negotiating

One of my favorite wins in business started with a trademark troll trying to extort me for $552. Here’s the story.

My co-founder, Dr. Raj, had just published an article in Health Magazine. As the medical editor for the magazine, her work was featured regularly. This particular article included a generic, stock photo of a woman—nothing fancy or AI-generated, just a plain image.

The photo looked like a non-AI version of this…

At the time, we were building content for our website, tulforlife.com, to boost credibility, SEO, and web traffic. (Side note: We eventually acquired tula.com, but that’s another story.) When Dr. Raj’s article went live on Health Magazine’s site, I reposted it to our blog, crediting her as the author and linking to the original article. Standard stuff, right?

Life went on. We kept building our business, sharing content, and selling products. Then, out of nowhere, I got a letter in the mail.

It was a trademark violation notice. The claim? We had used the stock photo without proper rights. The demand? Pay $552 or face a lawsuit.

Enter the Trademark Troll

After some digging, I discovered that this company’s business model was essentially a scam. They scraped the internet for photos being used out of compliance, then sent demand letters to unsuspecting businesses. Their game? Intimidation for profit.

Now, $552 might not sound like much, but in the early days of TULA, every dollar counted. Paying even $100 for a random blog photo felt like a gut punch. But the alternative—getting sued—wasn’t any better.

I was furious. A classic trademark troll was shaking me down, and I felt so incredibly frustrated that I had to deal with this bullshit.

Seeking Advice

I called a lawyer friend, who advised me to pay the fee and move on. “It’s not worth the hassle,” he said.

“Fuck that!” I snapped.

Next, I called my brother, who’s also a lawyer. His advice was slightly different: reach out to the troll, explain that the author of the article is our co-founder, and chalk it up to a misunderstanding. Maybe, just maybe, they’d let it slide.

Spoiler alert: they didn’t.

My brother got on a call with the troll’s representative, but it quickly turned hostile. “She basically told me to pay up or get sued,” he reported.

My brother was as angry as me. Maybe more.

Back to square one.

The Lightbulb Moment

Frustrated, I decided to dig deeper. Where did this photo even come from?

I ran a reverse image search on Google. Among the results, two stood out: one linked to the trademark troll’s website, and the other to a personal blog. On the blog, I found the same photo, along with others like it.

That’s when it hit me: what if I bought the photo outright? If I owned it, they couldn’t sue me for using my own property.

Taking Action

I called my brother with the idea. “Let’s buy the photo directly from the photographer,” I said. “We’ll ensure the rights cover digital and all-time usage—past, present, and future.”

“I love it!” he replied.

I reached out to the photographer, negotiated the deal (because of course, I had to), and secured the rights to the photo. The contract explicitly freed us from all liability and granted perpetual ownership.

Here’s the email exchange…

And, here’s the agreement…

Now armed with full ownership, we prepared our counterattack.

Turning the Tables

My brother called the troll to inform them that we now owned the photo outright. Their response? They went ballistic. “You can’t do that!” they yelled. “You still have to pay us, or else…”

So, we played their game.

We took their original legal letter demanding $552, copied it word for word, and switched the defendant’s name from mine to theirs. Then, we sent it back to them, demanding they pay us $552—or else.

I was so happy…

“FUCK OFF TROLLS!”

Guess what?

We never heard from them again.

Victory Over the Troll

And that’s how we outsmarted a bottom-feeding, low-life trademark troll, turned the tables, and declared absolute and glorious victory.

Sometimes, the best wins come from refusing to roll over—and finding creative ways to fight back.