Filed under: Business, Internet
Craiglist demands fan blog's domain - joins 21st century
Yesterday, we posted that Craigslist joined the 20th century with a 1990's-esque blog to let the world in on what's going on within the inner self of Craigslist. Today, Craigslist is already making fantastic progress through time. No, the blog still looks like it belongs in 1996, but it is demanding that the fan operated craigslistblog.org surrender it's domain.Although Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster hasn't asked Tim White, the fan blogger, to stop blogging - he does claim that the domain name infringes on intellectual property and is confusing to the media and the public. That, and some of the content Tim White was using was exclusive to Craigslist and shouldn't be posted. In an effort to meet halfway, the blog now prominently displays that it is indeed an "unofficial" blog and has removed the content in question, but apparently that is not enough. Probably now that Buckmaster has his own blog he feels the need to defend it with a lawsuit.
If you are interested in what the exact correspondence was, Valleywag has it available for your viewing pleasure. It is however, sad to see a company like Craigslist resort to 21st century intellectual property chest-beating strongarm tactics instead of engaging the blogger in a civilized manner and at least attempting to come to a mutually agreeable resolution before issuing threats. This is neither going to make Craigslist look good nor will it make them any friends.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Roy said 2:49PM on 4-04-2008
Agreed!
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Todd said 3:31PM on 4-04-2008
A Mr. Craig S. List ( http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=9056806 ) politely asked the popular classified ad web site for their domain, but them just laughed at him....
Seriously, graigs list may want to do some research first, especially the legal precedent set here:
http://nissan.com/
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gojeda said 7:23PM on 4-04-2008
Firstly, craigslist.org is 100%. More on that in a second.
But, please, stop with the whining Romeo. This is what a concerned party is SUPPOSED to do in order to protect their property. Letters are sent for a reason - because the courts want a paper trail.
Any individual or organization worth his salt would, and should, do the same thing.
Todd (response #2), your example of nissan.com does not hold water. An interested party is entitled to any name they want *as long* as their name does not conflict with an existing name within the same field of business in which they operate in.
In other words, nissan.com is entitled to that name because they are a computer vendor and, as such, has nothing to do with the automotive industry. The courts know that,and that is why the name has not been revoked.
It is for this same reason why I cannot create a business called "Google Web Creations", but I can have a business whose name is "Google Landscaping Company".
Please, let us review trademark law and practice before casting dispersions, ok?
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Romeo Wahed said 11:18AM on 4-08-2008
gojeda >
I agree with you, Craigslist is totally entitled to protect their property in any form they deem fit. Including sending threats of legal action before even attempting to engage the infringing party in a dialogue about simply changing the name or some other solution or compromise. And looking at Tim White's blog, he seems like a reasonable guy. If Craigslist had approached him in a less accusatory tone, a solution could probably have been reached that would sit at a fraction of what they are going to be paying their lawyers for this.
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domainero said 10:17AM on 6-09-2008
Does this not fix?
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http://domainbox.blogspot.com/
Greetings.
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