explanation of Twitter and how/why it works, check out these two short videos:

Twitter in Plain English

Twitter is Like Cheers

***If you’re on Twitter, feel free to share your handle here in a comment. And please stop by and say hello on Twitter – my handle is DaniloB. You can also check out my "Tweets" on the Twitter widget located near the top of the right hand column of the page.