The link to original story no loner exists.

By Anna Wolfe

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - When he learned DeBrand Fine Chocolates was being sued for operating an e-commerce site, Tim Beere, co-owner of the chocolate retailer and supplier here, said “I thought it was a joke.

Tim and Cathy Beere

“We were just going about running our business, when one day a guy came in and served us these papers. I’d never heard of PanIP.”

Although he and many of the other defendants - all small companies - had similar reactions, Beere decide to react. (See related news story on page 3.) “It’s obvious what’s going on here,” he said about the San Diego-based company. PanIP claims two of its patents are being infringed by e-commerce sites operated by DeBrand and other companies. 

Beere, who refers to the lawsuit as a “legalized form of extortion,” said “everyone is outraged about this, but I decided I was going to do something about it.”

To bring the story to light, Beere created a comprehensive web site - links to copies of court documents, list of defendants, media coverageand a discussion board on www.youmaybenext.com. 

“It was a big undertaking for me to educate myself about this case and then try to contact all these various business owners to encourage them to join with me and fight this,” Beere said. 

At press time, the group of defendants banning together was being formalized and an interface was being added to youmaybenext.com where visitors could make financial contributions to the group’s legal defense fund. 

“There are many complex issues to consider when fighting something like this. A big part of the success of their (PanIP’s) strategy depends on the fact that small business owners are too busy to mess with fighting these kind of frivolous lawsuits,” Beere said. “They also count on the fact that none of us could begin to afford to take this on with our own limited resources. Simply pay their $5,000 extortion fee, and you can be done with it. No way!”

Beere’s first task was building a database of contact information for all the defendants and contacting them of his plans. 

“Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night and work on it for two to three hours,” he said. “I was more willing to give up my sleep to fight this than give them our hard earned money.

“I also felt as though I had to take this on in an effort to spare all the future victims of their scheme,” Beere added. “These kind of frivolous lawsuits are a terrible scourge on small businesses. I’m an extremely competitive person and this pushed my hot button.”

Beere’s efforts are starting to pay off. His web site hosting company has volunteered to take over the site’s management, and Beere is receiving emails from people who want to help. He hopes a company “with some financial might will step in and help us deliver the knock-out punch.” 

All of this is detracting from his day-to-day duties, Beere admits. Beere and his wife, Cathy Brand Beere, operate three stores, and are in the midst of building a kitchen, corporate office facility and store No. 4 - all which will open in next spring.

Despite its toll and his lost hours of sleep, Beere has no plans to end his crusade. “I feel like a pit bull who caught the intruder, and I’m not letting go until help arrives. And I believe it will,” Beere said.