Trademark law, focused largely on preventing consumer confusion over who is providing which products and services, is not so lenient. Michael Lissack, a Wall Street whistle-blower and a former managing director of Smith Barney, says that is exactly why the brokerage used the law to go after his Web site containing news items on municipal bond scandals. Visitors are greeted with the image of a thief picking a man's pocket. Maybe you put letters in the mail to the Better Business Bureau or maybe you put out leaflets. Now you have the Net, it's a cheap way to complain.
Some people have legitimate complaints.
Other people are being nasty and vicious. Look at 'Kmart Sucks' . . . Indeed, corporations and other institutions have employed widely varying methods for dealing with alleged copyright and trademark violators. Ironically, the fan sites that exist almost solely to laud and promote a particular product have fewer defenses under current law than those slinging arrows. I was trying to explain to them that they're alienating a huge amount of fans, but they didn't seem to care.