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Baby_Hitler
Errorist
Registered: 03/06/02
Posts: 27,625
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Toy store raided by Homeland Security.
#3292067 - 10/28/04 11:49 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=st...meland_security
ST. HELENS, Ore. - So far as she knows, Pufferbelly Toys owner Stephanie Cox hasn't been passing any state secrets to sinister foreign governments, or violating obscure clauses in the Patriot Act.
So she was taken aback by a mysterious phone call from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to her small store in this quiet Columbia River town just north of Portland.
"I was shaking in my shoes," Cox said of the September phone call. "My first thought was the government can shut your business down on a whim, in my opinion. If I'm closed even for a day that would cause undue stress."
When the two agents arrived at the store, the lead agent asked Cox whether she carried a toy called the Magic Cube, which he said was an illegal copy of the Rubik's Cube, one of the most popular toys of all time.
He told her to remove the Magic Cube from her shelves, and he watched to make sure she complied.
After the agents left, Cox called the manufacturer of the Magic Cube, the Toysmith Group, which is based in Auburn, Wash. A representative told her that Rubik's Cube patent had expired, and the Magic Cube did not infringe on the rival toy's trademark.
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents went to Pufferbelly based on a trademark infringement complaint filed in the agency's intellectual property rights center in Washington, D.C.
"One of the things that our agency's responsible for doing is protecting the integrity of the economy and our nation's financial systems and obviously trademark infringement does have significant economic implications," she said.
Six weeks after her brush with Homeland Security, Cox told The Oregonian she is still bewildered by the experience.
"Aren't there any terrorists out there?" she said.
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z@z.com
Libertarian
Registered: 10/13/02
Posts: 2,876
Loc: ATL
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: Baby_Hitler]
#3292080 - 10/28/04 11:53 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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That is exactly what I would expect from a government agency.
-------------------- "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C.S. Lewis "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniencies attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." - Thomas Jefferson
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phi1618
old hand
Registered: 02/14/04
Posts: 4,102
Last seen: 13 years, 10 months
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: Baby_Hitler]
#3292233 - 10/29/04 12:44 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Enforcement of trademarks is part of the what the customs service does; the customs service is now part of the dept. of homeland security.
Now, I'm not sure whether "Magic Cube", even on a clone product, actually infringes on the "Rubik's Cube" trademark, or whether the proper procedures were followed in this case - for example, could the proprietoress legally refused to remove the toys from her shelves in the absence of a court order?
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DirtMcgirt
in a pinch
Registered: 10/20/04
Posts: 2,213
Loc: city of angels
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: phi1618]
#3292703 - 10/29/04 04:48 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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This is strange as hell. There were no other toystores that carried this magic cube? Why this particular one? Homeland security is probably reading this thread right now....
-------------------- "And we, inhabitants of the great coral of the Cosmos, believe the atom (which still we cannot see) to be full matter, whereas, it too, like everything else, is but an embroidery of voids in the Void, and we give the name of being, dense and even eternal, to that dance of inconsistencies, that infinite extension that is identified with absolute Nothingness and that spins from its own non-being the illusion of everything."
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 1 month, 9 days
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: DirtMcgirt]
#3292904 - 10/29/04 07:26 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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> could the proprietoress legally refused to remove the toys from her shelves in the absence of a court order?
Sure, if she wanted to be labeled an international terrorist.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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Innvertigo
Vote Libertarian!!
Registered: 02/08/01
Posts: 16,296
Loc: Crackerville, Michigan U...
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: Baby_Hitler]
#3293373 - 10/29/04 10:47 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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maybe the cube was really magic and posed a threat to the people in that town.
I bet noone ever thought of that. Good job feds, keep us safe from ourselves.
-------------------- America....FUCK YEAH!!! Words of Wisdom: Individual Rights BEFORE Collective Rights "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson
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Baby_Hitler
Errorist
Registered: 03/06/02
Posts: 27,625
Loc: To the limit!
Last seen: 3 hours, 48 minutes
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: Innvertigo]
#3293437 - 10/29/04 11:06 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Burn her! She's a witch!
-------------------- "America: Fuck yeah!" -- Alexthegreat “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.” -- Thomas Jefferson The greatest sin of mankind is ignorance. The press takes [Trump] literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally. --Salena Zeto (9/23/16)
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afoaf
CEO DBK?
Registered: 11/08/02
Posts: 32,665
Loc: Ripple's Heart
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: z@z.com]
#3293487 - 10/29/04 11:28 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
z@z.com said: That is exactly what I would expect from a government agency.
actually, I'd have expected them to kick down the door, shoot the shopkeep and blame it on faulty intelligence after the fact.
-------------------- All I know is The Growery is a place where losers who get banned here go.
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Innvertigo
Vote Libertarian!!
Registered: 02/08/01
Posts: 16,296
Loc: Crackerville, Michigan U...
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: Baby_Hitler]
#3293554 - 10/29/04 11:55 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Burn her! She's a witch!
only if she floats....
-------------------- America....FUCK YEAH!!! Words of Wisdom: Individual Rights BEFORE Collective Rights "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson
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Evolving
Resident Cynic
Registered: 10/01/02
Posts: 5,385
Loc: Apt #6, The Village
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: Innvertigo]
#3293651 - 10/29/04 12:30 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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BEDEVERE: What also floats in water? ... ARTHUR: A duck! ... BEDEVERE: Exactly. So, logically... VILLAGER #1: If... she... weighs... the same as a duck,... she's made of wood. BEDEVERE: And therefore? VILLAGER #2: A witch! ... VILLAGER #4: Here is a duck. Use this duck. [quack quack quack] BEDEVERE: Very good. We shall use my largest scales. ... BEDEVERE: Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science? ARTHUR: I am Arthur, King of the Britons.
-------------------- To call humans 'rational beings' does injustice to the term, 'rational.' Humans are capable of rational thought, but it is not their essence. Humans are animals, beasts with complex brains. Humans, more often than not, utilize their cerebrum to rationalize what their primal instincts, their preconceived notions, and their emotional desires have presented as goals - humans are rationalizing beings.
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newuser1492
Registered: 06/12/03
Posts: 3,104
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: Evolving]
#3293811 - 10/29/04 01:19 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Is that Monty Python? Quest for the Holy Grail?
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Innvertigo
Vote Libertarian!!
Registered: 02/08/01
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Loc: Crackerville, Michigan U...
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: Evolving]
#3293813 - 10/29/04 01:19 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Monty, the best thing to come out of England since the plague.
-------------------- America....FUCK YEAH!!! Words of Wisdom: Individual Rights BEFORE Collective Rights "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson
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Worf
Lt. Commander
Registered: 07/04/04
Posts: 15,663
Loc: Final Frontier
Last seen: 11 years, 1 month
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: Baby_Hitler]
#3293835 - 10/29/04 01:24 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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I'm sure glad we have a conservative president in office that helping to get the government off our backs. I'm also glad that he is helping fight terrorism with everything he can.
Especially by protecting our children from playing with a Magic Cube instead of a Rubik's Cube. The implications this could have on our economy are horrendous. Good thing we have policies like this to keep this economy booming and stable.
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MovingTarget
Registered: 10/04/04
Posts: 4,825
Loc: temporary
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: Innvertigo]
#3294008 - 10/29/04 02:00 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Innvertigo said: Monty, the best thing to come out of England since the plague.
Your forgetting Dnb and Jungle music
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Innvertigo
Vote Libertarian!!
Registered: 02/08/01
Posts: 16,296
Loc: Crackerville, Michigan U...
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: MovingTarget]
#3294137 - 10/29/04 02:39 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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I have no idea what DNB is....Jungle music came from the jungle.
-------------------- America....FUCK YEAH!!! Words of Wisdom: Individual Rights BEFORE Collective Rights "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson
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Baby_Hitler
Errorist
Registered: 03/06/02
Posts: 27,625
Loc: To the limit!
Last seen: 3 hours, 48 minutes
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: Innvertigo]
#3294139 - 10/29/04 02:39 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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"Help! Help! I'm being repressed!" -- Stephany Cox
-------------------- "America: Fuck yeah!" -- Alexthegreat “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.” -- Thomas Jefferson The greatest sin of mankind is ignorance. The press takes [Trump] literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally. --Salena Zeto (9/23/16)
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Worf
Lt. Commander
Registered: 07/04/04
Posts: 15,663
Loc: Final Frontier
Last seen: 11 years, 1 month
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: Innvertigo]
#3294167 - 10/29/04 02:46 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Drum and Bass
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silversoul7
Chill the FuckOut!
Registered: 10/10/02
Posts: 27,301
Loc: mndfreeze's puppet army
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: MovingTarget]
#3294288 - 10/29/04 03:15 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
MovingTarget said:
Quote:
Innvertigo said: Monty, the best thing to come out of England since the plague.
Your forgetting Dnb and Jungle music
I believe that came after Monty Python.
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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MovingTarget
Registered: 10/04/04
Posts: 4,825
Loc: temporary
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Re: Toy store raided by Homeland Security. [Re: silversoul7]
#3294816 - 10/29/04 06:03 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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If you wanna here some good Dnb and Jungle, find the BBC Radio 1 website (google should do it) and connect to the radio 1 internet radio stream right now!!!. starting this very minute for two hours, the legendary andy c is gonna be on too.
Let me know how it goes
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