Boycotting Politico
This is a notice for all bloggers that write here. Do not link Politico. From this point forward this blog will not read or link Politico. We also are asking all other bloggers to do the same. This boycott will continue until they drop their ridiculous threats accusing College Politico of trademark infringement. Here are some details.
A collegiate blog is facing legal threat from Politico, generating blogger sympathy in a fight over its domain name. ??
In a Sept. 16 letter to Stephen Gutowski, operator of thecollegepolitico.com, the company has claimed trademark infringement. The cease-and-desist demand, says Gutowski, calls for all use of his site to be relinquished to Capitol News Company LLC, publishers of Politico, within 10 days. Capitol News representatives, Dow Lohnes PLLC, contend his site and its contents are “confusingly similar” to their trademarks.
The origins of the word, “politico,” date to 1630, and signify a person active in party politics, according to Princeton’s WordNet.
Politico via counsel has issued similar cease and desist letters. In December 2007, the company forced the hand of an electronic trade publication aimed at political marketing to Hispanics. In a letter to readers, publisher Arturo Villar said the publication “reluctantly” changed their name from La Política to CandidatoUSA. Capitol News also holds the rights to Campus Politico, Wall Street Politico, Hollywood Politico, Mobilepolitico, El Policito and Politico TV.??
“From a legal standpoint, [Politico] probably has a reasonable claim,” said Robert Cox, president of Media Bloggers Association. “The issue is whether people are likely to be confused.”??
“It’s not even a close call,” said Jerald Fritz, Politico’s general counsel. “Brand and names are essential for any venture…we’re aimed at protecting our mark.” Fritz referred to Ford Mustang, Apple Computers and Greyhound as trademarks supportive of Politico’s claim. “There are countless examples. You can go on and on,” he said.
Ron Coleman, a commercial litigator and trademark lawyer at New York and New Jersey’s Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP., has targeted weak points in Politico’s argument on his blog, Likelihood of Confusion. Notably, said Coleman, generic words do not enjoy trademark protection, while descriptive words may only become trademarks if they have acquired distinctiveness.??
“Politico’s problem is that although it may indeed be able prove that ‘POLITICO’ has acquired distinctiveness for online journals, it is still a rather weak trademark because of its descriptiveness,” he said.??
For example, search engine optimization gurus and sploggers (spam blogs) often utilize hyphens to trigger keywords in URLs that may create this kind of confusion. Helpful to Gutowski’s defense may be the lack of hyphenation in the address of thecollegepolitico.com. A Go Daddy query for “the-college-politico.com” (which also happens to be available for purchase) would yield far more results associated to Capital News’ trademarked Politico.com than his hyphen-less address. ??
If the trend continues, multiple sites, including politico.blogspot.com, mondopolitico.com and sandiegopolitico.com, may face legal battles over use of the word “politico” in their domain name.
In a live by links, die by links New Media world, some bloggers have even called for a ban on linking to Politico. “The blogosphere has been very good to Politico, and I think they should bear in mind the ill will they’re incurring as a result of their heavy-handed legal tactics,” said Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds in a recent post. “Until this threat is withdrawn, I plan to boycott Politico, and I encourage others to do the same,” stated a post at Patterico’s Pontifications.??
The College Politico has been credited with breaking several stories and picked up by The Washington Post, USA Today and The Huffington Post. His coverage exposed Lyndon LaRouche supporters were behind “Obama=Hitler” signs.
“I certainly didn’t create [thecollegepolitico.com] with any odd intention of somehow tricking people into thinking I was affiliated with Politico,” said Gutowski, who has drawn support from a host of bloggers. “This seems like an ugly attempt to intimidate me into handing over a brand which I’ve worked extremely hard to build.”
”??Politico has offering no compensation in the demand, and has asked that Gutowski, a recent graduate of Pennsylvania’s Messiah College, write the company a letter declaring he will permanently cease and refrain from all future use of “The College Politico” or anything similar to “politico.”
The current conflict echoes a two-and-a-half year battle between Microsoft and Lindows.com, Inc., in which Microsoft accused its competitor of trademark infringement. Lindows maintained the term “windows” was generic, and Microsoft agreed to pay $20 million in exchange for the Lindows name and a clutch of websites.
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Posted by Jay on September 18, 2009 5:19 pm
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Internet, News, Property Rights
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4 Responses to “Boycotting Politico”
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Syndicate Me
Sign me up, I’m in.
As soon as I remove all of my posts from there, I will cut all ties. The hell with some jerks that think they are the only ones that can use a word. It’s already been proven that there are words you cannot copyright, such Love, Money, God, etc. I’m in. I want to be on that blogroll.
BTW, I stopped going over there years ago. Too many leftists.
If you start a “boycott Politico” blogroll, sign us up. Anyone who is doing a good job should expect to stand on their own merits, not have to kill off the competition. Especially college kids, for heaven’s sake. You’d think they would be encouraging them.
I have always thought that Politico was a tad off. There is something about their writing style that doesn’t say “journalism” to me. It is more like an exercise in self-aggrandizement. They are like a bunch of kids who are all puffed up from being allowed to play in the Washington DC political game. And so they lack perspective.
Add my blog to a “Boycott Politico” blogroll if one is created.
Meanwhile, I’ve linked to your post.
http://nosheepleshere.blogspot.com/2009/09/boycott-politico.html