I’ve known a few bloggers to get cease and desist letters from lawyers from time to time but today I saw a first – a preemptive one to Boing Boing around the anticipation that BB will stream FIFA World Cup matches.
Now there’s a great way to engage the blogging community!
I wonder how they decided which blogs to send that letter to and how many other bloggers might have received them.
found via blog herald
Update – Apparently the lawyers, Baker and McKenzie, have been sending out the same sort of letter to a variety of other web sites and ISPs according to Paid Content’s links pointing here, here, here and here.
Sending out cease-and-desist letters is big business. But you’re right about the lack of finesse. No point in sending NastyGrams just because someone might do something.
“No point in sending NastyGrams just because someone might do something.”
I’m sure they were just trying to liberate these blogs from the evils of illegal streaming ;)
[…] This cartoon was inspired by the fact that FIFA (or their representatives) have been sending out threatening letters to bloggers telling them that they are monitoring their sites for unlawful activities and that they better not even think of live-streaming the world cup games. Bear in mind that the sites receiving the letters are largely sites with no interest in football whatsoever. (Thanks to Darren for the tip-off.) […]
[…] (Background story on Boing Boing, via Darren.) […]
[…] Laut Darren wurde dieses Anschreiben an weitere Blogs versandt, damit ja die halbe Welt von den Ansprüchen der Markeninhaber erfährt. Liebe Sponsoren, niemand kann es Euch verdenken, wenn Euch jetzt das Messer in der Tasche aufklappt und ihr blutroten Auges gen Schweiz blickt. Artikel abgelegt unter: […]
Now that’s the job that I want! Monitoring blogs for potential trademark violations and charging the client $175+ an hour.
@ PHD … that’s way too low a rate in today’s world … you want to charge more ;-)
I personally have no interest in pro sports at all … my only interest in the World Cup is the laughs I get from silly commercials on American TV that purport to show an American team actually competing .. as if that would ever happen.
But with the publicity of those letters perhaps I’ll make an announcement that I once thought of streaming video and perhaps they’ll send me a letter too … think of the readership boost.
Years ago I worked in a government computer repair facility. Certain components that failed were not repairable in our lab. Before we could send them to the scrap heap, I guess to “protect” the tax payer, a third-party contractor got paid something like $500 to fill out a form for each component that certified that he, the contractor, could not fix it. Myself, I’d certify to anyone that I couldn’t fix something for only $450 … there’s literally nothing in this world that if I try hard enough I can not fix, for sure. Perhaps I should offer not to stream FIFA video for .. oh let’s say $300 … wonder who will pay me? LoL
Be peemptive yourself and host your blogs in Serbia. They won’t even hand over war criminals.
[…] With the World Cup fast approaching it’s come to my attention (via Darren Rowse) that good old school lawyers Baker and McKenzie have been sending pre-emptive cease and desist letters to many ISP’s, websites and bloggers in anticipation that they will be streaming live FIFA World Cup matches. More on this over at Paid Content. […]