wex@ittvax.UUCP (Alan Wexelblat) (08/31/83)
goddamn inews thinks that a break means "post it." !@##$@#$#^$$@%&^*!!! Where were we? Oh yes, Ryder no longer owned all of his company. In fact, he found that he owned less than half. How did he find this out? Well, he passed the retirement age, and the board "retired" him, very much against his wishes. So what does he do? Why, he goes out and starts over, using the same ideas that made Ryder so successful. He names the new company John A. Ryder TRANsport: JARTRAN. He sinks large amounts of his own money into the company, and shortly he is taking business away from Ryder. Ryder has s--tfits!! They haul him into court, claiming that the business practices he developed now belong to the Ryder company. JAR counter-sues, challenging Ryder Co's right to use his name. (At this point, it makes Time magazine, where I read about it.) The judge decides as follows (here my memory is fuzzy): Ryder, by forcing JAR to retire has declared that his ideas are no longer valuable. Therefore, JARTRAN gets to continue using them. Ryder gets to keep its name, but has to pay JAR something for the privelege. Part of the reason JARTRAN went into bankruptcy was that this court case cost JAR too much (considering how much he had already sunk into the company). I'm not sure how he pulled his fat out of the fire, but I am sure that he still owns 100% of JARTRAN. For my money, I'll take a chance with JARTRAN. The little guy doesn't win too many, but you've gotta admire this guy (I think he's 77 now)! --Alan Wexelblat decvax!ittvax!wex (soon to be ucbvax!wex.UPenn@UDel-Relay)