NY Times Lawyers Shut Down Blog Promoting The NY Times
from the how-backwards-can-you-be? dept
The NY Times continues its drive to irrelevance. As we get ready to hear the details of the NYT's plan to lock itself up online, its lawyers are apparently seeking to shut down people promoting its works. Jonathan Paul, a former web editor at the NY Times, set up a Tumblr blog account last summer, which he used to promote what he felt was "beautiful and unexpected imagery" found on the NY Times website. He did so very much in the spirit of promoting those works, including full credits and links back to the original works at the NY Times. It built up a decent audience of people, driving many of them to the NY Times website. And, in response, the NY Times sent its lawyers to shut down the blog, claiming that it was copyright infringement (found via Mathew Ingram). Paul notes that the blog actually had a decent following within the NYT, and his former colleagues had encouraged the project and helped promote it as well, fully realizing that it was helping their own work get more attention and driving more traffic to the NYT. And then the lawyers stepped in. One more example of why just because you can do something from a legal standpoint, it doesn't mean you should -- and another reason why you tend to make really bad business decisions when you let the lawyers decide to act, without understanding the actual business implications of what you're doing.
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Filed Under: blogs, copyright, images, promotion
Companies: ny times
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Roffle mayo
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bill for it-- just because you can
This is also just one more example (of many) where a company that engages a law firm to take care of their interests, and then loses track of where those interests end,
...and their attorney's interests continue.
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Actually, the bad business decision would be to ignore the lawyers. In this sort of case, the set precedent within the company on how they look at these things. This particular blog might have been loved by some of the staff, but it wasn't official nor entirely supported - otherwise the laywers would have known.
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Re:
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If you look at the way big content has historically done things. Promotional music and videos and DMCA takedowns. That hip hop blog taken down by the DOJ-ICE-HomeSec domain seizures, for having promotional music given to it by the labels. They are not very good at this sort of thing.
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Buy them sandboxes
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Lawyers get paid to act...
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Legal leg?
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ten ones
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While there are obviously some companies that may simply shuffle off matters to its legal group, in the large majority the lawyers provide advice and counsel (including not initiating a lawsuit) to executive management, and it is the latter that exercises decision making authority.
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Re: Re:
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New law
That would solve so many issues.
If you put something on the web, then let the freemarket handle it, not the government.
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Anyone still
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I disagree. Content is always advertising, and advertising is always content. How effective it is at either thing may be an open question, but it doesn't change that it is true.
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But . . . but . . . copyright!
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Re: New law
I'd like to create or to see public petitions bringing up these sorts of issues to a wider population and asking for change. This is a popular topic among people online, and the status quo is very unreasonable.
Can the people who post items that become "funniest of the week" get a way to state easily that they are making those works CC licensed or similar since such content can go far in trying to convince others? CC derivatives allowed would be very helpful and I prefer CC-by-sa. [A good poem can be turned into an animation or modified into comic strips.. some might want to add music/art to a composition... and someone can post that accepting donations (or whatever) offering sharing money with original primary authors.] Let's create culture to supersede Disney, Sony, and company by being fan, artist, business, and competition friendly.
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Not that I'm agreeing with them... but it looks like they're just trying to artificially make their content more scarce so it'll worth more.
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Re: New law
We may not even need to make a new law in the sense that "clearing" all parts of all images on your browser cache and all text you see on your browser by contacting all apparent "owners" and cross-verifying this information might be too much of a task for even the president of the MPAA to do.
AND you'd possibly have to do this before you download any of it, since downloading it to read it or view it would already be a potentially unauthorized use in the eyes of many lawyers. [and would you need to get all of the authorizations in writing?]
How many websites has Dodd cleared for his children or for himself? How many hours would it take per webpage? I think this is why Judge Alex Kozinski ( http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110307/02173613378/just-because-you-dont-like-something-online-do esnt-mean-we-should-blame-third-parties.shtml ) said he didn't like the Internet (must give him great headaches browsing).
I think this necessary cautiousness (ask any IP laywer) to try and avoid years in jail and million-dollar fines would certainly stifle the progress (and dissemination and use of information), hurt the general welfare, and abridge a lot of potential speech.
At a minimum, none of this should be criminalized.
Amid evidence that piracy generally helps promote a work and can definitely be used to produce income by the primary creator (including millions of dollars http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110303/02203613336/minecraft-creator-says-no-such-thing-as-lost-s ale.shtml and more money than ever made before http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20101019/01004711475/dear-dan-bull-a-case-study-in -musical-innovation.shtml ), it is becoming hard to argue that anything but a very weak online copyright (if any) will meet the Constitutional standard of promoting a progress that otherwise wants to fly with the Internet.
If the Executive branch and its lawyers.. if our federal legislators who write these laws.. if judges (experts in the laws) in our highest courts can't get it right, how can Dodd's granddaughter get it right?
How can some other much less legally savvy granddaughter get it right http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100226/1553078323.shtml ?
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I need a law that will allow me to artificially win big in every casino I enter, win every lottery ticket I buy, win every contest I enter, profit profusely from every stock I buy or business I start.
And who cares what is the cost to everyone else.
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Re: bill for it-- just because you can
Corporate counsel doesn't bill hours. Lawyers on staff work for a salary just like everyone else.
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Re: Roffle mayo
Does anyone remember the statistic that every lawyer costs the economy $1 Million a year. A few of these buffoons in wingtips probably are more responsible than others. Perhaps we can get America back on track if we cull the ranks.
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"What?"
"Let's shut down that blog that promotes us on copyright grounds! That way, more people will come to us!"
*room facepalms*
"...Sure, what's the worst that could happen?"
*headdesk*
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Re: Re: bill for it-- just because you can
And need to justify their employment, just like everyone else.
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the Hasbro Effect rears its ugly head
I can see "And then the lawyers stepped in" becoming a catchphrase for all the situations where a legal response just makes things worse.
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