Maybe it’s just that I’m a huge fan of the World Cup and have been known in the past to shut down my business during the last few games of what is easily the most popular sporting event in the world, but I am appalled by the sophomoric response of the Boing Boing team to a letter from a law firm representing the online rights to the games.
I freely admit that Baker and McKenzie, the law firm in question, could have written a better letter or one that was a bit less threatening, but having received plenty of letters from law firms myself, this just goes with the territory. There’s a reason that the legal phrase for how law firms must protect trademark is to “aggressively pursue,” for example.
But even the way that Boing Boing talks about the 2006 FIFA World Cup, easily the most popular sporting event in the world, reflects poorly on the blogosphere and reminds us why it is that blogging hasn’t exploded onto the corporate scene with anywhere near the zeal of entrepreneurs and small businesses…
I’ve written a detailed analysis of the situation, including excerpts of both the letter from Baker and McKenzie and Boing Boing, that will offer you much to contemplate.
Honestly, in many ways I see this as yet another blogosphere assault on business itself and yet another reason why companies continue to ignore or fear the blogosphere as a communications channel.
Oh! Please don’t email me your thoughts on this issue because I’m planning on plugging into World Cup action for a few weeks…
[tags]business blogging,fifa world cup,boing boing,baker and mckenzie,aggressively pursue[/tags]