My friend, Daniel Rothamel, goes by the name The Real Estate Zebra. He picked this name because he does (did?) referee work, plus also was active in real estate. He’s had the name for as long as I’ve known him. Julien Smith and I wrote about him in Trust Agents, too. Why? Because he has a great brand, he’s a great guy, and he’s done something that most real estate professionals don’t seem to do well: he’s made himself known as something more than a guy selling homes.
It turns out that Daniel is getting sued by someone else who uses zebras in their branding.
Suits like this are tricky to talk about, because there’s a lot of legal stuff around branding and trademarking and the like that most of us don’t really understand legally. For instance, people get legal action taken against them all the time for painting Snoopy on their barn out in the sticks somewhere up in Vermont. It’s not like Charles Schulz’s estate wants to do that, but it’s part of the way one protects a trademark and a copyright. I’m not saying this has anything to do with Daniel’s case, per se, but I am saying that most of us don’t know the legal ins and outs required to make this work.
The worst part of a lawsuit like this is that it costs money, even if you’re right. Daniel’s a good egg. I can vouch for that. He’s also had a kid reasonably recently. These two details don’t work well together, and so there’s a Zebra Defense Fund, where people who believe in helping the little guy stay alive and do good work is important can actually pitch in and not just feel bad that it happened.
Daniel’s in the book Trust Agents for all that he’s done to show how real estate professionals can build a powerful brand that moves the needle. If you’ve got a few bucks to spare, share $20 with Daniel and let’s crowdfund the poor guy’s defense.
Stay gold, zebra boy.
