One of my former students, a copyright scholar and photographer named Daniela, just sent me a link to this on Twitter:
Apparently blogger Leo Babauta, who used the hoary old chestnut "feel the fear and do it anyway" as a post title, was shortly thereafter contacted by legal thugs representing Susan Jeffers, PhD., who apparently wrote a book by the same title.
Jeffers' thugs want Babauta to acknowledge on his blog that this well-known idiomatic phrase is now the exclusive trademark of Dr. Jeffers. Babauta isn't capitulating. In support of Babauta's cause, I am using the phrase as the title of this post, and encourage you all to do the same. The only solution to the absurd proprietization of language and culture is to stand up for our rights to free expression, even if it means using a stupid phrase that's practically meaningless as a blog post title.
If you're interested in some legal backstory, or feel like being galled by some ridiculous corporate overreaching in the privatization of public culture, check out David Bollier's excellent book, Brand Name Bullies.
Comments