Tokyo Joe's Blog

I'm still mulling over how to present the Prosper.com timeline and history, but I'd like to thank in advance www.prosperreport.com who singlehandedly rescued the forums from intentional obliteration by Prosper.com, thus perserving our community's history as well as a real-time chronicle of Prosper's development.

Not only did ProsperReport heroically save this critical public document, it faced down Prosper.com in on obvious attempt to shut him down. 

Key threads:

prosperreport.com received a letter from prosper's lawyer, re: cybersquatting by 112233 on December 19, 2007, 07:12:28 AM

http://www.prospers.org/forum/prosperreportcom_received_a_letter_from_prospers_lawyer_cybersquatting-t4735.0.html

Public Citizen Responds To Prosper's Threats Against prosperreport.com  by 112233 on December 24, 2007, 02:41:00 PM

http://www.prospers.org/forum/public_citizen_responds_to_prospers_threats_against_prosperreportcom-t4870.0.html

General synopsis:

112233, whose ProsperReport.com provides a link to an archived version of the forums formerly hosted at spreebb.prosper.com and later forums.prosper.com -which now points to connect.prosper.com, the new forums-- ranging from the forum opening through late November 2007, recieved a letter James A. Gale from Feldman Gale, representing Prosper.  The letter accuses Prosperreport.com of cybersquatting, trademark infringement, and unfair competition.  112233 turns to Public Citizen Litigation Group, whose attorney, Paul Alan Levy, responds to Prosper with a withering appraisal of the case.

Documents:

Letter to ProsperReport.com:

http://www.prosperreport.com/www.prosperreport.com.pdf

Letter from Public Citizen:

http://www.prosperreport.com/letter_to_james_gale.pdf

I offer this tip of the hat to ProsperReport.com, because this blog will delve deeply into the threads it contains.  It is no small thanks to them that a real travesty was not commited with the deletion of the forum.