our good blog buddy joe gandelman wishes there was such a thing as copyright infringement in blogtopia (yes! we coined that phrase!), because his blog,
the moderate voice, has been copywronged.
a new blog called a moderate voice has appeared. not only is the mission statement the same, but joe thinks even the masthead is "rewording" of his. (note to joe: we're not sure we can follow you on that one, but we have to admit that the title of the new blog alone is pretty unoriginal.)
our sympathies go with joe, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that once, when appearing as substitute "blog correspondent" for msnbc, he
correctly used the term "blogtopia" (tho he incorrectly failed to attribute the original coinage of that phrase).
now, we know that (a) there's no copyright laws of any substance in cyberspace at this point, and even if there were, (b) titles can't be copyrighted. so joe is just going to have to bite the bullet on this one, and chalk it up to "sincerest form of flattery" sort of thing.
and to be very honest, we're waiting for someone to point out the irony of "skippy the bush kangaroo" writing about stealing someone's established name.
if there's any consolation, joe, the new blog is simply "a" moderate voice." yours, after all, is the moderate voice.
if any of you are as outraged as we are, you could at least go leave a comment on the newbie's blog, asking her about etiquette and originality.