Intellectual property rights on the internet? Mike Brown sues a Bengals fan blog for using public domain photos.

MITCHELL BLATT

In a world where the NFL tries to copyright the phrase “Big Game,” the MLB tries to copyright the numbers for their stats, and Barack and Hillary continue to spar over who owns “Yes, We Can,” and “Yes, We Will,” Mike Brown, over of the Cincinnati Bengals, has decided to sue Bengals fans blog Stripe Hype for giving the team free promotion.

In a letter sent to Stripe Hype (letter here), NFL legal man Zev Parnass told Stripe Hype to cease and desist use of “NFL and Member Club logos,” “the Bengals color scheme, uniform designs, and helmet designs,” and “the Bengals WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE trademark.” (Did the Bengals pay Gun N Roses for that trademark?)

I can’t argue with the fact that they were violating copyright infringement by using NFL logos and helmet designs, and you can even make a case that the color scheme is copyright violation, but the bigger picture is why the fuck do the Bengals care?

Sure Stripe Hype, owned by the Fan-Sided Network, is making some money off the Bengals branding, but they are also helping brand the Bengals, previously to the cease and desist letter, in a positive way.

I mean, they probably aren’t helping much with their branding, but are they causing the Bengals to lose money? It’s not like the Bengals would have built blog traffic to their own non-existant blog if that blog wasn’t there to steal it.

The fact that I have used the Bengals team name here probably means that I violated their copyright, so you can send a cease and desist to me too, Mike Brown.

Here’s what sportswriting might look like if the NFL’s, MLB’s, and Mike Brown’s lawyers had their way:

The football team from Cleveland is playing the football team from Cincinnati in what some view as a significantly important matchup. Cleveland QB #14 is having a relatively good season with a lot of touchdown passes. We can’t say exactly how many, but sources within the organization say the anonymous QB is in the double digits.

This isn’t NCAA 2K5 here, folks.

Cleveland TE [Number censored] cause a stir this week, bashing the Cincy squad, saying, “This game **** **** **** is ***************, yeah!”

Oops, we have just been sued for violating Kellen Winslow’s copyright, as we weren’t allowed to mention that he said “Yeah!” Damn, we exposed the source as well. Looks like we’re gonna be sent to Gitmo.

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