Thread regarding Sears layoffs

1kxz, upvoted you for posting. Down voting Boutros for saying such nonsense. They deserve to be sure for that comment alone. They sold craftsman to get those payments and now they're acting like snakes trying to mislead the public.

SBD used the color red to differentiate their new Craftsman 20V power tools from the black-colored power tools at Sears.

Later, Sears came out with new 20V power tools using the color red. LOL

2/21/19 press release: "Sears is the real home of the broadest assortment of Craftsman, and we're pleased to offer our customers innovative new products from this power brand," said Peter Boutros, president of Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard and chief brand officer for Sears and Kmart.

@kgl The original agreement stated that the rights could only be transferred if substantially all the assets of SHC were sold to another entity. SBD is arguing that substantially all the assets of SHC were not sold to Transform because the assets that Transform got look nothing like the assets SHC owned in 2017 when the agreement was struck. Transform of course is going to argue that what was sold to them was in fact substantially all the assets of SHC, never mind the fact that hundreds of stores had been closed in the previous 2 years. IANAL and have no idea which argument holds more water legally.

Why does Stanley even care? There's 230 stores left. Give me a break. Waste of their time.

Not like anyone is coming into Sears to buy anything anyways. It's all academic.

The obvious answer is that the good stuff we have at sears should be labeled craftsman professional and the Lowe’s/sbd/knockoff junk just craftsman. Problem solved.

SEARS using the term "real" or "true home of Craftsman" is definitely infringing on the trademark ownership of Stanley, Black & Decker. SEARS lost claim to that title when ownership of the name and trademarks changed. Now if SEARS said "historical home of Craftsman" or "where Craftsman started" I think that would be different, but claiming they have ownership of something that they no longer do is a false claim and absolutely is an attempt to defame the company that now owns Craftsman.

Now the other issue..... Adding "Ultimate" to the name Craftsman and offering a product for sale without getting permission from the trademark owner is definitely a breach of agreement. They are attempting to create a new Craftsman trademark when they don't own the Craftsman trademark legally anymore. Should be a pretty easy open and shut case in Stanley, Black & Deckers favor.

Apparently the restriction on Sears was that they could continue to use the Craftsman name on the tools that were being supplied to them, but that they were forbidden or limited from creating "new" lines of Craftsman series tools featuring a new name or additional name to the term "Craftsman".

But I agree with the poster below that the "root" of the issue probably goes back to SBD's feelings about the transition of SHLDQ to Transform....this infringement on the use of the name is just the foot in the door situation that is the start of it.

Bottom line is that since SBD does own the "name" they probably are irritated that Sears would be creating a new Craftsman XXXXX brand using a name that SBD has the right too.

The issue that has changed things is that SBD claims that since Sears will be changing ownership from SHLDQ to Transformholdco that the original terms of the purchase of Craftsman are no longer binding or have been fulfilled.

I don't know all the specific details of the Craftsman transaction from a few years ago, but if it was written into the agreement that SBD owed those payments to SHLD and only SHLD as long as SHLD is in existence and the agreement was not transferable to a new owner then they might have some legal standing. Whatever the outcome is it won't change things much.... Sears Craftsman is fading away and SBD Craftsman is on the rise.

Worst case scenario is that SBD will have to keep making the payments in terms with the original agreement. Since the court case ended this was the "other shoe waiting to drop" that I was the most curious about.

SBD owns the name and the trademarks outright, only protecting what's theirs

@sam

Nah if they win they’ll probably be able to get the legal fees paid back and possibly even get the $250 million (or more) sooner than next year.

Every dollar spent on legal fees, and there will be a lot, is another dollar not invested in the employees and the stores. Even if Sears wins they will have to spend millions of dollars.

Sears will probably win this based on the original agreement and the fact Stanley still owes another $250 million to finalize the deal.

I thought that SBD bought the Craftsman name from Sears including the rights to sell the products wherever and had to pay Sears $$$ for using the name for xx years as part of the deal. I was working at Sears when this happened and it was promoted as a great thing. Monetizing the Sears brands and all that. I thought it was depressing and a bad sign. But if so, the Lowe's ads are true. SBD owns the real craftsman and apparently sells the products at Lowe's.

To be fair, SBD doesn’t even list Sears or Kmart on craftsman.com and Lowe’s has been using deceiving ads about how they’re “The New Home of Craftsman”

Lowes is feeling the heat! Every day goes by and another person comes in and tells me how they checked out the "knockoff craftsman" at Lowes, but they "came home" to Sears to get the good stuff! Lol. SMH what c-ap will SBD pull next?

Good for Black and Decker! Hopefully this helps Eddie lose more money overall, and expose how much of a lying cheating corcksucker that he really is.