[IMC-Tech] Re: [Imc-staff] New York Times Syndicate--trademark infringement

[Mike Lehman]

Hi Mr. Wren,
I see that you've posted a story to clarify this.
http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display/108593/index.php
I hope that this will satisfy your concerns about the archived post.

Among the other things I do, I am an intelligence historian working on 
my doctorate here at UIUC. I actually think leaving the post as it is 
for now better serves everyone's concerns. Leaving it makes it 
relatively easy to find out of Ivany cites it on line in the future. You 
have a known target, the original post, to watch. If he cites it, then 
this will also provide you with evidence that makes it worthy of our 
considering editing that you could supply to us.

I would support editing of the post with that kind of evidence and would 
argue that we should edit it under those circumstances, although I am 
only one of a number of people that would have to agree on this course 
of action for it to happen.

I guess this all goes back to what you said in an earlier email:
"We have no problem with citations from his reviews attributed to him or 
to "John Shelton Ivany's Top 21," because such citations are accurate."

As far as I can see, this is pretty much the situation with the existing 
text. Unless there is other evidence that he is fraudulently using this 
info in some way, it will be very difficult to make the case internally 
here that we should edit the posting. We operate under both consensus 
and a rather strict policy on editing anything without the author's 
consent, so a substantive case has to be made. While I understand that 
your problem with the post in question may be what seems to be -- based 
on what you've told us -- Ivany's exaggerated claims to syndication, 
this is so non-specific that we are far more comfortable with simply 
letting people judge for themselves based on the best info we can 
provide. I think your post helps with this, as we're far more 
comfortable insititutionally to let people make up their own minds.

Happy holidays,
Mike Lehman

Gayden Wren/CORPHQ/NYTIMES wrote:

> Dear Mr. Lehman:
> 
>       I happen to agree with you about the Times' coverage of the run-up to
> the Iraq war.  As it happens, I don't work for the newspaper, but rather
> for a features syndicate owned by the same company that owns the newspaper
> but otherwise unconnected with it; but as a reader of the newspaper, I
> heartily agree.
>       There is, however, a fair range of options between "Ivany lies,
> somebody dies" and "no harm done."  Let me cite a specific instance, and
> see if you agree.
> 
>       There is a band based in Red Bank, N.J., whose name doesn't matter,
> and I'd like to spare them further pain.  When I first visited their site,
> they had a blog reporting the weekly doings of the band--which, if their
> name means anything, is a punk band of some description.
>       The entry for the week they received their Ivany review began:
> "After three long years of discouragement, frustration and quiet
> desperation, today at last there is light at the end of the tunnel.  John
> Shelton Ivany of The New York Times has reviewed our album, and says `[name
> deleted] is a stone winner.'"  The blogger went on to quote the review in
> full, finishing with:  "I guess those three years of shouting into the wind
> weren't pointless, after all.  This band is going places."
>       I had to call this guy and tell them that it was all a lie, that
> someone had given them this kind of hope in order to get his hands on a
> free CD.  The best I could think of to say was that I had no reason to
> doubt that Mr. Ivany didn't actually enjoy their music.  (I didn't mention
> that in the two-plus years I've been seeing his "column," there's never
> been a negative review, and that "stone winner" turns up in many of his
> reviews.)
>       When I identified myself as calling from The New York Times
> Syndicate, the fellow's voice lit up, absolutely lit up over the phone; by
> the end of a five-minute conversation, he sounded on the brink of tears.
> The next day the Times citation was gone, and so was the review and the
> entire blog entry.
>       I don't know this guy or his band, but I'm an artist myself--a
> playwright, director and even a singer/songwriter with a rock band--and I
> can imagine how he felt.  Believe me, this was the most harrowing
> conversation I've had in years.  If I have a grudge against Mr. Ivany, as
> you suggest, it's because of this and literally scores of conversations
> like it, though not quite extreme, that I've been forced to have since July
> 2003.
>       If there's any chance at all that your archived press release could
> help cause something like that to happen in the future, wouldn't you want
> to get it down?
> 
>       That's all I've got to say on this point for now; if we need to
> continue this, let's do so after the holiday.  I'm happy to send along the
> evidence you requested, if you'll tell me what you need and give me an
> address.
>       Otherwise, peace to you, Ms. Edwards and everyone else out there, and
> best wishes for a merry Christmas.
> 
>                                           --GW
> 
> 
>