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Chilling Effect

Comments[0] by Dave in Roller

Erin Clerico and the folks over at Weblogger.COM are upset about the name RollerWeblogger and have asked me to change it.  Now, I don't think that RollerWeblogger is the best name in the world, and it certainly does not roll (no pun intended) off the tongue - but it is the name that I chose.  If I change it, not only will I make it more difficult for people to find Roller, but I will also break all of the links out there that point to the articles on my personal weblog. As a weblogger (can I still call myself that?), this is pretty upsetting to me.

I was under the impression that weblogger is a generic term meaning "one who weblogs." Erin claims they own the copyright on the word, but from a couple of Google searches I get the impression that you cannot copyright a word, you can only trademark a word.  And the USPTO says that the trademark on the word "weblogger" is dead and abandoned.  But, what do I know: I am not a lawyer.

Neither Roller nor the Roller name endangers Erin's current or future business in any way, shape, or form. The names and the purposes of our two sites are very different.  I really don't think RollerWeblogger.ORG is confusingly similar to Weblogger.COM at all.  Here is how I would summarize the two entities:

Weblogger.COM is a for-profit company that offers easy-to-use weblogging accounts using UserLand's Manilla software, internet services, and website design consulting.

RollerWeblogger.ORG is a couple of Java programmers who spend some of their free time hacking on a totally free and open source weblogger entirely for fun and educational purposes.

I don't want to offer weblogging services and I do not want newbies to try and download the Roller software, so I try to direct them to other blogging services such as Blogger and Radio.  I tell them that if you want an easy to use weblogger then Roller is not for you.  To be honest, I did not realize that Weblogger.com offered such services or they would already be in my list of alternatives to Roller posted on the main Roller page.

Erin and I are still on fairly friendly terms: I offered to put a big disclaimer on my site and a link directing people to Weblogger.COM and Weblogger.COM offered to buy me a new domain name.  I am glad that we are trying to work this out in a amicable way, but I still feel threatened by legal action that I cannot afford to fight.  Any offers of advice, legal and otherwise, are more than welcome. I do not want to change Roller's name!


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Copyright 2002-2007, David M Johnson (dave.johnson at rollerweblogger.org)

This is a personal weblog, I do not speak for my employer.