The Name Problem, Part V

In House, Uncategorized | brendan, November 18th, 2005

Roger Simon just called. We agreed to talk next week.

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23 Responses to “The Name Problem, Part V”

  1. Tlazolteotl Says:
    November 18th, 2005 at 7:01 pm

    I hope you are getting some good legal advice. I think these guys are totally out of line.

  2. Brendan Says:
    November 18th, 2005 at 7:04 pm

    We are.

  3. Harshly Mellow Says:
    November 18th, 2005 at 8:02 pm

    Hey, here’s a good thing about OSM: (UPDATED 11/18) (AGAIN) (and AGAIN, 11/18 at 1900)

    If we need any hairs split, we know where to go…

    I’m trying so hard to quit looking at this, but it has car-wreck style qualities that just can’t be ignored,

  4. cliff Says:
    November 18th, 2005 at 8:06 pm

    Brendan,

    This is certainly taking up a great deal of your time. A serious pain in the bum, no doubt. On the other hand you are also getting a large helping of free publicity in both the Right and Left spheres of the blogoverse. I might never have found your site but for the controversy. Not that you need a pep talk, but there is some silver lining here.

    As for your conversation with Roger. Bring your lawyer(s).

  5. MoJo Says:
    November 18th, 2005 at 8:20 pm

    I came here to say the same thing Cliff said. I can’t believe I didn’t know about this site before now. You’re all doing fantastic work and I’ll be visiting regularly. Of course, we’d better not let “Pajamas” know that or they’ll put it on their explanation page as this great thing they’ve done for you.

  6. Scott Says:
    November 18th, 2005 at 9:08 pm

    Please, please, when you talk to Roger, bring a lawyer with you.

  7. Elmo Says:
    November 18th, 2005 at 9:15 pm

    How’s the mouse?

  8. Brendan Says:
    November 18th, 2005 at 10:29 pm

    The mouse, I’ve seen a lot of him this week, because he likes to come out at night. He parties a little bit, hangs out behind the trash can, then spooks himself and disappears back down the hole. The staff calls him “Binky.” I think he has issues. Last night I tried to get a picture of Binky while working on some of this OSM stuff. We get along just fine, Binky and I, but so far no photo.

    And thanks for liking what we’re doing. And thanks, everyone, for telling us to seek legal counsel. We’re covered. We promise.

  9. Sean Says:
    November 19th, 2005 at 10:10 am

    Is there a show idea here? Any chance you can record the conversation? How about a tableau show with actors taking parts to reenact and vox populi taking part as judge and jury?

  10. The Classless Society»Blog Archive » The Spike TV paradigm Says:
    November 19th, 2005 at 1:01 pm

    [...] ion of greenmail, I guess. Now, the people of Open Source Media Inc. (the radio program) have announced that they will be meeting with Roger Simon next week. Anyone want to bet w [...]

  11. kevin de bruxelles Says:
    November 19th, 2005 at 2:11 pm

    Please, please, please, whatever amount they offer you, please give the blogosphere a chance to hold fundraisers to match or even perhaps double it (shouldn’t be hard if they are as stingy as reports say they are). Not only would it be for a very good cause (Open Source Radio) , the schadenfreude would be irresistible! The publicity you would get by having such diverse voices as Atrios, Kos, Steven Den Beste and Dennis the Peasant supporting you would be invaluable.

    I cannot wait to hear the “founders” explain why they have to change names.

  12. mcg Says:
    November 19th, 2005 at 4:22 pm

    Frankly, if they offer you a boat load of money to go away, I think you should take it—and then come up with an even BETTER name! And no, I’m not being snarky or sarcastic, I’m being practical. You’re getting a lot of free publicity out of this, which is great! So use it, change your name while your reader-/listener-ship is high, for maximum impact, and pocket some dough! (Or put it to good use if you’re feeling altruistic.)

  13. Scott Says:
    November 19th, 2005 at 5:10 pm

    Could it be (an open question, I don’t know the answer) that Roger L. Simon and Charles Johnson actually picked “OSM” and its associated concept knowing full well that it was already used commercially? See my post on The Classless Society regarding the Spike TV paradigm, which I think could apply here.

    It would be a shame to see Open Source Media, Inc. bullied out of their intellectual property just because some greedy rich people wanted it. If you went for the money, I could hardly blame you; but why do favors for a company whose founders include, in my opinion, an obsessive anti-Muslim bigot? I sure wouldn’t want to be a line item in their budget. Can you put a dollar value on integrity?

  14. Gunny Says:
    November 19th, 2005 at 7:38 pm

    You’ve no choice as it’s past time for drastic measure. Yes, you must immediately change the name of your blog to Open Pajama’s.

  15. houblog.com Says:
    November 20th, 2005 at 1:52 am

    That’s It. I’m Officially Embarassed Now.

    I had planned another rip on Hollyweird after seeing the most insulting preview in history, but then I saw this idiocy, just when I thought the whole OSM thing might be taking baby steps towards being resolved.

    …

  16. houblog.com » Blog Archive » That’s It. I’m Officially Embarassed Now. Says:
    November 20th, 2005 at 1:55 am

    [...] story, but then I saw this idiocy, just when I thought the whole OSM thing might be taking baby steps towards being resolved. The OSM/Dennis the Peasant squabble goes off the deep [...]

  17. JonGarfunkel Says:
    November 20th, 2005 at 1:21 pm

    It’s been interesting watching this story unfold. I’m a longtime listener of the program, a contributor to the comments, an occasional “live-blogger” (I think that term fits) of the program as it airs, a three-time caller, and an appreciated source for thoughts on the show’s continued evolution, I just wanted to add some comments on the big picture.

    To mcq, and a few previous posters who have questioned whether “Radio Open Source” is a fitting moniker and should be retained– I think Brendan has already affirmed that, and regular community member Rochelle has as well, I’ll affirm that as well. ROS has gone a long way towards fulfilling the vision of the name in being open with their community. In this case, Brendan’s been very open in giving a sense of what they’ve been up to, short of revealing the legal dealings.

    Secondly, to kevin, the idea of a “legal fund” is promising, but it may not be fully necessary, or it may be too narrow a goal. To my knowledge, beyond the practical goal of ROS to make its audience more connected and more informed, is the long-term goal of making ROS sustainable. They haven’t as of yet come up with a way of facilitating distristributed patronage of the program, but in the meantime, ask your local public radio station to join the list of those carrying the show. (I’m sort of lucky to listen in on, and be a member of, WGBH, where the flagship WGBH station).

  18. k’alebøl » OSM conspiracy theory Says:
    November 20th, 2005 at 3:49 pm

    [...] OSM conspiracy theory

    Nicking someone else’s name is about the smartest thing to do if you want gratis pu [...]

  19. Douglas Young Says:
    November 20th, 2005 at 5:49 pm

    I completely understand the Name Problem and sympathize with your plight. But I can’t help thinking that there’s something ironic about a battle over who gets proprietary rights to use the name ‘open source.’

  20. bft Says:
    November 20th, 2005 at 7:54 pm

    The TeX style files I use (that’s open source typesetting software from way back) generally warn that you can change the file if you want, but if you do you should also change its name…to avoid confusing others who may get the file later, and to avoid confusing *yourself* about which is which.

  21. Jon Says:
    November 21st, 2005 at 3:31 pm

    “Is there a show idea here? Any chance you can record the conversation? How about a tableau show with actors taking parts to reenact and vox populi taking part as judge and jury?”

    Making the best of a bad situation, this might actually be a good excuse to do something on trademarks/copyright :)

    Actions Speaks did an interesting show on Fair Use/Copyright recently (http://www.wrni.org/actionspeaks/); there’s been a lot of talk recently about DRM on the web too, with Sony offering an esp nasty example (http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html) There’s also some long-running (and funny…) attempts to subvert established trademarks (for example, see http://www.starbuckscoffee.org.uk - site contains swearing, so don’t go there if that offends you…)

  22. Steven Den Beste Says:
    November 22nd, 2005 at 4:27 am

    The “other guys” have changed their name back to “Pajamas Media”.

  23. Rochelle Says:
    November 22nd, 2005 at 8:50 am

    Congratulations. :)

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