This has been a long time coming and I promise it’ll be the last time I mention all this sort of nasty business. Take this for what it is, a rant, nothing more, nothing less. In December last year I came within an inch of just saying “sod this for a game of soldiers” and getting a normal job, and here’s why.
I became totally disillusioned with the internet, the web, and anything to do with “online”. I didn’t like the way things are heading, what was a beautiful place full of the freedom and civil liberties has become the next big pay day for corporate wankers. Picture what is in my mind, the web in its early days was much like the wild west of America. Settlers staked their claim and the atmosphere was one of community. Disputes were easily settled by give and take, some people did better than others but in general it was a new experience that brought people together (That’s how I imagined it to be anyway). Anybody who was in to building websites pre noughties will know what I’m talking about. The joys of linking because you found something good, not because there was a pay day in it! Then what happened was that certain people decided that they wanted much more of the pie, not only that but the had the “right” to much more. How could they take this, easily? Pay somebody to scare somebody else into giving you what you want. This is where I think the internet is at today.
Fuckwit lawyers, happy to take money from the highest bidder to write scary letters and emails to anybody and everybody. Ignore jurisdiction, ignore the fact that it’s not laws being broken, it’s about trying to apply old laws in ways they were never deisgned to be used. It’s all about scaring somebody to hand over something that they own. Most of the little people crumble. Of course a lot of the time when somebody isn’t intimidated and it goes to court – you know where actual real laws are involved – it’s only the lawyers who win with a big fat pay day “Ah well we lost, here’s my bill”. Where people have the gall to fight back (not to mention have the resources) there was another weapon – WIPO. You see if you buy a domain name, it’s your property. You own it. IF you don’t want to sell it but somebody else wants it and the threatening e-mail route doesn’t work, raise a dispute with WIPO. If you’re big enough then generally you’ll win. Here is a classic example of Trademark Infringement from the archives (Seriously claiming the word Three as a trademark AND winning). Check out the official findings. This goes back a few years and things have only gotten worse. I know an instance where a law firm claimed for the use of a domain called lawyers.*** and won! That word wasn’t even in their name, they were just too slow to register it but wanted it without paying what the person who did own it wanted to sell it for. And that’s only trademark and rights, I haven’t even mentioned libel and all the other bumf that gets banded about. In short publishing websites, know matter how compliant you think you are being has become a legal minefield. I can guarantee you this, if you start being successful and ranking for competitive phrases in the top couple of spots in Google you WILL receive some form of e-mail at some point alleging some type of infringement.
I spent months with all this sort of stuff going around in my head. Every time I posted content online I was second guessing myself as to if it was “ok”. This killed my productivity and gave me sleepless nights. I went back through and did an audit of all my content, removing anything that I considered to be even slightly iffy (It’s still a work in progress). In December I tanked the rankings of my most popular website (a site that had never had a single complaint against it), I sold on some other websites, basically I became a paranoid freak. I spent New Years Eve not partying, but working out a plan of action for the New Year, perhaps even how I could get away from the online world and back into a normal office.
What Snapped Me Out Of It?
A little bit into the New Year and things began to clear up in my head. One thing that really helped me was helping other people. Towards the end of last year I’d started a change in direction and was helping a couple of small businesses build their web presences up with the sole aim of making profit. It was like going back to how I started for me. By January the results were starting to speak for themselves. My confidence which had been battered was starting to come back, I still had it. It prompted me to concentrate on other avenues (something I’ve got another post lined up about) and try some new things again without the fear. I decided to seek a legal opinion on what I consider to be my most at risk website. Essentially I’m taking positive action to ensure that my future online stays within my control as much as possible.
I still don’t like the frivolous way in which lawyers send scary e-mails for a price. Don’t get me wrong, I fully support an internet where people’s rights and property are defended to the full extent of the law but it has to be through new legislation – not fluffy interpretation of other laws. I’m sorry but cases that make it to WIPO where the infringement is not a direct violation of a Trademark I’ll never understand. “But it sort of sounded like our name” should never stand up (I can’t get my head around “misleadingly similar”), it either is or it isn’t. There also has to be a general understanding that the world comprises many countries that each has their own standards and laws. I’ve had copyrighted material stolen from me and republished, its crap, but until the world comes together in one big Star Trek style uber community then that’s online for you. The internet was designed to be organic in its growth. I liked it better when disputes could be settled by communication and common sense rather than a pro forma threatening lawyer’s letter. Sometimes you just have to suck it up. I do have some rules which I stick to now even more so than before – they’re simple really. Never ever copy and paste somebody else’s content onto a website you own (You need to be careful if you’ve got writers doing articles for you). Never ever buy a domain name that includes somebody’s Trademark. As soon as it’s popular enough they will come looking for it. And finally, be very careful about what images you use and where you get them from. All common sense.
See I told you it was a rant. A rambling rant that jumps around and makes little sense I suspect to anybody but me. Perhaps, but it’s good to get it of my chest. Now back to making some cash.