I was talking to Russel Ossendryver recently, WorldLabel’s owner. After exchanging a few words, and being a little shocked by what I heard, I told him “Russel,would you like me to actually interview you formally?” He was a littlehesitant at first. However, in the end we decided that current eventsneeded as much exposure as possible. So, this is a friendly privateconversation that turned into an interview.

Here it is!

TM: What is Worldlabel?

Worldlabel is a manufacturer of laser and inkjet printer labelswith a focus on factory direct sales online. We manufacture over 50sizes including CD, address, mailing labels and more on a variety ofdifferent materials. Our competition is the dominant player in themarket, the Avery Denisson Corp. Recently we see some competition fromStaples, Office Max and Office Depot, all huge nationwide officesupply store chains starting to package their own generic laser andinkjet label referencing same sizes as Avery.

TM: This wording, “same size as Avery”, seems to create problems… havepeople had problems with it…

There have been some issues and delisting recently using the term”Avery labels” as a sponsored keyword for advertising in the mainsearch engines. This was apparently due to a complaint. Avery sizesare the de facto standard in the industry. They are the defaulttemplates in MS Word, OpenOffice.org and every label printing programincluding those for Linux. Folks refer and identify our products byusing the term Avery Labels and their product numbers. People shouldhave a choice and know that there are generic versions available.

TM: Do you know who complained? Do you think it was Avery?

I do not know who complained, I can only make assumptions because theAvery/Microsoft alliance is extremely strong. It seems like thepressure is on because we are being attacked by Microsoft also.

TM: What kind of pressure?

We received a Cease & Desist letter from the lawyers of Microsoftregarding a Logo of Microsoft which they claim is being misused onWorldlabel requesting the removal. The C&D has been uploaded toChillingEffects.org. I am not sure when it will be postedthere. The Logo Link was on a page with free label template resourcesin Word and PDF and linked to a similar type page on MS offering freeresources. As far as we are concerned there was no misuse of the Logoas it is not part of the Worldlabel.com website and only referredviewers to products and services of MS by a digital display: We haveremoved the logo links and have been wanting to for some time in anycase.

A screenshot of the web site

TM: It feels to me that whenever someone putstheir money where their mouth is, Microsoft tends to listen and strike.Am I just being paranoid? What are your thoughts about this?

It is obvious that Microsoft will find a way to attack anyone who does something they don’t like, no matter how big or small and evenpetty. Worldlabel.com is not as big as the smallest division inMicrosoft. We sponsored the 2006 OpenOffice.org templates contestbecause we support the Open Document Format and we are members of theODFalliance.org which must have raised the attention of Microsoft. Myinstinct told me that we might be sticking our neck out. I was right.I don’t think you are being paranoid, the Logo links have been online forabout 7 years, so why now?

TM: What are you doing to prevent problems like this in the future?

We have removed all MS Logos from our site. There is really nothingelse to do. We will continue doing business as normal. Worldlabel.comis dedicated to FOSS and Open Standards and will continue to push themeverywhere. And, probably more aggressively now than ever before.

TM: Thank you for answering our questions, Russel!