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- From: Carrie McLaren <stay.free AT verizon.net>
- To: stayfree AT lists.ibiblio.org
- Subject: Stay F---! | February 2
- Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 11:52:16 -0500
Posted at: http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/public/
Nothing new on the Stay Free site this week, but elsewhere in the world:
Teenage Millionaire, a company that sells t-shirts with the slogan "Jesus Is My Homeboy," has been using its legal muscle to stop people from parodying its product. The company sent cease-and-desist letters to Dan Sieradski, for instance, who was selling shirts bearing the phrase, "Jesus was a kike." The back-and-forth between the Teenage Millionaire lawyer and Sieradski is certainly worth your while (Sieradski is a bright bulb):
http://www.orthodoxanarchist.com/2004/12/ip-freely.php
That said, Sieradski is in a poor position to win a legal battle since he used Teenage Millionaire's Jesus pretty much as-is.
Aaron Watson probably has a better case. Like Sieradski, Watson was threated by Teenage Millionaire for selling a parody t-shirt of "Homeboy" via CafePress, one that read, "Arnold is my Homeboy":
http://www.freewillblog.com/index.php/weblog/comments/4860/
But unlike Sieradski, Watson didn't appropriate Teenage Millionaire's imagery; he used a likeness of Mr. Schwarzenegger. Also unlike Sieradski, Watson appears to have the means to fight.
After Teenage Millionaire threatened legal action, CafePress removed both sellers' shirts in compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. But Watson told me he has secured a lawyer and plans to have an official response soon. When that happens, there's a decent chance CafePress could reconsider its decision and allow him to keep selling his shirts. I talked to Candice Carr in the CafePress legal department and, though she couldn't comment on the case, she said the company is open to working with sellers who have substantial fair use claims. The company did, after all, back the creators of Jib Jab after they were sent a cease-and-desist from Woody Guthrie's estate for using "This Land Is Your Land."
We'll let you know what happens. In the mean time, it's not too late to pick up "Buddha is my homeboy" or -- my fave -- "Darwin is my homeboy" t-shirts (Apparently Teenage Millionaire hasn't found these guys yet):
http://www.cafepress.com/beeskneesbuddha.8122299
http://www.cafepress.com/publicdisgrace.14821856
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STAY FREE T-SHIRTS
A month or so ago I played around with using CafePress myself in order to make an anti-Wal-Mart t-shirt (available for purchase!):
http://www.cafepress.com/stayfree
I can't decide whether to go whole hog and offer various Stay Free t-shirts via my website. If any of you have an opinion on the matter, let me know. Or you could just let your credit cards to the talking.
:::::
US COPYRIGHT OFFICE NOW SEEKING PUBLIC COMMENT!
The US Copyright Office is seeking public comments on whether it needs to clear the way for people who want to use copyrighted works that have no identifiable rightsholder (aka "orphan works"). If you know any stories about filmmakers, artists, authors, or archivists who have run into difficulty in identifying rights holders, please please write the Copyright Office and give them your two cents:
http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2005/70fr3739.html
http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/002401.shtml
::::::
VOLKSWAGEN CAR BOMB HOAX
I generally avoid mentioning advertising efforts that are clearly designed for shock value, but Volkswagen's new viral campaign really gets my goat.
The blogosphere is afire with word of a commercial for Volkswagen that features a man getting inside his VW, driving to a cafe, and setting off a car bomb; the driver's plans go awry, however, because the bomb doesn't explode the car, which remains intact.
http://ad-rag.com/117074.php
In posts about the spot, several bloggers have simply mouthed Volkswagen's claims that it has nothing to do with it; the company originally said it was filing criminal charges against the creators but quickly settled for a public apology.
The whole brouhaha strikes me as a transparent (albeit clever) effort by Volkswagen to engage in the guerilla-style viral marketing that's all the rage in corporate boardrooms now. The ad team that created the spot -- Lee Ford and Dan Brooks -- have claimed they have no idea how the commercial got on the internet. But Adland (ad-rag.com) found a dead link named "Volkswagen" on the Ford and Brook's website (the site has since been changed and the link is no longer there).
http://ad-rag.com/117074.php
Ford and Brooks told the Guardian that the spot cost 40,000 pounds but wouldn't say who footed the bill; the spot's director, however, disputed that claim and said it only cost 400 pounds (extremely unlikely given the high production values).
Keep in mind that Ford Motors did a similar campaign last year for its SportKa. One viral spot showed the car squashing a small bird; another had the car's sunroof decapitating a cat. Ford tried to distance itself from the spots but, according to the Guardian, they were made by Ford's advertising agency.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/advertising/story/0,7492,1402493,00.html
So if Volkswagen did indeed sanction the commercial, it is far from the first megacorp to bank on plausible deniability. And since the internet is increasingly the media of choice for reaching coveted young adult males, you can bet it won't be the last.
- Stay F---! | February 2, Carrie McLaren, 02/02/2005
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