I know this is probably the wrong forum, but I know you guys will appreciate it. Apparently, as if Major League Baseball doesn't have enough problems with fans, it is sending out cease and desist letters to fan sites like http://www.astrosdaily.com/ and http://www.astrosconnection.com/ . As a result, they are both shutting down. Here are the links to the respective explanations... http://www.astrosdaily.com/cgi-bin/forum/bbs?read=3872 http://www.astrosconnection.com/html/rag.cfm?id=282 This really pisses me off and I'm not even much of a baseball fan. It is interesting that the cease and desist letter on the Astros Daily site has an email address for the attorney who sent it. Hmmmm... What to do, what to do.
WHAT???? this is absolutely ridiculous... what better advertising, than free advertising?? absolutely ludicrous (and I ain't talking no "Roll Out" BS) way to alienate your fans MLB!
That is insane. No wonder that sport is going down the toilet. Jeff, the NBA could never do anything like that to CC.net could they? God help us if they did .
Jeff.... are we next? If we are.... I'm giving up on basketball... no jerseys, tickets, bobbleheads, trading cards... just giving it up cold turkey... plain and simple... if I can't have my cc.net AND the Rockets, they both go. for me, these two things are synonomous... the rockets and cc.net go together. like peas & carrots, chocolate and peanut butter, surf & turf and pick & roll.... if it wasn't for cc.net, I probably would not be as big of a rocket fan as I am right now... PLEASE NBA DON'T SCREW THINGS UP!!
Out of all the major sports organizations, the NBA is probably the most organized and most in touch with its fans (although the NFL is a close second). The goal of the NBA is to promote the NBA game. By wiping out all of the 'fan sites' that exist, they would in essence be hampering their efforts to 'spread the word'. Just look at how many Rockets fans from other countries that participate in the cc.net forums. Bad idea MLB...stick a fork in you...you're almost done!!!
The NBA certainly COULD, but they know at least a little bit about marketing. I think MLB is up to something. The fact these letters are coming out NOW, while the game is on the verge of some big trouble is "veddddy interesting," as Artie Johnson used to say.
Think about it. look at Clutchcity . . .then look at the Rocket's site Honestly. . If i were the Rockets I'd buy this site and hire Clutch . . and SHUT DOWN MY SITE. then leave him the f*** alone. . .cause he doing something right. This site makes the rocket site PALE in comparison I think MLB is afraid of things like that., . . that will make the MLB site [which are all controled by MLB not the individual teams] look weak Rocket RIver
Clutch actually did get a cease and desist letter about 2 years ago, but the NBA is pretty savvy when it comes to marketing and they've since formed basic policies with regard to fan sites that supercede those letters that were sent out. Last I heard, it was really just a "they can do it but we won't help them" type of a stance. For example, Clutch cannot take photos or video at training camps, etc. This is designed to keep fan sites from competing with the media. It is always possible that any major organization could shut down a smaller one for something trivial but I think cc.net has managed to get past most of the major hurdles. Let's hope.
Yeah, I remember when the NBA sent the letter to Clutch. it seems like everything got resolved pretty quickly, though. What happened to get stuff smoothed over with the NBA/Rockets?
while it's certainly disappointing on many levels, and represents another step toward the homogenizing of the internet (soon, all media will fall under the control of big money... don't get me started)... jeff, WADR, you didn't accurately represent what really happened. for starters, according to kevin's article, AC.com had planned to close its doors after this season, and they apparently reached that decision prior to receiving the C&D letter. so MLB actually had nothing to do directly with AC.com shutting down. in fact, MLB had nothing to do with either site shutting down. if you read the C&D letter ray posted on his site, MLB (via their lawyers) merely asked that the sites remove any and all copyright infringements (logos and pictures, mainly). as long as they were complient by july 12, both sites could continue operations. AD.com decided that was too much trouble, and thus, will shut down. AC.com vows to last the season, so it's likely they'll comply in order to finish out the year. but both sites made choices; neither had their hand forced, imo. MLB merely asked that they stop breaking laws. the nerve.... and ya know.... i hate to say it, or type it, but after reading the C&D letter... it's hard to find fault with MLB's decision, and that's coming from someone who runs a fan site. what AC.com and AD.com do (using copyrighted material) is illegal; what cc.net does is illegal; what we do is illegal. i'd love to stradle my high horse and gripe about MLB's seemingly inability to relate to its fans, and how sites like those are really good for the game, etc., but... MLB is right! we get emails from people all the time looking for jobs with the team, or wanting to try out for the cheerleading squad (we actually handle those personally), or wanting to send a message to bob mcnair; we get emails from scouts touting their prospects... hell, two weeks ago, one of our writers was asked to speak at some bazoria county luncheon. IOW, it's likely that 90-95% of the people who visit our site understand it's a fan site and has no official affiliation, but there's still 5% or more who don't, and thus, when they read our site, or correspond with our staff, or post in our forum... in essensce, we're representing the texans because, thru the use of copyrighted logos, etc, we imply being official. and i can certainly see why that might be problematic. i think MLB should at least be commended for giving the sites an opportunity to continue operations, sans the copyright infringements. technically, as the letter suggests, they own some copyrights over the use of the word" astros" and could likely shut the site down entirely, no questions asked. now screw everyone for making me defend big money corporate america!
We could always charge a minimal subscription price and make this a MEDIA site. $10 a year, who is with me? DaDakota
and ya know.... i hate to say it, or type it, but after reading the C&D letter... it's hard to find fault with MLB's decision, and that's coming from someone who runs a fan site. There's no doubt that MLB had the right to do what they did. I don't think anyone's really questioning that. However, it could have been handled in a number of better ways. For example, (1) The way the NBA does it - have fan-friendly policies understanding that those fan sites help promote the business (2) Offer to allow the use of pictures / logos with a written agreement that the site would not generate any profits and maybe a few other restrictions Yes, what all these sites do is illegal. However, there are other options besides a cease & desist letter.
Ric, I understand what you are saying, but it would be one thing if these sites were making serious money. They aren't. Just the opposite. You know that first hand. My problem is that major sports complain and b**** and moan about fans not showing up to games. They demand new stadiums on the taxpayer dime (one I know intimately ) and raise the price of tickets and concessions almost yearly. When the players and owners can't agree on who should make the most millions of dollars, they stop playing and then expect fans to drop everything and run screaming back to them when it is over. Even Marketing 101 will tell you that the best way to screw up your business is to treat your customers like crap. The fact that they are treating their most dedicated fans like they are criminals should be an issue. I actually discussed the legal issues surrounding trademarks during the arena campaign. Several people told me that, if leagues wanted to, they could prohibit you from using team colors, logos, ANY photo including one's you took yourself and even the names of the teams and their players. The own it ALL. If they would simply set guidelines and work WITH fan sites instead of crapping all over them, this wouldn't happen in the first place. Fans would be happy. The leagues would be happy. Life would be hunky dory. This is the equivalent of sending a cease and desist letter to a sports bar owner because they put the name of a sports team on their marquee because a game was that night - that has actually happened right here in Houston. Instead of helping themselves, they are making themselves look foolish.
we're going to be in our 70's and 80's still flocking to the BBS daily... it's going to be a beautiful thing
This was just posted by Ray Kerby, who runs the Astros Daily web site, in the Astros Daily Forum: hold the phone Posted By: Ray K <astrosdaily@yahoo.com> Date: Monday, July 8, 1:36 p.m. I cannot go into details, but the Astros have contacted me and seem to willing to work some sort of compromise. There are no guarantees, of course, but it was a very promising email. As a result, I want to restate my earlier position that it is likely that the Astros themselves were not behind this. http://www.astrosdaily.com/cgi-bin/forum/bbs?read=4133
you're right -- they could've shut the sites down, no questions asked, and been well within their rights to do so. while i'd love to stand on idealistic ground and chide MLB for being so out of touch and/or uncompromising... i mean, my god, the sites were breaking the law. it's really hard to find a fault with MLB's actions. they are protecting a money-making venture. jeff, i think you need to take a look at the larger picture: it's not a question of ac.com making money; the issue is whether their existence is costing the astros money. and i think a case could be made that it is. consider this small example: i never visit the astros' official site. never. ever. why? because ac.com offers, imo, a superior "product." (please, do not read $$ into the use of the word product). and that means, by ignoring the official site altogether in lieu of this viable alternative, i'm not being exposed to official merchandise, ticket sales, and other potential money-making ventures being offered by the club. and that's especially a big deal for someone like me who doesn't live in houston and isn't exposed to local radio, televsion or print coverage of the team. milo hamilton makes no sales pitch to me on a nightly basis. my one and only consistent exposure to the astros is the thru the internet, and i choose to use unofficial sites to gather my information. i'm a potential customer being drawn to a site that's illegally using a copyrighted trademark. so this isn't really a "fan" issue; it's a financial one. and i'd be willing to bet the NBA and NFL are watching this very closely.
Radio:http://www.astrosdaily.com/files/radio/astros.html TV:http://www.click2houston.com/ (live webcast) Print:http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/
