When is enough… enough?

Apparently being the number one PC builder in the world isn’t enough for computer maker Dell.

I got this information in one of the TechSummary type emails I receive on a daily basis:

Notes from the field: Dell is suing Dell -- and it's not the first time, either. That's right, Dell Corporation is slapping Web designer Paul Dell with a lawsuit over the domain Dellwebsites.com ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=111A6B5:2AB972A ). Now what would Dell the PC maker even want with Dellwebsites anyway?

It seems Dell threatened this guy with a lawsuit once befoe, and then backed off when he didn’t just ‘cave’ in the face of their overwhelming awesome-ness.

To me, this is the worst type of corporate indulgence. They seem to believe that they are the only ones allowed to use the word ‘Dell’…. And they’ve decided to crush anyone else who tries to use it.

Well this fellow and his website have earned a place in my “Friends” sidebar section, check it out and see for yourself. There is no mention of computers, hardware… or anything remotely referring to the PC giant Dell. I’m also adding his blog to my blogroll

Had I learned about this from a less reputable source, I would have tossed it off as some sort of internet scam, we all know there are plenty of them… this my friends, for all the research I’ve done, is 100% legit.

I urge you to go to his site, check out the blog his friends started to chronicle his struggle, donate if you can (he’ll give you a template as a gift for your donation!)

Me, I’ve decided he’s my new template vendor. I’ll be showing clients his templates first, throw any business his way I can. I don’t directly control the purchase of 100’s of PC’s like I once did, but now, instead, I influence the purchase of 1,000’s of PC’s. I can promise you, if Dell does not back off on this suit, I’ll point it out to every one of my clients and urge them to source their hardware elsewhere.

This corporate bullying of this little one man shop, is, in my opinion, reprehensible. Up until this point, I’ve actually held Michael Dell in quite high regard. He started the Dell operation in a garage, struggled though horrendous growing pains, battled overwhelming odds and huge competitors, only to emerge as the #1 PC builder in the world. A true American success story.

It makes me wonder where it all changed for him. Where did he make that turn, go from the ‘peoples PC builder’, the underdog, to just another greedy corporation, not content until they achieve world domination?

Wake up Michael, you’re already the “Alpha” PC guy, the top dog in a dog eat dog business, do you really need to crush this little guy to feel better about yourself, your company?

Or is it that you’re so far removed from the day to day goings on in your legal department that you don’t even know that this is happening? Is it possible you never gave your blessing to this, that some over-eager overachieving legal eagle on your staff just had this idea and went with it?

If Michael Dell were to put a stop to this, issue an apology to the other Mr. Dell (the website guy) and let him know it was all a very bad mistake, my faith would be restored.

I truly hope something like that happens… hey, I got ProFlowers to listen.. I’m on a roll this week, I can only hope something good happens for Paul, and soon.

So, tell me, what's your honest opinion here? Do you think Dell has a case? Is this some sort of ill-advised legal screw-up? or, does Dell really feel like they have to crush this kid??

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