And, sure enough, when I informed her that I did in fact mind, she responded by digging her heels in and being a jerk about the whole thing. Because that's the point of the Internet, right? If you want something, you just steal it. And then if you get caught stealing, you just be a total jerk about the whole thing.
In the interest of the public record, I'm posting our complete correspondence below. Basically, it starts with me formally notifying her that I already have dibs on the name, and concludes with her saying, "I do what I want! So sue me, a$$hole!"
Followers of Venom And Honey™ (this Venom And Honey™, the original, not the phony one) already know that I oppose stuff like SOPA and PIPA, and think the Internet should be a free venue of expression and what not... but you gotta admit, it's a shame when it's such a wild frontier that people don't bother having even a scrap of decency, and you have to be a giant corporation with an army of lawyers in order to have any hope of preventing them from straight-up stealing your ideas and then telling you to screw off when you call them out on it.
Anyways, without further ado, the complete correspondence:
MattDuffy:
Hello. It has recently come to our attention that you have decided to call your blog Venom And Honey™.
As we have already been using Venom And Honey™ as the name of our own blog(s) for the last decade or so, we must respectfully ask that you choose a different name for yours -- failure to do so will constitute a violation of copyright on your part.
Thank you for your understanding.
nurzerozetta:
Ten years? I only see entries as early as 2009.
Do you have a copyright? May I see it?
MattDuffy:
The earliest extant entry may be found here, dated 20 July 2006: http://www.myspace.com/mattduffychidley/blog/146900117
Previous entries were hosted by Friendster and have since been deleted from their servers.
The way copyright law functions is that the author of a published work becomes the de facto copyright holder (with regard to all published materials contained therein) at time of publication, so to answer your question, no, you can't "see" the copyright as such. In this case, my previous email serves as due notification of infringement by the rightful copyright holder.
Thanks again for your understanding and cooperation in this matter, and I empathize with any inconvenience that it may cause you.
nurzerozetta:
I have forwarded this to my legal team.
MattDuffy:
I see no reason why this needs to be a legal matter. Your (new) blog has the same name as my (much older) blog. This is either because (a) you didn't do the research that would've shown the name was already in use, or (b) you stole it.
Either way, the jig is up, and I have asked you nicely to make amends. I must admit, I am somewhat disappointed by your reaction, as from my point of view the only appropriate response would be to just apologize and rename your blog.
nurzerozetta:
I am sorry, you are taking this very personally.
You cannot copyright a title. Period. We may have not done the research but rest assured, I did not "steal" the title of your blog.
I apologize this is upsetting you, but I see no copyright infringement as my content is totally different from yours. I don't understand why we cannot co-exist as our blogs are for different audiences.
If you continue to proceed in this manner, legal action will be initiated. Sending a copy to my legal team.
Thank you, have a good day.
MattDuffy:
Wait, are you serious? You are threatening to sue me because you stole my blog title and I have asked you to change it? If that is the case, I'm afraid you've got things completely backwards!
You are right that I am taking it personally because this is something I have been working on for many years. Since it appears you are not willing to just do the right thing and rename your blog, what if I were to offer to sell you the rights to the title? Then you would no longer be in this position of infringing on my intellectual property. It would be a win-win.
nurzerozetta:
I'm not threatening to sue you, nor have I stolen your title, but keep in mind if you continue to pursue this, I am prepared to defend myself legally. This matter is closed, I have changed my blog title as much as I am willing, and any further contact will be seen as harrassment, and steps will be taken.
You haven't a legal leg to stand on, if you still feel you do, please have a lawyer send me a "cease and desist" letter, which will, again, be forwarded to my legal team.
Thank you.
So there you have it.
In other news, I've been thinking of renaming this blog "The Huffington Post." No reasonable person over there could possibly have a problem with that, right?
For what it's worth, I have since discovered that this is actually a case of "trademark infringement" rather than "copyright infringement," if you want to get technical.
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