Apparently the NBA and the Detroit Free Press are butting heads over whether the newspaper can sell Tshirts with with their newspaper printed on them.
The Pistons are claiming that the Freep can only print NBA stuff in their paper, no other mediums are permitted. That seems like it would only be the case if there were some sort of licensing agreement set up between the two. The Free Press is painting it as a first amendment issue, which it is only so far as copyright limits the freedom of the press.
What I thought was most interesting is that Pistons copyright enforcement thugs were going around cracking down on teenagers. Copyright laws are so obtuse that the only things most people know about their rights are what they hear from other uninformed people. That’s why people think that they own the iTunes they bought, or that you can use pirated software for 30 days without paying for it. It so inaccessable that anyone with an air of authority can enforce it, or even demand $3000 for infringement that never happend in the case of the RIAA.
Seems like a great scam just waiting for some con men to exploit.
3 responses to “Freep vs. NBA”
I had a Rolling Stones henchman (not Keith) harass me at a concert for wearing an unauth. sweatshirt – it was strange because there were obviously hundereds of such things around there, but I had a fan club shirt on. The guy was oily, asked me for a business card, first, and then said they would be sending me a cease and desist letter. Of course they never did, but this was moments before the concert started and it was really an upsetting experience that of course it not what you pay $$$$ to attend a concert for. I guess it was just some guy strutting his stuff.
This is potentially very interesting, because the Freep is lawyered-up enough to go toe-to-toe with the NBA if they decide to press this. Usually, the odds are so tilted in favor of the bullying organization that the person/org being threatened just backs down, but this would be a much more even fight.
The Pistons and the NBA have apparently backed off