The Privatization of the English Language

zenhabits.net — Today I received an email from the lawyers of author Susan Jeffers, PhD., notifying me that I?d infringed on her trademark by using the phrase ?feel the fear and do it anyway? in a blog post. The phrase, apparently, is the title of one of her books ? a book I?d never heard of. I find it unbelievable that a common phrase can be trademarked. Apr 27, 2009 View in Crawl 4

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uknowwhoibe Apr 28, 2009

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Also, I realize that you can have custom alerts set up to check this for you. It doesn't make it any less funny.

skatoolaki Apr 28, 2009

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How ridiculous! I commend this blogger for standing their ground & not bowing to this absolutely merit-less attempt at "trademark". One of the great pieces I have read on this very issue is "My Philosophy of Created Stuff" by Peter McWilliams. If you haven't yet, I definitely recommend giving it a read at <a class="user" href="http://www.mcwilliams.com/philo.htm">http://www.mcwilliams.com/philo.htm</a>

rhapsodisiac Apr 29, 2009

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Damn it. About half the negative reviews at amazon have been deleted.

Closed Account May 3, 2009

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Honestly, a trademark is the one of the MOST IMPORTANT business ASSETS you'll ever own. It's your name, your logo, or any other symbol that distinguishes your company or products in the marketplace.File a Trademark in 3 easy steps now - <a class="user" href="http://bit.ly/trademark">http://bit.ly/trademark</a>

cyborg664 May 5, 2009

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Wow...free speech please! Thank you.

retr0grade May 8, 2009

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actually, Happy Birthday is copyrighted. And Happy Birthday is copyrighted too.

sharazad May 28, 2009

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This is a public relations disaster for this poor author...ohhh, well...feel the fear and do it anyway...

mayapearl Nov 3, 2009

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Feel the fear and do it anywayMaybe S Jeffers needs money and recognition. Maybe she lives in fear, who knows, poor Susan.

obsessedglobe Nov 15, 2009

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Can I register trademark the term "registered trademark"?

izone5179 Dec 4, 2009

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Usurping the phrase, "feel the fear and do it anyway" as a rallying call against abused copyright laws is a meme I can get behind.cheers<a class="user" href="http://loft-ladders-wickes.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">http://loft-ladders-wickes.blogspot.com</a>