Steamrolled.com
Yesterday, I read a Slashdot article on Katie Jones and the trouble she’d been having with Penguin Putnam.
Here’s a summary of the story: Katie Tarbox was a victim of an online sexual predator. She wrote a book about it in 2000. After trying the name “girl.com” (no go, it was a hardcore porn site), the book was named “Katie.Com” by Putnam. Now, katie.com is registered to Katie Jones and has been since 1996. Tarbox’s lawyer was demanding that Jones turn over the domain name.
This morning, Ms. Jones was interviewed by GrepLaw. Interesting to note that all the negative reviews that the Slashdot faithful added to the book’s Amazon.com listing were removed. Three hours and six minutes later, Slashdot posted that the book had been renamed.
Pretty cool, huh?
August 6th, 2004 at 8:19 pm
I love it.
What a mess. What a mess that they brought entirely on themselves. They had the sense not to name it girl.com (for obvious reasons), but somehow it slipped their mind that the owner of “Katie.com” might not be upset?
I, for one, am impressed with Katie Jones. She was dealt something extremely unfair, and didn’t yield. She was right, and roughed it, and came out on the other end on top.
Now, if I could just get stuartwilde.com
August 6th, 2004 at 8:26 pm
Hey, staurtwilde.net is open. But I suppose being “cool” is good enough.
August 7th, 2004 at 12:56 pm
To be honest, I am not sure that I want to be associated with any other stuart wildes (Especially stuartwilde.com) He seems a little off the deep-end.
and how.
August 8th, 2004 at 4:29 pm
I’m really glad this ended well for Katie Jones. You know I loves the Katies. But the new title for the book is truly awful. “A Girl’s Life Online”?? How bland. At least Katie.com made you curious. “A Girl’s Life Online” just makes me think of Boys’ Life magazine and A Child’s Garden of Verses. Meh.