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Politico Tries Bullying College Politico [UPDATED]

Yesterday, Steve Gutowski of Eyeblast got a shout out from Scott Baker of The B-Cast, who was on Glenn Beck's radio show, as one of the independent citizen journalists making a difference (disclosure: I do research for The B-Cast). Hours later, he received a cease and desist email from a lawyer representing The Politico:

Hello everyone,

As you know I've reserved these emails purely for tipping you on big stories which have received little or no coverage. Unfortunately this email is of a much different sort. I need advice and help.

Today I received a cease and desist letter from Dow Lohnes PLLC on behalf of Capitol News Company LLC which is the publisher of POLITICO. They claim that my domain name "thecollegepolitico.com" and its contents are "confusingly similar" to their trademarks. They then make absurd unfounded claims that I somehow specifically choose to use the term "politico" in my name to steal their readers and confuse them into thinking that POLITICO is a tiny conservative college opinion blog run by a single person.

They replay this same argument several times and then "demand" that I, within 10 days, stop all use of the label "The College Politico", literally give them control of my domain name "thecollegepolitico.com", and write them a letter declaring I will permanently cease and refrain from all future use of "The College Politico" or anything similar to POLITICO.

Just to explain... when I created my blog I had no intention to draw any relation to POLITICO. I was simply trying to find a snappy way to describe myself, hence The College Politico. I also cant see how anyone who visits my site could ever get the idea that I was in any way affiliated with POLITICO.

In my opinion this is an ugly attempt to intimidate me into handing over a brand which I've worked extremely hard to build. A simple google search shows that the term "Politico" is used in a myriad of other politically focused sites which makes me feel as though they are singling me out.

Unfortunately, I'm not a lawyer and I have next to no money to spend on one. That's where I really need help... does anybody know a good lawyer that might want to help me out for little or no money?

Also do you guys think they have a case? Should I just give up and turn over my site to them? Should I go after them with a lawyer or in public or both?

I have the email which includes their cease and desist letter that I can forward you if you want to see exactly what they're claiming.

Thank you,
Stephen Gutowski
The College Politico

I had a post all cued up and ready to go, but I decided to hold off, and instead emailed Politico for comment, thinking that perhaps they were unaware of what was being done on their behalf by legal counsel for their parent company, Capitol News Company LLC. I've received no response.

Meanwhile, other bloggers, including Patterico, were let in on the information, and Pat decided to go public last night, having put in a call to the attorney who sent Steve the letter and written to an acquaintance on staff. Ace followed, and Steve himself posted, as did Dan Riehl. Please notify me, if I'm missing anyone. Pat stresses, quite correctly, that the term politico is in the dictionary, and Steve notes that it has been around since 1630.

If you've been to both sites, you're aware that there's little resemblance. Politico does have a site called Campus Politico, established in the lead-up to the 2008 elections, thus post-dating College Politico. And via happyfeet at Patterico's we discover that this isn't the first time they've threatened legal action under color of owning the rights to any version of the word "politico." I've received information that Steve has been put in touch with a patent and trademark attorney. I think they're not going to find the bullying so easy this time. As somebody snarked in Twitter last night, "I think I'll reserve the rights to the word 'pundit' on the internet."

I've also reported the incident to FIRE, as, though Steve's graduated, he has kept his site open for collegians to write about politics, and it certainly does involve free speech issues.

Here's a Glenn Greenwald post from a couple of years ago, when Politico was a new venture, talking about the shadowy right-wingers funding the enterprise. I'm participating in the boycott, but if you were to go to the site today and check out the article on a "series of right-wing scoops," you would come away thinking that the authors were practically begging for the reimposition of the Fairness Doctrine, so called. (Reread it. It's pretty fair, though one part really bothers me).

Something's happened at Politico. Perhaps they're under a different ownership, or new management. Someone with access to filings might want to follow the money and see where that leads. I'll let you know if I ever hear from them.

UPDATE: Steve's going to be on the B-Cast today at 5:00. Please join us. Show starts at 4:00 Eastern.

Ed Morrissey of Hot Air and Insty weigh in.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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