Yellowlane

Changing Seasons

Changing Seasons

Changing Seasons

20 Dec 2004 — 3 Comments

2004 has been an extremely busy one for us (my wife Rachel and I), filled with many ups, downs, and twisty turns. Personally, we've moved to a new home (which is still devoid of dining room furniture), we've visited lots of family—and had lots of family visit us, made some new friends, found a new church we can call “home”, and have thoroughly enjoyed our third year of marriage.

Professionally, Firewheel Design has continued its growth, added another designer (the inimitable John Marstall), worked on some incredible projects, re-launched its website, and is currently re-locating to new office space.

For more info on the Firewheel re-design, read here.

The other substantial news comes in the form of a final ruling in the trademark lawsuit we have been party to in some form for over three years. I am still not far enough removed from it to desire to dive into its ugly details, but long and short, we have been the defendant in very tasteless lawsuit regarding our use of a similar business name as that of, sadly, another design company.

We were sued for trademark infringement, cyberpiracy, and the whole nine yards. Our name was smeared, and my life has been dragged through the gutter over this thing. This has been a part of my life since before Rachel and I were married. Trial finally came in October, we were able to put our story on the record, and gratefully the judge ruled in wholehearted favor of the truth.

Sadly, as it pertains to both our company and the company that sued us, the final ruling does practically nothing. We were protected, they didn't get anything they already didn't have. Now its back to business as usual. Only the attorneys win. I'm just glad to have this chapter of my life closed.

All that said, hopefully you'll understand the silence here.

As 2005 begins, I can't guarantee that the posts here will be any more frequent, but gratefully I can direct you to Firewheel's new Sparkplug blog. I will be devoting more energy to that endeavor for the time being.

I hope the Christmas Season finds you well, wherever you may be. Drop me a comment below if you like. I'll leave the comments open until the poker sites start spamming. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.