August, 2007

Thanks to Brian for the link. Techdirt: Law Firm Freaks Out That Ridiculous Corporate Song Leaked Out To Blogs:

I must admit that there's something fascinating (in the 'train wreck' sense) to me about corporate songs and anthems. It's amazing how many of them there are out there, and I'm disappointed that ZDNet UK gave up its old chart that supposedly tracked the popularity of those songs. While these songs are both awful and entertaining at the same time, you really wouldn't have expected there to be a copyright battle over one of them showing up on a blog... except, of course, if the song was about a law firm. Denise Howell points out that the Above the Law blog posted a horrifyingly awful song from the law firm Nixon Peabody. While you might think that any firm that would create a song that bad must have a sense of humor, it appears that Nixon Peabody not only didn't mean for the song to be funny, but they're taking the matter so seriously they're threatening Above the Law with copyright infringement. Of course, as the guy who runs the site notes, he has a pretty strong fair use defense on using the song (which the folks at Nixon Peabody apparently go to great lengths to claim is not a 'theme song' since it bizarrely goes against New Jersey's rules of professional conduct for lawyers to advertise themselves with music).

Minister calls for death prayers over IRS complaint | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Religion:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A California minister who used church stationery and an Internet radio program to endorse former Gov. Mike Huckabee for president is asking his followers to pray for the deaths of those who filed a complaint against him with the Internal Revenue Service.

One hopes, of course, that by the time sg reaches an age at which the contents of this website hold some interest for her, the citizens of the world will have learned how to behave themselves on the internet. If so, this image is presented as a brief summary of the contemporary state of affairs.