New Zealand Newspaper Threatens Blogging Critic With Trademark Infringement Claim

from the is-that-really-the-best-way-to-handle-things? dept

Pete wrote in to alert us to yet another case of a lawyer taking an overly aggressive approach to a cease-and-desist... and, in doing so, drawing a lot more attention to the issue. This time it takes place in New Zealand, where a blogger who runs an entire blog called Editing The Herald, which criticizes stories in The New Zealand Herald, received a legal nastygram from The Herald claiming trademark infringement and giving the guy a day to remove his logo -- which was an edited version of The Herald's logo (basically putting the "Editing The" above the logo -- or it would take him to court. As is standard in these things (though, usually with no legal basis), the lawyer demanded that the blogger not publish the letter, which the blogger ignored.

Now, I don't know enough about New Zealand trademark law to comment on the merits, but the whole approach just seems backwards. Having been on the receiving end of a few too many legal nastygrams, it's never a pleasant experience, and there's really no reason to send them if you haven't first tried a more friendly approach. The blogger in this case did agree to remove the logo and is apparently working on a new one, but The Herald and its lawyers could have approached the site in a much more friendly manner, rather than appearing like massive bullies, and giving the blogger more ammo to draw even more attention to the site. Once again, it appears that there are a lot of lawyers out there who still think that sending such cease and desist letters is a good idea.

Filed Under: editing the herald, lawyers, new zealand, newspapers, trademark
Companies: new zealand herald