The Mountains Voice, which is the parent of FOBC, and is operated by long time Property Owner David Hopkins, has been amassing a large portfolio of “BigCanoe” websites and Facebook Sites since as far back as 2017, long before the POA signed it’s ill conceived 5 Year Trademark deal with Mike Rhodes. I think it is time to share some things that the community isn’t aware of.
#1 There are over 500 different BigCanoe-dot-??? domain names available for use or sale. Go to Namecheap.com, type “BigCanoe” into the domain search, and hit the “BEAST MODE” search. It will pull them all up, and with all the recent public focus on this, they are starting to fly off the shelves. People with relevant businesses might want to move fast and snatch up one soon. Just a few examples of website names that might correlate with a local business or service:
bigcanoe.yoga, bigcanoe.legal, bigcanoe.attorney, bigcanoe.accountant, bigcanoe.art, bigcanoe.biz, bigcanoe.builders, bigcanoe.cards, and the list just goes on and on. The world has come a long way since plain vanilla ~ .COM, .ORG, .NET.
#2 The Mountains Voice (aka FOBC) owns the following domain names, some of which are active, and some of which have long been planned for commercial enterprises related to the community of Big Canoe:
bigcanoe.kids, bigcanoe.vacations, bigcanoe.vote; bigcanoe.wedding, bigcanoe.city, bigcanoe.cleaning, bigcanoe.directory, bigcanoe.delivery, bigcanoe.coupons, bigcanoe.company, bigcanoe.events, bigcanoe.menu, bigcanoe.news, bigcanoe.org, bigcanoe.shop, bigcanoe.store, bigcanoedoge.com, bigcanoedoge.org, bigcanoewater.org
I am currently reaching out to various entities to see if I can establish some partnerships, either with businesses, or perhaps some young marketing & web talented individual that wants to help me develop these brands – or in some cases it might make sense to just sell them, as it seems that the value of selling your brand website (i.e. BigCanoe.com) is upwards of $400,000, and you even get to keep using it! So it seems these websites are quite valuable.
A few potential ideas involve taking certain websites and creating specific advertising focused marketing vehicles – and then selling advertising. For example:
- One might market “BigCanoe.Menu” on the internet and billboards to community visitors, highlighting all the local eateries.
- “BigCanoe.Wedding” would be a great site to focus on Wedding related business support services.
- “BigCanoe.Vacations” would make a great rental marketing site (think VRBO just for BigCanoe). I did use to be a Vacation Rental Property Manager” so maybe even put together a partner team (Manager, Cleaners etc) to launch that business. Or a property owner that does rentals might use it.
- “BigCanoe.Delivery“… a central portal listing all the delivery options in the community.
- “BigCanoe.Directory“… a great central business services website (painters, carpenters, hvac, electrical, plumbing etc).
Then there are the community information options… such as letting dedicated property owners help to educate residents on their voting options for board members, and other elective projects… i.e. at “BigCanoe.Vote“. Or maybe one day if Bitcoin goes up just a little more… I can use “BigCanoe.Company” when and if I buy out the Developer. Heck, I couldn’t do any worse than they are! How hard could it be to sit at the Board Meetings and wield my veto powers!?!?! LOL
Anyway, this has been in the works in my head since around 2017 (again, I purchased many of these back then) and I am open to ideas or offers from others.
Now the not so fun part of this article…
Unfortunately, there are some negative things going on regarding all of these website names, and that includes a LOT of misinformation. So let me start setting the record straight.
I am going to begin with a statement that hostility is never my first approach to anything – but sometimes in self defense it is necessary. Let me say that the POA Board’s recent use of Property Owner fees to legally explore justifying threatening people over their use of the NON-TRADEMARKED aspects of the use of “Big Canoe” has sort of riled me up. The fact they wasted $400,000 hasn’t helped calm things down. Then when I learned that the POA Board and GM were further using Property Owner funds to explore filing litigation against me (and BCMatters.org) for our 1st Amendment publishing activities… that moved this into a whole new realm.
So let me share some things, again.
In 2019 I (David Hopkins) received legally threatening letters regarding “Trademark Violations” of the “Big Canoe” marks. I immediately responded with a letter (read the full letter here).
In that letter I directly linked to the USPTO’s designation of Big Canoe as a Geographic location. I directly pointed out the limitations of the Trademark, that it was ONLY for “Real estate services, namely, real estate brokerage and management”. I directly outlined my ownership of various “BigCanoe.???” websites, and informed them I would sell merchandise with BigCanoe if I wanted to and there wasn’t anything they could do to stop me. I also made it clear that if ANYONE accused me of illegally violating the trademark, that I reserved the right to sue them for slander / libel.
I never heard another peep, and that was 6 years ago. With that said…. that is NOT the main thing I want to point out. It’s not he important and relevant thing to property owners.
Here is what IS RELEVANT to property owners:
If you look at that email, it was dated in October 2018 – BEFORE the Big Canoe POA signed a 5 year “trademark deal” with Mike Rhodes. Further, look at who the email was openly copied to — the entire POA Board of Directors (including Jay Goldman), and the GM at the time, Jill Philmon.
WHY IS THAT RELEVANT? Because just a few months later, even though the Board (and Jay Goldman who became the POA President) and GM Jill Philmon all were sent this information, including direct documentary evidence from the USPTO — they still entered into a Precedent Setting Agreement that came back to haunt all of us 5 years later, and set the stage for the POA (and Property Owners Funds) to be practically blackmailed into giving Rhodes $400,000.
Property Owners need to start thinking more, and perhaps acting on things.
ONE LAST THING. The POA spent $400,000 on a trademark directly related to, and only viable for COMMERCIAL “Real estate services, namely, real estate brokerage and management”. My sources indicate that they have already been legally warned by the attorneys that this is a potential violation of our Non-Profit Status!
Peace,
– david / publisher / property owner
Focus on Big Canoe, GA
themtnsvoice@aol.com <- submit website project ideas, partnership proposals, or offers to purchase.
* publications of The Mountains Voice
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