Lawyers Get A Head Start On The World Cup
from the and-they're-off dept
The World Cup starts on Friday, and while the athletes are preparing, overzealous lawyers have already begun playing. In addition to the ridiculous trademarks they attempt to secure, they're also looking to "protect" media rights -- by sending pre-emptive nastygrams to random sites warning them that they're being monitored in case they do anything out of line. You've got to wonder how much these lawyers are billing their clients for this pointless activity, and how much time they'll waste keeping an eye on sites that would never do anything to infringe on their clients' rights anyway. Of course, it's not the first time the law firm in question has engaged in some internet stupidity. One of its partners, who apparently specializes in "computer law and electronic commerce", was made a laughing stock of London's legal and financial circles last summer after an embarassing email that he sent to a secretary got spread around. The bigger point, though, is that these stupidly targeted letters won't do anything to help protect the closed business model of the company that controls the rights. All it's done is inflate their legal bill.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Carl and Bob
As for the scoring is concerned, its all about anticipation that draws people to watch. Of that, when someone does score, you can let out....
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: World Cup Soccer
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
How'd I do?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
LEFT LEFT LEFT?
you mean the pedal on the RIGHT!
:-)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
pathetic amounts of USA-centrism
Secondly, who the hell are we to talk about boring? We've got baseball, a golf-only cable channel, televised bass fishing, televised bowling, and we even put poker on ESPN. I'll watch the world cup long before any of those other uber-boring sports.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
super bowl:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
oops
super bowl: less than 100 million viewers
world cup finals: 1.1 billion viewers
yea, who watches the world cup?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I am a Belgian immigrant (don't worry, I'm a legal alien) and soccer is THE sport out there... and I guess it's still in my blood. Back in 2002, I stayed up until 2 AM or 3 AM to watch the matches. Soccer is growing in the US, and sooner or later, it will be a pretty popular sport out here too not like Nascar (TURN LEFT!!!), Baseball or football here, but popular enough to have a true American Soccer League and have it televised more often...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Stop it right this second
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Life is about the journey, not the destination.
At least be apart of something that happens rarely, give it a chance and at least watch the finals.
-chaalz
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
You are one of those people who doesn't understand a tied game either right? There HAS to be a winner - or more importantly, a LOSER, right?
You sir, are an idiot.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
You Sir, are a bore.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Stupid Consumers
Before you call us all "Stupid Consumers," I'd like to know how many football jersey's you own - or any other type of sports memorabilia promoted by your favorite team. Or whether you prefer the shirt with the Nike logo over the one with no logo. Or how many matches you've purchased tickets for, etc. Need I go on?
There's nothing special about soccer/football - each sport has it's own subtle strategies and tactics ...and it's own fans. I enjoy most sports and I appreciate the inordinate amount time and effort it takes to become world-class.
Ignorance of a sport is just that, ignorance.
Ramming home the "finer points of tactical and subtle strategy" to elevate soccer above other sports is pomposity at it's worst.
You sir, make ugly Americans look good.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Stupid Consumers
> how many football jersey's you own - or any other type of
> sports memorabilia promoted by your favorite team. Or
> whether you prefer the shirt with the Nike logo over the
> one with no logo.
The answer is zero. We carry our colors in our heart, not
over our skin.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
As for the major network thing -- if ESPN is not a major network, then why the ABC move Monday Night [American] Football there.
I suppose you call watching the PGA, Grand Slam Tennis, MLB, and NASCAR exciting? Even the American football (because REAL football is played with your FEET) is pretty boring because contrary to popular belief, there's not that much more equivalent scoring, and the game starts and stops all the time. Soccer has fewer rules than American football and the game is more dynamic, yet the majority of Americans call soccer boring. Why? Because that's what they were told. Most people who have bad things to say about soccer are usually talking out the side of their neck. I'm not saying REAL FOOTBALL (not that American shyt) is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
World cup, where
World Cup: A Sports event the whole world participates/competes in.
A shocking concept for americans used to the word "world" in a sporting event meaning all (and only) American states can participate.
As to why the first two posters bearly hear about the world cup, simple, USA knows it has no chance of winning, unlike their other tournaments where "USA" can always win....because it (and sometimes canada) are the only participants
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cricket
Dont even try to argue, i win.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cricket
Dont even try to argue, i win.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lawyers
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Popular sports
Lawyer Tossing: Landing near you soon!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Interesting
For those who feel that Americans don't have a chance, you may be right (but then again the U.S. team may surprise you). The reason has more to do with the number of professional soccer leagues here in America (or lack thereof), the vast number of competing sports, and of course, little or no media coverage. My own town has the Crew to root for and they have a devoted following as do a few other cities here in the U.S.
As for comments about the true topic of this article, the last line says it all: "All it's done is inflate their legal bill." Lawyers always want to make it seem like they have your best interest at heart, but like everyone else, their bottom line comes first. Of course if they didn't send out the letters they'd be accused of incompetence and fired.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Nascar
I am as patriotic as the next guy, but we can't even like good racing here. Along with Sombra's comments, we can't even watch Formula 1, a foreigner might win!
-J
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Nascar
I think we watch NASCAR for the same reason we watch baseball, its origins are in America. NASCAR is a uniquely armerican "sport" started as an offshoot of prohibition alcohol runners in the south.
As a sidenote, I don't the US has a big problem participating in true "World" level sports. Look at the Olympics.
As per the article, I see a new olympic event, lawyer biathalon. You have to cross country ski while shooting at lawyers strategically hanging from trees along your route.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Nascar
I think we watch NASCAR for the same reason we watch baseball, its origins are in America. NASCAR is a uniquely armerican "sport" started as an offshoot of prohibition alcohol runners in the south.
As a sidenote, I don't the US has a big problem participating in true "World" level sports. Look at the Olympics.
As per the article, I see a new olympic event, lawyer biathalon. You have to cross country ski while shooting at lawyers strategically hanging from trees along your route.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Free Advertising
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
World cup is popular world-wide...
And I've also found it strange that we call our sport championships things like "World Series" when we're obviously not playing the world. It's our arrogance showing to the world where we'll proclaim ourselves as the world champions of something, but refuse to play anyone other than Canada (occasionally).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Somebody is actually defending the lawyers!
I certainly don't understand it.
And my sleeping on it has made me realize that the C&D was nothing more, and nothing less than email spam.
Anybody want a green card lottery???? </sarcasm>
As expensive as sending those letters out, and I'm sure it was expensive, it was nothing buy a waste of money. It won't do squat about the actual intellectual property rights, it just made somebody some money.
I'm one of the very few in the US that have actually watched a World Cup soccer game (US vs. Mexico). It was interesting, it was frightening, it was in the end fun.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The superbowl doesn't even get 100 million
Granted, it's not the most popular sport in the USA... but soccer absolutely dominates when you talk about world-wide sports.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Soccer (Football) may or may not be boring
Its not the lack of scoring that keeps me from being a soccer fan, its the lack of scoring opportunities. I went to a minor league game one time and one team had only 2 scoring chances the entire game. There didn't use to be a lot of scoring in the NHL, but at least there were 30 shots on goal every game.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
2 billion viewers worldwide.
Superbowl - 180 million viewers
World Series - roughly 30 million viewers
Playoff Finals - 25 million viewers
World Cup finals as i already have mentioned 2 billion viewers worldwide. Numbers speak my friends.
If you don't believe me go on ESPN.com and look for yourself.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Soccer is a game for guys who throw like girls. It's the only sport I know where a team doesn't have to do anything and they will still advance if the game ends in a draw. Another absolutely retarded aspect of Soccer is the end-game shootout to determine a winner. Case in point, the USA women's team winning some championship because they scored more times in a shootout than the other team (China?) a few years ago. A soccer-loving friend of mine told me the shootout is just a guessing game between the shooter and the goalkeeper. Lots of skill there.
If you're playing for a championship, the game should just keep going until someone scores or the players drop dead. Just a few years ago an NHL game went 90+ minutes in overtime (on top of the 60 minutes regular time) to determine a winner. I've played both soccer and hockey, and hockey requires a LOT more stamina than soccer. Martial Arts and collegiate wrestling requires more stamina/speed/skill/power than both soccer and hockey. Yes, I've done those, too.
And please don't talk about "stupid consumers". Have you seen the incredible amount of advertising in and around a soccer stadium? They players even have advertising on their uniforms, for Chirstsakes!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lost the end of my danged post!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Really?
I think Carl & Bob have every right to think soccer is boring and their only mistake was to criticize those that do like watching and playing it. I will once again make an a$$ out of U and Me and asssume Carl Bob are in their mid 30's or older and were never exposed to the sport in terms of playing, only watching on TV. You can't teach an old dog new tricks and you aren't going to convert the ignorant, that position has already taken by overzealous, ethnocentric, organized religion.
My father coached the Columbus Crew for 6 years and was many times offerred positions coaching in England, Spain, etc.. making hundreds of thousands of dollars but refused because of his desire to bring soccer to the forefront in America. He unfortunately was killed in a motorcycle accident in Dec of '04 and will never see the true progress his (along with many others) sacrifice has made. But believe me, progress has been and will continue to be made as more and more people who played as kids get their own kids into the sport and so on... The reason soccer is becoming more popular is because all the kids who started playing in the 80's when real organized leagues began to flourish are now having children of their own (myself included) and the trickle down effect is starting to take hold.
How long has Pop Warner youth football been around (1929)? And when did football become the high paying "popular" sport in America that it is today? not till the mid to late 60's, more than 30 years later. The NYSA wasn't even founded until 1974, now close to 30 years later, the real benefits are starting to appear. It's just a matter of time!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Really?
im sorry to hear about your father.. Im an immigrant and soccer is huge where Im from and its not South America or Europe.. In fact I think it gets 80% of the funding of sports in the country. Well as a soccer(football) fan, I would like to thank him and you for enduring it for the efforts. Another thing I DO NOT watch MLS.. The only soccer I watch is Champions League, Barcelonas matches(cuz of Ronaldinho) and Premiership matches and World Cup. I also find basketball, football and baseball interesting so im not one of those ooo soccer is the only sport that should be watched. As someone said earlier, good athleticism is just fun to watch. You were talking about youth leagues and I find it interesting that soccer is teh second most played team sport at the youth level behind only baskeball.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]