Through the years, many individuals and companies have been come face to face with cease and desist orders over copyright infringement. Zazzle, a type of CafePress website for users to be able to create their own designs and sell them on various bobbles and clothing was sued by Summit Entertainment for selling Twilight swag.

Courthouse news mentions it in their article Moviemakers Sue Site Over ‘Twilight’ Swag

Though the main event this Halloween season seems to be Ms Marmite Lover.

Then Warner Bros sent their own ceast and desist letter to a blogger by the name of Ms Marmite Lover who wanted to have a Harry Potty Dinner in her home for the cost of recooping the fees of the meal. She has placed the ordeal on her site and changed the name of her party, but still drew up drama to try to get support for her idea. Her blog entry, Generic Wizard night illustrates the issue, but also boiled over to Guardian.co.uk in her article – Harry Potter and the chamber of lawyers. It was even mentioned in the BritishBlogs.co.uk site in the article Muggle lawyers ban Harry Potter feast

Some of the commenters tried to tell her through her site and the Gaurdian site that if her feast had been not for profit, it would have been no problem and there was no reason to pitch a fit to the public if she changed the name already. Yes, even if it might sound ridiculous, it is unfortunate that society has come to horde anything in the name of money.

Some reactions to Ms Marmite Lover and the Case of Copyright Infringement:

‘Screw You, Mrs Marmite Lover’
Warner Bros. to fan: No Harry Potter dinners for you!
Harry Potter themed dinner banned for ‘infringing copyright’
Harry Potter dinner disappears

You might have to wonder if Halloween just might end up ruined with all the greed amok…

written by Nile Flores (@blondishnet on Twitter)

Singer, model, and television personality Tila Tequila recently wrote on her official Tila Twitter account what seems like frightening dark messages and suicide tweets. These messages are entirely different from her usual mood, which is outgoing, positive, and loud. However, she is not staying quiet through this ordeal and has been responding with her fans over the social network stream. It leads fans, the media crowd and those just curious about Tila’s plans for the future. This comes not long after her apparent choking by San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman in early September, as according to CNN’s article NFL’s Merriman arrested, accused of choking Tila Tequila.

Many fans replied back and she responded to some, and even retweeted some of the messages. Is this another attention ploy from Tila. A couple months ago, Tila had been playing with her fans with her official Tila Ustream channel, giving them a skin tease. This is nothing unusual for the attention seeking girl, and nothing new as celebrities are turning to live streaming and twittering. Example: 50 Cent, the music artist – though his live streams do not show any skin.

The examiner asks in their article Tila Tequila frightens fans with tweets on suicide: ‘It woulda been tonite I ended my life’:

What do you think? Could Tila’s sudden talk of suicide have anything to do with her issue that she ran into with boyfriend, Shawne Merriman?

Regardless, it is stirring up a lot of responses in the Twitter community (Just look up Tila Tequila in the Twitter search). Here are just a few:

So, is this really a suicide watch over a breakup or because of racism, religious fanatic talk, stress from her career, or just bluffing? Regardless, this should be enough to put Tila on suicide watch. Hopefully something is figured out as Tila has been a top trend in Twitter off and on since June 2009 and ReadWriteWeb confirms her as quite the active user in their article Twitter’s Most Active Users: Bots, Dogs, and Tila Tequila.

What do you think?

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post written by Nile Flores of Blondish.net. Follow Nile Flores on Twitter.

Written by Nile Flores (@blondishnet on Twitter)

A recent article in The Register called US music publishers sue online lyrics sites. TechDirt also covered this in their article Music Publishers Now Suing Lyrics Sites And Their Execs. One of the sites included was LyricWiki. Basically this lawsuit would shove the site in with those who burn and sell music without a license.

Also, recently Wikia acquired LyricWiki. As explained in their LyricWiki:Wikia Migration FAQ:

The dream will live on – Yay! Wikia has arranged a licensing deal so that royalties can be paid to music publishers, which will avoid the nasty risk of the site being sued out of existence. It’s good to know that our years of hard work won’t be evaporating any time soon! This is a gigantic relief for me and I’m sure many of you as well.

It is unfortunate to hear such things have to happen to some sites. I am willing to bet it was more for the money to sue in these economic times, rather than to stick it to another for copyright infringement. With so many sites out there that involve lyrics.

No offense, but when I go to a lyrics site, I am usually thinking of a tune or maybe a friend asked and here I am searching to find the song. Not all artists print their lyrics within their albums. I know, I have quite a few CDs on my shelf to prove that. So – these lyrics sites are really useful. Some of these lyrics sites I have gone to for years have been open for over a decade. How is a .ORG site (which technically by definition means the site is not really for profit) actually profitting from this?

As Michael Masnick said in his Techdirt article about his opinion on these lyric sites being sued.

I’d really like to see them prove that. These sites aren’t profiting off the backs of songwriters, they’re helping more people find and understand the lyrics of songs they like. That gives fans a closer connection to the music and more reason to buy things which will actually bring songwriters money. It’s stunning how shortsighted and backwards the music publishers are being here.

Although it has been said years ago that it was indeed illegal to do such, these sites have been harmless. Anyway…

For me to LyricWiki, I guess it kind of was a forced move to go to Wikia. Myself, I probably would have done the same if faced with being sued and the licensing price alone was insanely expensive. Sorry to hear about it – may Wikia not kill your site.