Am I going to be sued?

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Russ Sonny Kemner

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Man, when it rains it pours.

Has anyone in this website ever confused my work Sonny Daze Musical Instruments with Sonny D ukuleles?

I received the following message on YouTube today as well as another in my e-mail.

"Have you heard of Sonny D ukuleles in Hawaii? There company started in 1969. Its very strange that you would call your ukuleles sonny Ds' as well.

If im not mistaken it seems like you are trying to steal the name of The real Sonny D i n hawaii. I suggest you change your ukulele name, since your just starting. You may be hearing from the real sonny D's lawyers soon."

I aplogize to anyone who may have mistaken my work for Sonny D. I do not, nor have ever referred to my work as Sonny D and certainly am not trying to profit from a similiar name. As some of you already know, I do not make money on my instruments, it's just a hobby that I really get into.

I was not aware of Sonny D ukuleles until I saw something on the UU just recently. By comparison, I can not hold a candle to the Sonny D ukuleles and as a stand up guy, I would never claim to.

Well, I am wuss, so I guess I'm gong to have to come up with another name for my endeavor. As a middle aged, middle classed, midwestern, suburbanite, I have no time or money for a lawsuit. Although, it seems outside of the spirit of the ukulele to have to do this.

I like my logo - the tribal SD, so I may need help coming up with a new S D type name. I just thought of one "Shi**y Deal".

One last note: If my logo represents anything remotely close to someone else's I apologize for that as well. And if it does, please let me know now so I won't have to go through this hassel a second time.
 
Russ: Don't sweat a troll post on YouTube. Somebody is playing the copyright crusader. Worry if you get a letter from Sonny D. I seriously doubt you will.
 
Before you get your shorts in a knot:

First: I don't believe the YouTube comments section is a recognized method for sending legal documents. Odds are real good it's some crank with nothing better to do with his time.

Second: Here's their business card. Drop them a line and find out if this is actually legit. They may not care.
card.jpg

Third: Unless Mr. D has trademarked the name of his business, he's not going to have a whole lot of success in court. These guys probably have more legal resources than you, Mr. D and the YouTube crank put together.

--Mark
 
Obvious trolling. Don´t sweat it!
 
Well, do you make juice too??

3307487000_97ab66efbe.jpg


I’m just sayin’ ...
 
If they were serious about sueing you, they would send you a certified letter. I'd say they are annoyed at the similarity in the name and trying to bluff you, I'm sure they aren't anxious for a lawsuit either.
 
YouTube left the comment he deleted in his profile:

IslandDrift808 commented on Sonny Daze TV Challenge (10 hours ago)
"sonny daze are you trying to steal the fame from Sonny D ukuleles Hawaii? I will report this to sonny D ukuleles and you might be hearing from his lawyer."​


Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go tend to my new business selling budget instruments, Less Bettah Ukuleles. :rolleyes: (Just kidding, Chuck!)

--Mark
 
Man, when it rains it pours.

Has anyone in this website ever confused my work Sonny Daze Musical Instruments with Sonny D ukuleles?

I received the following message on YouTube today as well as another in my e-mail.

"Have you heard of Sonny D ukuleles in Hawaii? There company started in 1969. Its very strange that you would call your ukuleles sonny Ds' as well.

If im not mistaken it seems like you are trying to steal the name of The real Sonny D i n hawaii. I suggest you change your ukulele name, since your just starting. You may be hearing from the real sonny D's lawyers soon."

I aplogize to anyone who may have mistaken my work for Sonny D. I do not, nor have ever referred to my work as Sonny D and certainly am not trying to profit from a similiar name. As some of you already know, I do not make money on my instruments, it's just a hobby that I really get into.

I was not aware of Sonny D ukuleles until I saw something on the UU just recently. By comparison, I can not hold a candle to the Sonny D ukuleles and as a stand up guy, I would never claim to.

Well, I am wuss, so I guess I'm gong to have to come up with another name for my endeavor. As a middle aged, middle classed, midwestern, suburbanite, I have no time or money for a lawsuit. Although, it seems outside of the spirit of the ukulele to have to do this.

I like my logo - the tribal SD, so I may need help coming up with a new S D type name. I just thought of one "Shi**y Deal".

One last note: If my logo represents anything remotely close to someone else's I apologize for that as well. And if it does, please let me know now so I won't have to go through this hassel a second time.


Aloha Russel

I know sonny D personally.

Sonny D and his family are strong Christians they are humble people.

Out of respect being you are associated with the same type of instruments some people in would get confused out of the two especially the japanese. I would appreciate if you would change your ukulele name out of respect being its so close to Sonny Ds name that he worked hard for 50+ years.
 
sounds like the real Sonny D doesn't even know about this.

Still, you should change your name for your own recognition purposes - it is a little close and there are plenty of names out there.
 
PerformanceUke, I think it's rude of you to come onto this forum and demand this name change, especially since you are not Sonny D. Japanese people are not stupid. If they want a Sonny D uke, they will contact Sonny D. If anyone contacted Russ Sonny Kemner by accident, he would let them know that he is not Sonny D. I don't understand what the problem is.
 
Russel-

I just joined the UU today, however, prior to reading this post I have been lurking on these forums for a few months. I personally mistook you for Sonny D, so I felt the need to reply to your thread.

Sonny D has been making quality ukuleles for years(around 40 or so under the Sonny D name), and he has earned the reputation for quality ukuleles that his name denotes. You might feel as if your name is different enough not to warrant change, however, to the average consumer the names can easily be confused, especially in the small community of ukulele building. Seeing as how Sonny D has been doing this for so much longer, why is it such a big deal to change your name? Is the name "Russel Sonny Daze Ukuleles" less than your current name? If you are not trying to profit off someone else's reputation, as you suggest, I would think this wouldn't present a problem.

I'm not trying to disparage you by any stretch, however, I think there are enough similarities in your names that a name change by you is warranted. This is from someone that initially mistook you to be the original Sonny D, when first viewing posts on this forum about your ukuleles. Sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear Russel, but this is my point of view.

Kaipo
 
well just so there is 2 sides of every story, I never knew abt sonny D ukuleles before and I don't think it sounds too close... but if you do change your name I think you should keep it similar enough to your current name so that people would know its you.. like Stoney Daze or Smoking Daze.

Other suggestions would be
super duper ukuleles
simply delightful ukuleles
somewhat distinct ukuleles
some dude ukuleles
 
Once, someone had made a post about Sonny D ukes, and I thought they were making an abbrev. for Sonny Daze. I was confused for about 30 seconds, then realized they were talking about a different maker.
However, I frequently confuse Makala and Mahalo as well, so what do I know?

If you do end up changing the name, keep the logo, it's awesome.
 
If you are concerned with it, I would suggest calling Sonny D... But the only thing that would concern me would be calling them Sonny Ds... Why when they are actually Sonny Daze CBU's should any of this even matter? But this is just my opinion, I would guess if you call Sonny D and explain what you make, and that they are called Sonny Daze CBU's that he wouldn't care...
 
Until you get a "Cease and Desist" order from a lawyer, I wouldn't waste anytime more time thinking about it.

If you do get a C&D, just apologize, then change your name.
 
Let it slide

I think I will call Sonny D and clarify the situation. The only thing that has really gotten under my skin about all this is that I am being judged by some people as a name / reputation thief.

I have read some statements mentioning 'Good Christian', 'quality ukuleles', 'earned reputation'. If someone wandered into this thread would they be inclined to believe that I too embody those qualities, or rather that I have taken advantage of someone else who exhibits these fine characteristics?

In all honesty my decision to call my work Sonny Daze Musical Instruments originated 15 years ago when I was trying to come up with a snappy name for some home brewed beer that I made. Where I grew up, everyone called me Sonny. Close friends and family still call me that. When I lost interest in the home brew hobby and started building these little instruments I carried the name over to my instruments. I was not aware of the Sonny D ukulele company and did not use that organization as spring board for personal profit.

The ukulele community is small, particularly in Hawaii. I looked up ukulele makers and found an interesting list of names.

http://www.hawaiianmusichistory.com/ukulele/makers.htm

Names like: Kala Ukulele, Kalia Ukulele, K.P. Ukulele, Kapano ukulele, Pono Ukulele, Lahaina Uklele, Lehua Ukulele. All very similar if you do not speak native Hawaiian.

If my work has truly affected Sonny D ukulele sales or tarnished the well established reputation I will certainly change my name.

My goal is to build sweet sounding cigar box instruments and make people happy, possibly promoting actual acoustic musical interest and ability in this day and age of 'guitar hero' video games and instant music downloads etc.

If Sonny D is cool with the coexistence of Sonny D Ukuleles and Sonny Daze Musical Instruments, I'll let it slide.
 
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