Listen Up, This Is Important!
From time to time, I’ve talked about providing value to your readers, customers, etc. The idea is that your customers come to you and will give you money as long as they are getting value in return. This is how the universe works. We provide value to each other, and we in turn bring advances to the human race.
There’s not a lot of people that I respect. Leo Babauta is one of the select few… and one of the few bloggers on that list to boot! Leo runs a blog known as Zen Habits, in which he explains how to live a more simple life, and how that concept will help you to achieve whatever goals you set your mind to. He also is a proponent of the belief that I have, in which you must provide value to your readers. You must be selfless, and give without any thoughts of getting something in return. Leo has even gone to the extent of releasing the entirety of Zen Habits from copyright, and allowing it to be spread far and wide without any fear of legal repercussions.
There are the good ones like Leo, who make their livings by providing value, and trying to do good for the human race and for the universe. And then there are others who want to take shortcuts, and who desire making money more than providing value. These are the same people who have ran our economy into the ground. These are the same people who are screwing credit card owners over by using every trick in the book to increase the interest rates. And these are the same people who rely on one idea, and try to squeeze every cent that they can out of that one idea.
Insecurity and Greed…
Leo recently received an email from Susan Jeffers, PhD, concerning his usage of a phrase that coincidentally was the title of one of her books. I’m not going to tell you the title, because apparently, her lawyers are of the opinion that she owns the EXCLUSIVE rights to use those seven words when they are used in that order.
However, Ms. Jeffers is not immune to being discussed on this page. I’m going to venture a guess that she is struggling to find her place in today’s marketplace. Instead of trying to innovate, improve her product, or upgrade her website, (Which badly needs an upgrade) she has decided to:
- Piggyback on the hard work of established bloggers by bullying them into giving her free publicity at the expense of using her EXCLUSIVE seven words
- Concentrate on protecting her 20 year old phrase instead of work towards providing value to her existing fanbase
- Risk sacrificing her online reputation in the pursuit of trying to lay claim to a common phrase.
I’m not entirely sure that it’s legal to lay claim to a trademark when it is used out of context like that, but legality isn’t even the issue here. Do we want to continue to enable the greedy to get by like this? We, and I’m talking to all fellow bloggers here, need to make sure that we do not lose the right to free speech. It’s one thing to infringe on other people’s property in vain attempt to generate buzz. It’s ANOTHER THING altogether to lay claim to all uses of a phrase, just because you own a copyright.
Trademarks Must Apply Only In Context!
Microsoft doesn’t have any right to sue a hardware store that is selling “Windows”.
Apple doesn’t have any right to sue a grocery store that is selling “Apples”.
McDonald’s doesn’t have any right to receive a royalty any time someone says “I’m Loving It”
And Susan Jeffers doesn’t have any right to lay claim to her slogan when it is used out of context, just like the other examples I gave.
I see you have read the science of getting rich and she is clearly not following those principles. If this continues the entire English language is going to be copy righted.