Craigslist to fan blog: Give us your domain, now

You don't mess with Craigslist, apparently.

A fan-run blog called Craigslist Blog has been served a takedown notice from the massive classifieds site, according to a post from blogger Tim White on Thursday.

Jim Buckmaster, Craigslist CEO

(Credit: Craigslist)

White posted the e-mail he'd received from Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster, which claimed that White's URL "craigslistblog.org" was "infringing" and that its name was "needlessly confusing to members of the media and the general public, and must be changed." Buckmaster did not demand that White stop blogging, but he did request that he stop using the domain, turn it over to Craigslist, and additionally stop posting excerpts from Craigslist on the unofficial blog.

In response, White agreed to stop excerpting Craigslist content, and the unofficial Craigslist Blog now prominently displays the phrase "(the unofficial one)" in its masthead. But White wouldn't back down on the domain.

"I think you have received bad legal counsel and that this is potentially a really bad PR move for (Craigslist)," his e-mail response to Buckmaster said, an allusion to the company's friendly, hippie image.

Buckmaster seemed none too pleased with White's response, and in a second e-mail that White posted to his blog, he reminded the blogger that Craigslist's law firm of choice, Perkins Cole, "also does intellectual property work for Google, and for a lot of other prominent companies."

When White launched the Craigslist Blog last month, Craigslist did not have its own blog. That's changed recently, as Buckmaster now authors an official Craigslist blog. A report earlier this week estimated that Craigslist's annual revenue is likely around $80 million and could be significantly higher, except that the company is "not about the money."

[karlynmorissette]

Bad PR move

Could they have dreamed up a better way to turn their supporters
off?

[overmonk]

Agreed!

Buckmaster is acting like a brat. He starts a blog and then wants to shut down one that preceded him so it doesn't dilute his content. What an ego. What a ******. I hope he loses his case and his job.

[Dr_Zinj]

Craig'sList would probably lose in court

Critical commentary about a site falls under protected speech. Similarity of domains in that case is a necessity for customers to find opposing/contrasting views of the original site.

I wonder how Craigslist would feel about being blacklisted by the Better Business Bureau?

[make_or_break]

Um...perhaps not

Critical commentary? This was (past tense intentional) supposedly created as a FAN'S blog site...hardly critical.

The sticking point is that the phrase 'craigslist' is a trademarked word. This blogsite's use of craigslistblog.org creates an illusion--at least initially--that it is an OFFICIAL part of Craigslist. It isn't until you surf to the site that a user figures it out.

If White had added the word 'fanboy', 'unofficial' or some other term to the name that makes it clear that the blog site does not belong to Craigslist, he'd have a stronger argument to stand behind. As it is now, it's no different than what Apple did to ipodlounge.com.

[getlance]

They have to do this - they have no choice

As a small online business person, I understand that companies have to defend their trademarks, or lose them - they have no choice but to issue a take-down, at the least. Also, who's to say who this guy White is, as apparently he has no official ties to Craigslist. He could give out misleading information, posing as a company expert and might miss-represent Craigslist's position on his blog. He was already posting copyright information from Craigslist on his site without permission - an obvious legal infringement. This person is obviously trying to "cash in" on the Craigslist phenomenon and clearly is breaking the law as a cyber squatter and copyright infringer. A takedown notice is a gentle way of taking back what is Craigslist's rightful Internet property - a lawsuit would have been the more harsh option, which they wisely chose not to do at this time.

[JeffW42]

Cyber squatter??

You've discredited your entire argument by calling him a cybersquatter. White doesn't really fit the description.

[ivorycruncher]

Honestly

Sometimes you people need to give your evil corporation rhetoric a rest. While I agree that the tactics being used here aren't the greatest, he is not demanding that the blog be shut down, so this is not about freedom of speech. This is about protecting your brand. If people find craiglistblog.com, they're going to think it's an official site operated by craigslist. And believe me, the tag at the top about it not being official won't have much affect on most of the idiots out there. I'm sure that he just wants to protect his company's name by avoiding confusion about which sites are official craigslist sites and which ones are not, which is a legitimate business concern. I think he just got some poor legal advice on how to go about doing that.

I don't care what legal organization he may be using. The majority of lawyers love to blow everything out of proportion because they get paid the big bucks for any litigation that might follow. If I ever have to receive legal counsel for anything, I hope for my sake that I can resist the temptation to throw common sense out of the window and instead embrace greed.

[scanlont]

All Your Blog are Belong to Us...

連邦政府軍のご協力により、君達の基地は、全てCATSがいただいた。

[Robbo75]

All your blog....

Narrator: In A.D. 2008, war was beginning.
Captain: What happen ?
Mechanic: Somebody set up us the blog.

Operator: We get lawsuit.
Captain: What !
Operator: Main screen turn on.
Captain: It's you !!
Buckmeister: How are you gentlemen !!
Buckmeister: All your blog are belong to us.
Buckmeister: You are on the way to lawsuit.

Captain: What you say !!
Buckmeister: You have no chance to survive make your time.
CATS: Ha Ha Ha Ha ....

Operator: Captain!! *
Captain: Take off every 'ZIG' !!
Captain: You know what you doing.
Captain: Move 'ZIG'.
Captain: For great justice.

[xanxer]

Make a deal

Why doesn't the blog owner just SELL the domain for oh, lets say a million or two dollars.

Craigslist gets another domain, and some guy gets rich from running a blog. /end

[scanlont]

I'm websensed. Does this work?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qItugh-fFgg

Also, wiki entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us

[soggy0]

Sounds like you all need to read TheShopsAtWillowBend..

Read that, then come back and comment.

Done.

[classifieds]

Very informative classifieds blog post
http://adlandpro.ws