Seahawks fan site shutdown

[DanInUticaTampa]

they usually do win in court. that is what copyright and trademarks are for..... you can't use a logo with out the owner's permision. That is like taking the seahawk's logo and making t-shirts and selling them. you can't do that. You can say whatever you want, but you can't use their logo if it is trademarked. you can't. it is the law.

[Tarrytown]

bull sh--. if it's their website they can joke about whatever they want. move to cuba if you don't like people talking.

 

Hey Colin:

 

Free speech is certainly a cornerstone of our way of life, but when did it become ok to be disrespectful and lack grace? Smack talk about football and whose team is best is one thing, but disrepecting people that simply did the wrong thing by going to work on a Tuesday morning is tasteless It demonstrates your support of such behavior and explains your juvenile view of the world.

[DC Tom]

Hey Colin:

 

Free speech is certainly a cornerstone of our way of life, but when did it become ok to be disrespectful and lack grace? Smack talk about football and whose team is best is one thing, but disrepecting people that simply did the wrong thing by going to work on a Tuesday morning is tasteless It demonstrates your support of such behavior and explains your juvenile view of the world.

 

There's a difference between "ok" and "permitted".

 

They can say pretty much whatever they want. I can ignore them.

[bills7834]

my point is moralization saying that things just shouldn't be said is weak and unamerican. trying to stop it from being posted is garbage weak sauce-- just don't frequent sites that you don't like.

 

about the logo thing -- sure they can file legal action, that's not exactly hard to do in this country. the question is will they win? if i have a fan site making constant fun of the pats (for example) and they file legal action against me, will they win in court? i can claim fair usage and that i'm not using their IP, and that i have freedom of speech and am writing satire (celebs can't sue AND WIN against tabloids if the tabloids aren't publishing outright lies).

I don't want to argue the point but making fun of somone else's tragedy is garbage weak sauce. It is everyone's American right to boycott, take out ads, picket, do what ever the heck the way want to try to shut down the site. Just as much as it is their right to have the site. By saying move to Cuba you are saying the gov't is shutting the site down. That is not the case. It is very American to express your opinions as this website and those opposed to it are both doing. I just happen to agree with those opposing it and I hope they are successful. Let's just say someone related to you, lets say you daughter, is raped and killed. The person is thrown in jail and I have a website saying what he did is great and make jokes about it. That is not illegal. I'm pretty sure you and many other sound minded people will do everything in your power to close the website. Would you be unAmerican?

[lets_go_bills]

http://www.profootballtalk.com/category/rumor-mill/

 

SEHAWKS FAN SITE CROSSES THE LINE

Posted by Mike Florio on September 27, 2008, 9:56 a.m.

 

We’ve been flooded with e-mail messages about the decision of a Seahawks fan site to prepare for the team’s upcoming game against the Giants by posting a list of nauseating, tasteless, and horribly inappropriate 9/11 jokes.

 

We weren’t going to mention the situation, because we didn’t want to push traffic to the site. But given the extent to which the story has grown legs, with stories by Deadspin and Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News, we needed to chime in.

 

Seahawks fans, you can do better. There are plenty of other places where you can get news about your team.

 

Actually, Seahawks fans might have no choice. The site in question, SeahawksHuddle.com, currently is down. (Here’s the cached version of the page .) We hope that it’s because their servers collapsed under the weight of the unanticipated curiosity in the site, and we also hope that it will never be back.

 

If the site ever does return, we’ll be organizing an effort to contact all of its advertisers and plead with them to stop doing business with the site.

 

Based on the cached page, the advertisers include RazorGator, StubHub, Google, and FansEdge.

 

And before anyone suggests that every subject is fair game for jokes after sufficient passage of time, we don’t think that this loose rule of comedy applies to the single greatest tragedy in the history of our country. It’s been nearly 67 years since Pearl Harbor, and I’ve never heard a single joke about our men and women who were slaughtered that day.

 

We realize that comedy is subjective. But claiming “it was just a joke” doesn’t provide the would-be comedian a license to offend an entire nation.

 

While the First Amendment to our Constitution gives shmucks like this the ability to say things like that without being thrown in jail, the First Amendment also gives shmucks like us the ability to call them the shmucks that they are, and to ask anyone who does business with these shmucks to stop. Now.

 

UPDATE: We should have thought of this earlier. The domain for the site includes the term “Seahawks,” for which the Seahawks own the copyright. And so the Seahawks need to send these shmucks a cease-and-desist letter, pronto.

 

 

That site... man, they were making fun of the Everett sitaution. I remember that thread. Now 9/11 jokes? Geez, that is just awful. Unbelievable. How can any human beings behave this way? For shame.

[colin]

Hey Colin:

 

Free speech is certainly a cornerstone of our way of life, but when did it become ok to be disrespectful and lack grace? Smack talk about football and whose team is best is one thing, but disrepecting people that simply did the wrong thing by going to work on a Tuesday morning is tasteless It demonstrates your support of such behavior and explains your juvenile view of the world.

 

this is what i'm talking about. you are conflating my NOT being a cry baby over what some kids on the internet are saying to supporting bad behavior and having a juvenile view of the world.

 

you have no friggen idea of what my view on anything except freedom of speech is.

 

the attitude you are showing, of attacking people who aren't cry babies being offended by the same stuff you are, is celebrating victim hood. don't be such a kitty, suck it up and turn the other cheek.

[colin]

they usually do win in court. that is what copyright and trademarks are for..... you can't use a logo with out the owner's permision. That is like taking the seahawk's logo and making t-shirts and selling them. you can't do that. You can say whatever you want, but you can't use their logo if it is trademarked. you can't. it is the law.

 

is it the same thing as that tho? making t shirts is very clearly using the trademark, but reporting on it is protected (there is precedent).

 

even if the journalistic merits of a particular publication are slight to say it nicely (tabloids, etc.) they have been found to be protected as free press before.

 

i'm not sure how it would work out, but if it has been battled out in court i'd be interested to see how it went. i'm pretty sure almost all fights with the nfl end

with the first letter sent to the fan site or the web server.

[Nanker]

"Internet - meet Azzholes." I happened on day one.

[jarthur31]

http://www.profootballtalk.com/category/rumor-mill/

 

SEHAWKS FAN SITE CROSSES THE LINE

Posted by Mike Florio on September 27, 2008, 9:56 a.m.

 

We’ve been flooded with e-mail messages about the decision of a Seahawks fan site to prepare for the team’s upcoming game against the Giants by posting a list of nauseating, tasteless, and horribly inappropriate 9/11 jokes.

 

We weren’t going to mention the situation, because we didn’t want to push traffic to the site. But given the extent to which the story has grown legs, with stories by Deadspin and Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News, we needed to chime in.

 

Seahawks fans, you can do better. There are plenty of other places where you can get news about your team.

 

Actually, Seahawks fans might have no choice. The site in question, SeahawksHuddle.com, currently is down. (Here’s the cached version of the page .) We hope that it’s because their servers collapsed under the weight of the unanticipated curiosity in the site, and we also hope that it will never be back.

 

If the site ever does return, we’ll be organizing an effort to contact all of its advertisers and plead with them to stop doing business with the site.

 

Based on the cached page, the advertisers include RazorGator, StubHub, Google, and FansEdge.

 

And before anyone suggests that every subject is fair game for jokes after sufficient passage of time, we don’t think that this loose rule of comedy applies to the single greatest tragedy in the history of our country. It’s been nearly 67 years since Pearl Harbor, and I’ve never heard a single joke about our men and women who were slaughtered that day.

 

We realize that comedy is subjective. But claiming “it was just a joke” doesn’t provide the would-be comedian a license to offend an entire nation.

 

While the First Amendment to our Constitution gives shmucks like this the ability to say things like that without being thrown in jail, the First Amendment also gives shmucks like us the ability to call them the shmucks that they are, and to ask anyone who does business with these shmucks to stop. Now.

 

UPDATE: We should have thought of this earlier. The domain for the site includes the term “Seahawks,” for which the Seahawks own the copyright. And so the Seahawks need to send these shmucks a cease-and-desist letter, pronto.

 

Put the URL to that Hawks "fan" site and I'll tell you if it's it.

[The Dean]

I wonder what the Seattle club is going to say about Sikorsky Aricraft using their copyright for the SH-60 Seahawk helicopter?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SH-60_Seahawk

[Lurker]

No. I was equating jokes about Kevin Everett and Tim Russert. Any humor about loss and tragedy, even to one person, is offensive.

 

How about reading these posts more thoroughly before you jump to conclusions?

 

PTR

Not jumping to conclusions. Just trying to get a handle on what the apples-to-apples comparison was.

[DanInUticaTampa]

is it the same thing as that tho? making t shirts is very clearly using the trademark, but reporting on it is protected (there is precedent).

 

even if the journalistic merits of a particular publication are slight to say it nicely (tabloids, etc.) they have been found to be protected as free press before.

 

i'm not sure how it would work out, but if it has been battled out in court i'd be interested to see how it went. i'm pretty sure almost all fights with the nfl end

with the first letter sent to the fan site or the web server.

 

Saying something and printing a trademark are two different things. You have the right to say anything you want. And there is a lot of laws that regulates what you can say. But if a company pays for a trademark, they are paying for the rights for it. another company can not use it for their business. Whenever a real business deals with this, they have to get permission or pay to use it. Like a sports magazine gets permission to print their logo on a section. If a company uses a trademarked logo without permission they will lose in court every time. It is the same as stealing.

 

As for free speech... people can say what they want, but they can't say lies about people. that is called slander and it is a crime. Tabloids get away with it by having a good law firm (they get sued all the time and lose) and having sources that can "confirm," and they word their stories so that it is in the grey area. Like instead of calling someone a killer, they say "did she kill them?" with a question that implies what they mean. that is why you see so many question marks on the front of tabloids. but yeah, it has nothing to do with what is being discussed. This issue has nothing to do with the site getting shut down.

[GripnRip]

People should be allowed to say whatever they want...In some circles people may find those type of insults funny and entertaining. If people feel differently(as I do), simply stop visiting the site. Jumping on a soapbox and crying about it is just as unamerican as 9/11 jokes.

[Magic54]

bull sh--. if it's their website they can joke about whatever they want. move to cuba if you don't like people talking.

 

So then if I don't like what someone else is saying, I should put my tail between my legs and keep my mouth shut about it? The administrator of that website has as much of a right to shut that website down, as the a-holes posting on it have to voice their opinion. I've got every right to voice my opinion, without moving to Cuba, about what I think of their jokes. Nobody's talking about the government stepping in and censoring anybody. If the Seahawks fans who want to joke about Kevin Everett and 9/11 don't like the fact that the website they were using was shut down, they can start their own.

[DanInUticaTampa]

People should be allowed to say whatever they want...In some circles people may find those type of insults funny and entertaining. If people feel differently(as I do), simply stop visiting the site. Jumping on a soapbox and crying about it is just as unamerican as 9/11 jokes.

 

yeah, because in america if someone verbally attacks someone we are not allowed defend ourselves using words. Fighting back is so unamerican.... "america" and "self defense" don't even go together....