This story has captured my interest mainly because most people commenting on the post (link expires February 16) seem to be fairly misinformed about what is considered fair play on the web and the law.
To summarise the story it goes something like this:
- A fairly well-known and prolific blogger registers the domain name www.mycoke.co.za.
- He sets up a blog on the domain using Coca-Cola’s visual brand identity, including logos, visuals and colour scheme.
- He starts blogging about the My Coke Fest.
- He makes no mention of the site being unofficial or that he is not affiliated with Coca-Cola.
- The site gains considerable popularity and acquires some juicy inbound links from the likes of BBC and other large websites.
- Coca-Cola contacts the blogger and demands he removes the site from the internet.
- He writes a final post and publishes the email address of the legal representative that made the demand (since removed … smart move).
- People comment and flame Coca-Cola.
Now, in my opinion (for what it’s worth), I can fully understand the reason and motives behind Coca-Cola’s decision to request the site be taken down but I seem to be on the opposite side of popular opinion. Specifically on the blog itself. A lot of emotional commenting is going on there. Not really based on the facts.
The lesson I’ve learnt from this (some I already knew):
- Don’t register a domain that blatantly infringes a corporation’s copyrights.
- If you do the above, don’t pass off your work as that of the original brand owner. Make it clear that it’s unofficial or a tribute.
- When you’re outed, be careful what you say about those who outed you. It could bite you back very hard.
I hope the comments to this post are a little less emotionally motivated than those on the unofficial mycoke site and a bit more objective in nature. I posted here to get the opinion of people I consider peers.
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