[Kmchamplin]

Coupons associated with vyrl mkt, Inc.

August 27, 2008. The Coupon Information Corporation (CIC) and The Association of Coupon Professionals (ACP) express great disappointment at vyrl mkt, Inc.'s recent creation of unauthorized coupons bearing the registered trademarks of respected consumer products companies, and its apparent negligence or recklessness in distributing or allowing the coupons to be manipulated and distributed by third parties.

It appears that the management of vyrl mkt, Inc. has disregarded U.S. intellectual property laws, ethical business practices, and basic internet security procedures and, in doing so, has caused substantial confusion among reputable retailers and consumers and harm to the manufacturers whose trademarks were misappropriated.

Vyrl mkt, Inc. has increased the confusion with its failure to issue a formal, complete public explanation, and apparently has made no attempt to inform retailers and consumers about the proper handling of the unauthorized and invalid coupons.

The Members of CIC and the ACP were unaware of vyrl mkt, Inc.’s intention to create and release coupons as it did prior to the coupons appearance on Facebook.

None of our Members provided vyrl mkt, Inc. with permission to create or to release these coupons or to use our Members’ copyrighted or trademarked images.

Vyrl mkt, Inc. and the individuals personally responsible for its unauthorized acts should take all appropriate actions to ensure that these unfortunate events are not repeated and take all necessary steps to minimize any additional damage to consumers, retailers, manufacturers, and the overall industry.

Contact Information:
Bud Miller, CPP John Morgan
Executive Director Executive Director
Coupon Information Corporation Association of Coupon Professionals
Welcome to the Coupon Information Corporation Association Of Coupon Professionals
(703) 684-5307 (610) 789-1478

[KeizerMom]

Well, that's a condemnation if I ever saw one.

[mama2gavin]

so they are bad?

[Jenner]

Well said CIC! Thanks for posting Kmchamplin.

[schatz]

somehow that was left a little open ended wouldn't ya say?

[grocerygal]

someone just emailed me one for $8.00 off Fiji 6-pack, so i am guessing not a valid coupon to use?

[momof2plustwins]

The Seattle Times did a good story on this as well a few days back. They actually picked up an excerpt from a comment I left on a CNN iReport s story. (I'm the centsavingma they referenced)

[78camaro]

Yes I don't really understand what it means.

[KeizerMom]

Facebook, a social networking site, allows users to create and share "applications", programs, games, etc, with other members. You may have heard of the recent media frenzy over a knock-off of Scrabble that some users in India had on Facebook, I believe it was called Scrabulous, that the copyright owners of Scrabble successfully had pulled off Facebook. I considered that precedent and proof that just because something was available on Facebook, doesn't mean it's legit.

So this random group of people, calling them Vyrl Mkt, created a program and "launched" it on Facebook wherein they offered a bunch of really high value coupons.

However, the coupons specifically stated they were "Manufacturer Coupons" and the manufacturers of the products had nothing to do with the coupons, and further hadn't authorized Vyrl Mkt to offer them, nor use their copyrighted images of their products.

At first the Vyrl Mkt guys seemed to lap up all the attention they were getting, even having their personal cell numbers available on the internet, they made a number of claims about the validity of what they were offering, claims now proven untrue.

They now claim that they were hacked and didn't release the majority of the coupons, even though that's been disproven already, and two weeks into the fiasco, with media and certainly lawyers for the manufacturers crawling all over it, they now claim to have turned over the info about the supposed hacking to the FBI. Given that the FBI won't comment on any ongoing investigations that's a pretty easy thing to claim, and these guys have proven they don't distinguish well between fact and fiction.

Another explanation: a bunch of nimwits put out a bunch of fake coupons and didn't expect to get caught. They were.

Of note, yet another Facebook generated coupon recently popped up, this time "One Minute Mogul" released it, and has since been pulled from Facebook and the manufacturer has denied authorizing the release there.

Moral: buyer beware.

[CIC2008C]

Originally Posted by grocerygal

someone just emailed me one for $8.00 off Fiji 6-pack, so i am guessing not a valid coupon to use?

No, they have been invalidated by vyrl mkt, Inc.

[couperduper]

Originally Posted by KeizerMom

Of note, yet another Facebook generated coupon recently popped up, this time "One Minute Mogul" released it, and has since been pulled from Facebook and the manufacturer has denied authorizing the release there.

Actually the One Minute Mogul promotion/application is a real app from Oscar Mayer Deli Creations, and the very real coupon was handled using the Coupons, Inc. Bricks technology. The coupon offer hit its print limit and was taken down, at least until the client could decide whether or not to offer another coupon. That's how coupon promotions are supposed to work on Facebook!

Jeff Weitzman
Coupons, Inc.

[Faith]

Thank you, Jeff!

[KeizerMom]

Originally Posted by couperduper

Actually the One Minute Mogul promotion/application is a real app from Oscar Mayer Deli Creations, and the very real coupon was handled using the Coupons, Inc. Bricks technology. The coupon offer hit its print limit and was taken down, at least until the client could decide whether or not to offer another coupon. That's how coupon promotions are supposed to work on Facebook!

Jeff Weitzman
Coupons, Inc.

Thank you for the clarification.

[PittsGirl]

Jeff -- Thank you for taking the time to come here and clarify! It's really appreciated!

[sar1]

Wow - I feel like we've been visited by a celebrity! I mean a celebrity other than Kmchamplin!