Some Dude Stole ‘The League’s’ Idea for Netflix with Ties

Back in December, “The League” featured an episode where Taco came up with the not-so-crazy idea of a Netflix type service for neck ties called “Neckflix.” The idea is simple: The service would send its customer a few ties each week in the mail, and then the customer could return them for a new set of ties the following week. This way, the customer could wear a different tie every day of the year without actually having to buy 365 new ties.

Genius, right?

David Powers, a lawyer at WilmerHale (Boo! BigLaw) thought so. He and Scott Tindle started their own Neckflix service.

TieTry.com is the brainchild of David Powers, who works for the firm WilmerHale, and Scott Tindle, who is based in Mobile, Ala., and they bill it as a kind of Netflix for your neck. For a monthly subscription charge, TieTry will send customers between one and five neckties to wear without having to buy. Ties are expensive, Powers says, so why plunk down a wad of cash and be stuck with it when you can loan one for a few days at a time.

Yup. That sounds exactly like Taco’s service. Powers claims that he got the idea from reality series “Shark Tank,” in which a group of venture capital investors hear pitches from aspiring entrepreneurs. But we know the truth. I expect that Mr. Powers will soon be hearing from Taco Corp. I don’t expect, however, that Taco Corp. will have a credible intellectual property claim — you can’t patent a business idea — but he could sue for egregious douchebaggery and failure to cite proper inspiration. Or he could just sic Bobbum Man on him.

(Source: AbovetheLaw with a Major Hat Tip to Douglas W. for the heads up)

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