Lemme ask you a question about the following picture, do you think this resembles the logo for the Chicago Cubs?
Do you think it could in any way ever be misconstrued to represent the MLB team?
Lawyers for the Chicago Cubs do and have sent business owner Ryan Stewman, founder of Clyxo, a social media search engine and account storage tech company, a cease and desist letter for that very reason.
What about if you see the two logos side-by-side? Now, do you note a similarity?
Didn’t think so.
Stewman assures me he knows the truth of the situation and where the root of the problem began...and it’s not with the Cubs. As a businessman who’s been around the block, he is familiar with the inner workings of running a company, and (bonus!) is also a whip at branding. “The patent trolls are in full force here,” he says in his warm Texan drawl, adding he lacks the funds to fight the MLB and will need to go back to the drawing board (literally) to redesign his logo as well as update his associated collateral. A spendy endeavor to put it mildly.
Clyxo is the brainchild started by the gregarious and blunt Stewman aka the Hardcore Closer in 2015. The short definition is that the company acts as a digital business card, allowing members to share one customized link in lieu of numerous SM URLs. Stewman has a membership of several thousand, a free service he extended to his friends and business associates. The site is clean and functionally solid, and integrates with any social platform.
Stewman has clawed his way to his current standing in the business world, making monster splashes in the sales training, marketing, coaching, writing, speaking and tech spaces. He is a bestselling author of five books, a blogger for The Huffington Post, Forbes, Entrepreneur and The Good Men Project, among other large-scale media publications. He runs multiple companies and aims to help salespeople “his favorite people in the world” every day. But despite his impressive reach, his pockets still aren’t deep enough to take on the MLB.
“I’ll do it. Remake the logo. Of course, I will, but it’s not right, picking on the little guy and I want people to know about it.”
Patent trolls, as Stewman has named the “bored” lawyers in hot pursuit are simply “dudes who sit around looking for a way to make a dollar.” They snag onto a weak case and apply their intimidating pressure to exploit their flimsy cases and bank big bucks.
In a case of picking your battles, Stewman is choosing wisely, and optimistically, feeling that this “might be the right time for a rebrand and re-launch.” His voice booms through the phone and he laughs, never one to take himself too seriously.
In the infamous words of an unnamed news writer from yesteryear: “You heard it here, folks.” Watch for Clyxo to leverage this wrestling match soon and come out on top.
Because the one thing that even a gargantuan company can’t muscle into compliance is the indomitable spirit of Stewman, who has a track record of consistent reinvention and innovation.
Maybe this unusual development is exactly what the little-startup-tech-company-that-could needs to take its visibility and growth to the next successful tier.
In that vein, Stewman says...thank you to the Cubs.
P.S. The Chicago Cubs logo was embedded legally and for commercial use...you know, just in case the those pesky trolls start sniffin’ around...again.