[IP] Re: 12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law"  
<froomkin@law.miami.edu>
Date: May 4, 2007 6:01:13 PM EDT
To: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: Re: [IP] 12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know
Reply-To: froomkin@law.tm

[for IP]

While being over-cautious will certainly keep you out of trouble,  
there's over-cautious and waaay over-cautious.

Most of these rules could be summarized as "Don't lie.  And be very  
honest and transparent."  Which is good advice, but could be said  
more simply.

Rule #5 is very problematic.  If your use is utterly non-commercial,  
and you're not a cyber-squatter,then under US law you are allowed to  
register a name that happens to coincide with a trademark.  And if  
the mark is not famous, and you're not a competitor and can't be  
mistaken for one, it often won't matter even if your use is commercial.

Rule 7(1) contains nonsense.  You can always delete comments on your  
blog unless you have affirmatively promised not to -- and even then  
there may be exceptions.

Missing from the list is the tricky question of whether your  
liability for your blogging is protected by your homeowner's  
insurance.  Short answer: read the fine print.  In many cases, if you  
make money of the blog, it won't be covered; if it's a non-monetary  
hobby it is more likely to be covered.

--
http://www.icannwatch.org   Personal Blog: http://www.discourse.net
A. Michael Froomkin   |    Professor of Law    |   froomkin@law.tm
U. Miami School of Law, P.O. Box 248087, Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA
+1 (305) 284-4285  |  +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax)  |  http://www.law.tm
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