I'll Fillet Roger Later, This Is More Interesting...

An email received today from Brendan Greeley of Radio Open Source:

Dennis the Peasant, wow. You were aware of it before I was, but I've spent the last two days trying to figure it out.

Where to start.

We haven't received a response from our email inquiry to them, and we've fedexed them a letter. Then, after I drafted response to their posted -- but not mailed -- explanation, they pulled the explanation off of their page. Now, this morning, they have a new explanation under the same post name, which is both different and manifestly untrue.

And moot, by the way. URL names don't really have anything to do with it. In any case, we never gave them permission to use opensourcemedia.net, and in fact have never had contact with anyone over at OSM. Explanation in the links below.

And wow, Dennis. You're more on top of this story than I am.

http://www.radioopensource.org/the-name-problem-part-ii/

http://www.radioopensource.org/the-name-problem-part-iii/

Yours

B

I asked Brendan if he would consent to my publishing his email. This was his response:

Yeah, by all means, correspondence is fine unless otherwise noted. Thanks for asking.

Right now, essentially, it isn't a legal fight, because we haven't gotten a legal reply. We're still holding out for a response that will indicate some action and clear everything up. On this point, we're less hopeful than we were on Wednesday, but miracles happen.

They do, however, seem to be making -- publicly -- a legal argument that, according to our lawyer, doesn't hold up. And now with this assertion that we graciously agreed to give them a URL, that's just weird. I mean, it's just not true. How could it possibly be in their interest to say something that can so easily be disproven?

Mostly, Dennis, I just don't get it.

B

My Theory: At this point Roger and Charles are more terrified of admitting to John Koshland and Aubrey Chernick that they screwed the pooch, again, than they are of Radio Open Source's lawyers.

Comments

[The LGF Quiz]

If those Radio Source guys aren't careful, Johnson is gonna sic his lizardoid minions on them like he did with The NYU Center for Religion & Media.

The OOOH watch out! Because a foaming pack of lizardoid minions is a terrible site to behold - sort of like the Special Olympics on steroids.

[Steven Den Beste]

They're acting like CBS did last year after bloggers (like Charles!) proved the TNG memos were frauds. It's really uncanny.

It's a bad sign when they start editing the past, in this case by deleting the previous "name defense" post.

[Nikki]

They appear to still be trying to convince everyone that a URL is the same as a trademark.

[Guesst]

If not for you, DtP, the world would still be under the misguided impression that these people know what they're doing.

This is truly part of what's wrong with the right, especially the elitist bloggers, pundits and MSM types who think they're going to blog their way to fame and fortune.

Too much inbreeding, exactly like MSM.

[urthshu]

"Now, this morning, they have a new explanation under the same post name, which is both different and manifestly untrue."

Reminds me of Juan Cole. O, the irony!

[Jeff T]

"They're acting like CBS did last year after bloggers (like Charles!) proved the TNG memos were frauds. It's really uncanny.

It's a bad sign when they start editing the past, in this case by deleting the previous 'name defense' post."

You'll know that the new OSM is in full CBS mode if turns out they fabricated part of their response to the trademark question (specifically the their claim that the original OSM offered to the give new OSM the URL opensourcemedia.net).

[Tim]

Dear Fellow Mercer School Graduate:

Jeez. Compared to this OSM thing, my idea of selling GM cars to the French appears well thought out and perfectly logical.

But forget all that. We're all DROOLING to hear the sordid details of "the certain thing" Roger did to you. C'mon, all you folks. Fess up. We ALL love watching a great fight. We need Howard Cosell to come back to life to do the announcing. Can Karl arange that?

Teutonic Tribe Medicine Man
Trail Of Beers, Oklahoma

[Guesst]

Someone needs to do an animated overlay of OSM's original "trademark" post v. the newer revised version. Alert the media!

This sounds like a job for FReepers (most people don't know that a FReeper claims he sent Charles that original TANG graphic for which he was never credited).

[Teutonic Tribe Medicine Man]

Hey, I've got it. Who has it in more for Charles than anybody on this planet? Who would jump at the chance to show Charles is a phoney? Who should be called in to do that?

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you Miss Mary Mapes!

Teutonic Tribe Medicine Man
Trail Of Beers, Oklahoma

[The LGF Quiz]

Someone needs to do an animated overlay of OSM's original "trademark" post v. the newer revised version. Alert the media!

-----------------

BWA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!

[David N. Scott]

I think DTP already posted about that certain thing... unless it involved a taxicab and a bottle of cognac...

[the illavator]

Unreadable Pundit Network (UPN) would be a good replacement.

[The LGF Quiz]

Hey, maybe OSM can make a deal with Sony to help them distribute copyright protected CDs - now that would be sweet!

[neil]

Do I detect a hint of... KERNING?!

[The LGF Quiz]

All mysteries revealed folks, from the Master-race Chief Lizardoid Hisself : What You Need To Know About OSM

I think this is supposed to be what they call "public relations" - he has also featured an "Allah" post along the same lines...

[Little Jimmy OSMond]

Teutonic
Dennis the Peasant is really Miss Mary Mapes?

[Tim]

Dear Little Jimmy:

No, I would never insult Dennis like that. He's been a great host to us all. Mary Mapes did prove one thing: you can be the scrawniest and ugliest Liberal-Left bitch out there, and you can still find some dumb Liberal jerk stupid enough to marry you. Yuck. Imagine the marriage night. HUUUURRRRLLLLLL.

Teutonic Tribe Medicine Man
Trail Of Beers, Oklahoma

[sqlserver]

DtP:

Let me ask you this question:

What if I came to you and said I will invest
5 million if you can convince me, thru your business plan, that the blogoshpere can make money.

What would your business plan say?

[Elmo]

Here's one to cheer one's self up (me anyway). I haven't clue one what Brendan's politics are. I haven't looked, I'm not going to, and I don't care.

Through the new highway that has now opened up, past the ongoing saga of Open Source Media 'Wrecks and Roadside Attractions' .... Brendan has been the perfect gentleman.

An extra added wonderful treat.

[The LGF Quiz]

http://news.com.com/2061-11199_3-5959459.html

ovember 17, 2005 6:02 PM PST
Open Source Media group met with harsh criticism

OSM, the Open Source Media group formerly known as Pajamas Media, launched Wednesday, but it hasn't received the positive response one might have expected from the blogosphere. The group, which just secured $3.5 million in venture funds, brings together more than 70 bloggers under one umbrella and hopes to make citizen journalists more visible to people who consume mainstream media.
OSM

But for all the work OSM is putting toward supporting the blogging movement, the group hasn't exactly won over the hearts of the blogging community. Of course, anytime a "best of" list of bloggers gets put together, there are bound to be complaints about who got in and who was left out. OSM's list of invitees is no exception. And OSM has some added trouble related to its new name. The group is now involved in a trademark dispute over the name "Open Source Media," which is already owned by a non-profit production company. In short, most of the complaints surrounding OSM's launch come down to a question of how much respect the group actually has for independent Web publishers and what they stand for.

Blog community response:

"I wish them all luck, but I have severe doubts it's going to go anywhere. It would have been one thing if it were pretty much just another group blog angle - no harm, no foul - but in this case, they got together some very high-profile blogs, changed their revenue structures, got around $3.5 million in investments and then spent it on a lackluster site with a boring, forgettable, apparently copyright-infringing name."
--Urthshu

"what I've seen of the business plan looks quite promising to me. Will it be another '90s style dot-com fizzle? Perhaps. Most new ventures do fail. Then again, Amazon and eBay didn't. Will this be the same level? Enh. I doubt it, but I think it's got the potential to give existing news and opinion portals a run for their money."
--Dean's World

"The whole POINT of blogging is decentralization and NOT having editors rape your prose before you publish it, right? Bloggers whose asses doesn?t hold up to fact-checking lose their audiences."
--Aaron's CC:

Posted by Jennifer Guevin

[DennisThePeasant]

sqlserver-

Before you saw a business plan, you'd be informed that it doesn't require $5 million.

Then you'd be informed that I don't have a completed business plan that I would show to a potential investor. I've prepared business plans for clients before, and what I have is not at that stage.

Until it is, your $5 million doesn't mean anything.

[sOroSMedia]

I have a business plan for $5.5 million...to you....

[M. Simon]

There is a discussion on the topic going on at OSM site Pro Teen Wisdom.

Steve D. B. showed up and made a few cogent points and then got hurled on by the True Believers.

I pointed out that there seemed to be a trade mark dispute in the offing and suggested a read of the US Patent and Trademark site.

I also pointed out that Steve had said some useful things about the trademark issue at the Westerville site (here).

The response to that so far? Ignored in the thread and more piling on Steve.

This isn't about truth or business any more. It is about belief.

Don't tarnish the idol.

The belief over at Pro Teen seems to be that if you gather a bunch of folks who can rotate the hit meter it has got to be a money maker.

One guy even thought that the big thing was gathering all the high power talent.

As DtP has pointed out the real deal is selling ads.

[Seitz]

They've changed it again. Their site used to say:
There are other Open Sources. A gentleman named Christopher Lydon has an excellent web site called Open Source. His URL is www.radioopensource.com, and he graciously agreed to give us opensourcemedia.net.

Their site now says:
There are other Open Sources. A gentleman named Christopher Lydon has an excellent web site called Open Source. His URL is www.radioopensource.com, and he relinquished the domain name opensourcemedia.net.

No more claim that the name was given up graciously. These guys are real pieces of work. Maybe constant backtracking and lying is how they expect to generate hits. 'Keep coming back to see what new excuses we can come up with!"

[Elmo]

I experienced a spot of the small, green oblong sport projectiles cannibalism myself, a month ago (though certainly not putting myself in the same theoretical airspace as SDB).

It weren't fun.

SDB, you have our sympathies.