Publicity Via Cease and Desist

from the our-head-of-marketing-is-a-lawyer dept

Gadget site Gizmodo got a cease and desist letter from mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson's lawyers today, demanding the removal of some images of a potential future product some tipster had passed along. It looks like they've decided to ignore it, as the picture in question remains on their site, and the editors have made a pretty eloquent explanation of why this and other C&D letters are a pretty stupid tactic in the world of gadgets. Not only do they invoke the Streisand Effect, the chilling effect isn't on future leaks, it's on people's impressions of the company and its products. Furthermore, what's the deal with companies thinking they get to decide what's legal and illegal? Isn't that what courts do? SE's lawyer writes that the C&D letter is confidential (even without Gizmodo's agreement or acceptance), and that how the site responds "very much would influence Sony Ericsson's attitude towards" it. Apparently that's what's most important, rather than how it will influence the public's attitude towards Sony Ericsson.
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  1. identicon
    eskayp, 26 Aug 2005 @ 9:28pm

    Sony-Ericsson

    Nice brief analysis, Carlo.
    Sounds like Sony-Ericsson has borrowed a page from the RIAA/MPAA thuggery manual.
    Oops, wait: I just got a threatening email from Sony-Ericsson's legal department.
    They are threatening to force my cable provider to cut o

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    Mike (profile), 29 Aug 2005 @ 3:45am

    More on this...

    Ah, nice. Now the firm is threatening to sue Gizmodo for posting the first letter:

    http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/p910i/dr-schunke-to-gizmodo-delete-me-122619.php

    link to this | view in thread ]


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