So a New York advertising agency has sued a blogger for copyright infringement, defamation and trade libel and injurious falsehood, whatever that is. The suit, filed by Warren Kremer Piano against a blogger named Lance Dutson, concerns the latter’s belief that the State of Maine’s Office of Tourism was "pissing away tax money" by hiring the NY agency to reinforce Maine’s "vacationland" image.
The ad agency sued the blogger because it said his nasty notes would hurt its business. Agency president Tom McCartin says that, as a result of search engine optimization listing Dutson’s comments first, prospective clients might see his negative posts before they ever get to see the WKPA web site. Horrors!
This got me to thinking about Repman and some of the comments posted by those who disagree with what I say. As far as I’m concerned, negative or contrary comments are what makes a blog effective and worth visiting more than once. So, keep ’em coming. That said, though, not even my friend I-man has suggested we’re "pissing away" clients’ money. So, I’d have to reserve judgment until I-man or someone else pulls a "Dutson."
WKPA’s decision to sue the blogger is an amazingly stupid move for a communications firm. In doing so, they’ve escalated the story and painted themselves as the big, bad Madison Avenue agency trying to crush the Down East blogger. So, I-man, you’re probably safe for now. But, as my eighth grade teacher, Sister Maria Eucharia, used to say, "A word to wise is sufficient."
rep, rep, rep- a point of view is one thing, negative comments are another. there would be a huge difference in me saying “peppercom did a bad job on x project for y client” and “peppercom’s incompetent account team basically stole 50k from y client after they did nothing except hold useless brainstorms and team meetings.
i guess we will agree to disagree on what goes to far in the blogsphere.
Sue a blogger – only in America!
Its sad to see that an ad agency doesn’t understand the concept of blogs.
I-man, I-man, I-man, I’m not playing with fire as you suggest. I’m merely expressing a point-of-view, which is what the blogosphere is intended for. It sounds like you’d prefer a “Disneyland” version of the blogoshere in which everything is milk and honey. Life ain’t like that, I-man. So, I’m sorry you think some of my blogs are negative. As my favorite broadcaster iked to say, “I’m merely telling it like it is.” Kate Moss is a horrifc role model for our kids. Period. That comment won’t hurt her business nor is it different than what many others have said in the past. Warren Kremer felt the Maine blogger was hurting their prosective business. Big, big difference.
again, MY point is that much in the way a blogger is now being sued for negative comments, kate, x corporation, etc can sue you for the same if they so choose. not that it would necessarily hold merit, but filing a lawsuit is relatively easy.
i am of the opinion that blogs with negative content are of the lose-lose variety. sure, they make for good reading, but when you play with fire…
Au contraire, I-man. Au contraire. Kate Moss and her born-again career thrive on negative comments by others. She’s a bad person and needs the negative “buzz” in order to continue atracting corporate clients who see her as “edgy.” To equate the Maine blogger/Warren Kremer situation with my blog on Kate Moss is, sad to say it again I-man, to have missed the point completely.
Thanks Jimmy, glad to see I keep you interested 🙂
Rep, aren’t you the one that should follow the advice and be careful about the negative comments you post? After all, Kate Moss might not like being referred to as drugie and anorexic poster girl…
i-man stopping at one word? that, my friend, is a good one.
generally, you do have great topics (a few hits and misses, but that’s how it goes when you’re pitching, right?) but, i will have to agree & admit, part of me does come back to see what i-man will say next.
glad i checked out the link to webpronews -very cool site.
do you ever read the rants and raves sections of craigslist? after you get through the “deviant” posts there are some clever discussions happening.