Reddit Lawyers Force Founder to Redact 'WallStreetBets' From Miami Event (yahoo.com)
- Reference: 0180662436
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/01/27/0147238/reddit-lawyers-force-founder-to-redact-wallstreetbets-from-miami-event
- Source link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/reddit-lawyers-force-founder-redact-184500502.html
> After years of litigation, courts ultimately sided with Reddit in a decision now referred to as the "Rogozinski Ruling," a precedent that grants platforms broad authority to assert trademark ownership over user-created communities. That ruling now forms the basis for Reddit's demand that the words "WallStreetBets" be physically removed from the event. "They aren't afraid of the name being used," said Rogozinski. "If they were, they'd have to sue the internet. What they're afraid of is the creator hanging out with his creation. They're afraid of the community's independence. And they're afraid it's evolved into something bigger than a subreddit."
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> The irony is difficult to ignore. The original subreddit counts around three million subscribers, while conservative estimates place more than seven million WallStreetBets participants spread across other platforms. For a movement that built its reputation confronting corporate overreach, Reddit's decision to extend its authority beyond the confines of its web-based platform, reaching into real-world gatherings to police culture it did not create, risks stirring a hornet's nest with a long memory and a track record of collective action.
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> The event formerly known as WallStreetBets Live, will proceed as scheduled on January 28-30 in Miami. In compliance with Reddit's demands, all references to the name will be physically redacted on-site.
"Reddit's lawyers did one thing right," Rogozinski continued. "They proved exactly why we need a decentralized future. This event has become a live case study in what's broken about modern social media. Platforms can deplatform creators, and now, with courts backing them, they can appropriate what users build."
[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/01/28/000205/discord-bans-the-rwallstreetbets-server-as-subreddit-goes-private
[2] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/reddit-lawyers-force-founder-redact-184500502.html
Aaron Swartz (Score:3)
Would not have approved of this lawsuit.
Re: (Score:1)
Came here to say this as well. Privatize the profits, socialize the losses. Welcome to late stage capitalism.
Grabbing trademark created by a user... (Score:3)
It looks like specifically what happened is that Reddit filed for the trademark "WallStreetBets" in 2021. Rogozinsky then filed to have the trademark suspended or revoked - presumably on the grounds that he and not Reddit had created it.
And recently Rogozinsky lost this case. This establishes the trademark WallStreetBets as owned by Reddit (for the uses for which they filed), and given that, they can control use of the trademark. By, for example, banning its use by others for whatever reason - the reason doesn't matter, as they own the trademark.
What I think it specifically unusual about this is that Reddit didn't create this intellectual property, nor did anyone employed by them. So it is hard to even understand on what basis the have standing to claim the copyright above the person who actually coined the name.
The reason might be somewhere in the legal gobbledygook we all have to read & sign when registering an account with Reddit. Aside from specifically assigning away these rights, it's hard to imagine the basis for just grabbing them from the actual creator.
But I haven't tracked down nor read the actual case, so that is just speculation.
The trademark filings & other info for these marks can be found here:
- [1]https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNu... [uspto.gov]
- [2]https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNu... [uspto.gov]
[1] https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=90518671&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch
[2] https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=88910822&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch
Re: (Score:3)
Creation established copyright as per the Berne convention, social media site ToS notwithstanding... which doesn't matter here.
The trademark of 'WallStreetBets' was established by using it commercially, which happened the moment Reddit inserted ad content as someone surfed the subreddit.
Which sucks, is unfair, etc... but also American law.
Wow (Score:2)
It's not every day you see somebody use the courts to pound a blunt screwdriver into their own nuts. I hope the lawyers are OK.
important context (Score:2)
some missing and perhaps important context here is that Rogozinski was ousted from the subreddit in 2020 "In 2020 the original founder (after being gone for years and did nothing to contribute to the sub), along with a couple of mods, attempted to monetize the sub for personal gains. Users and other mods fought back. Hundreds of users got mass banned for speaking out, mods who spoke out got removed as mods. With some help from users, mods found precedent of another sub creator getting banned for trying to
just the name? (Score:1)
this seems unreasonable? the court decided that because terms of service agreements im guessing; but all uses and communities are not the same thing what if this was a subreddit of a charity or something? or a person or a tiny religion? how do you copyright or trademark something as nebulous as a community? its not a website or brand its just a forum that has a name
Er, WTF is WallStreetBets ? (Score:2)
Is anyone going to explain (please please) what WallStreetBets is all about ?
I suppose I could just scroll on by, but it's nice when posters add some meaning to their stories.
Rogozinski only now stating the obvious? (Score:3)
It's not like centralized platforms absorbed the work of "volunteers" for profit only recently... they have done so for many years. So yeah, if you are living off "content creation", you should definitely invest some effort and/or money into establishing your own or at least a decentralized platform.
Re: (Score:3)
The people who built/run the Nebula online streaming video to shy away from this sort of thing are probably feeling pretty good about themselves right now. Youtube video creators are probably sweating bullets right now. A lot of people "invested" in youtube channels over the years, according to this, youtube owns the IP (or at least, branding) of channels like Mr. Beast, Veratasium, etc etc