Did Someone Say NAACP Twitter Channel

This year the NAACP turned 100 and the challenges it faces are different both externally and internally. Like all organizations, they have to deal with the same core issue -how to stay relevant and differentiated. How does the NAACP address the problems of its constituents today?  How do they stay meaningful in people’s lives.  How does the organization attract and engage new contributors in its human rights mission? Who are its constituents?

Last fall the NAACP selected Ben Jealous as its new President and CEO.   What a good move. Ben is young, incredibly smart, trustworthy, steeped in the contributions of the NAACP, and yet at the same time, keenly aware of the organizations new role in the future. As Ben once said, [in the Brown v Board of Education era], “the fight used to be about going to the same schools, today people want to go to good schools.” I think he gets the relevance thing and the new challenges, but I suspect a 100 year old organization steers more like a tanker than a jet ski.

During the last U.S. Presidential elections, the NAACP demonstrated relevance through its voter registration efforts that used both old school get-out the vote techniques as well as viral, electronic organization methods. There are even some NAACP twitter channels which no doubt will be used to help engagement and generate heat on current events. This is a good start on the next 100.

It was even more exciting to learn that the NAACP is interested in exploring ways to use web 2.0, and open source tools and organization principles to enhance the impact of the organization. I suspect there’s a wealth of technical experience and an untapped willingness to assist out there which is available provided people connect with the purpose, and are given easy ways to engage. It will however require a new and broader concept of membership.

There are folks who’ll spend hours figuring out how to apply software to the problems, use social networks to spread information, make great contributions, and who may even remain anonymous, but they won’t go to chapter meetings or be involved in traditional ways. Morphing the organization to capture this kind of engagement will be essential to its future success, and I’m optimistic the current leadership will adapt.  For sure it will be uncomfortable and awkward at first, but the very willingness to solicit feedback and new ideas is a really good start. Merely communicating about the needs of the institution opens up the possibility for greater engagement by larger and more diverse audiences, all for the good.

Trademarks – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

On an all too frequent basis, we receive reports of websites selling the Mozilla Firefox browser, using the Mozilla trademarks to promote other products and services, or using modified versions of the Mozilla trademarks. The problem is that these activities are deceptive, harm users, cause consumer confusion, and jeopardize the identity and meaning of the Mozilla brands – not to mention being illegal. The cases seem to fall into three different categories that I’ll nominally call the good, the bad, and the ugly.  When we receive reports or identify problematic activities, we “exercise due diligence, care and prudence”  all of which means we analyze the reports and treat each case differently based on the intent and severity of the matter.

The Good. There’s a category of cases that involve good intentions but improper use of the trademarks. Typically, these folks really support the project, the brand, and the mission, and in their efforts to engage others and share their excitement about the products, they may have used the trademarks in a way that’s improper. In truth, we’re lucky to have this problem because it indicates people care about what we’re doing. This is almost always easily corrected with a phone call or short note. These matters are not troubling in my view, because they’re indicative of a user’s desire to embrace the brands in ways that are relevant and meaningful to them. Maintaining trademark protection (good trademark hygiene) and having supporters embrace the brand should not be mutually exclusive nor inconsistent. Trademark law as it exists today is technically more constraining, but I hope to see it evolve to recognize these complementary concepts. For further perspectives on trademark law, see a recent paper Tiki Dare and I wrote on this topic in the International In-house Counsel Journal.

The Bad. This category involves people who are intentionally trading on the brand for their own benefit. At the core, these cases are based on people or entities misrepresenting themselves as Mozilla. The problem may manifest itself as domain name hijacking, using the marks to promote other products, or manipulating search terms to acquire web traffic and users. Some calculations estimate that 2 to 7 million potential Firefox users per year are diverted to these fraudulent sites. This is especially offensive because these actors are trading on the value of the Firefox brand built by the community and ripping off users in the process.

The Ugly. These cases involve a clear intent to deceive, manipulate and steal from users in a highly organized and syndicated fashion. They’re a form of fraud, and frequently include other software products as well, and they seem to make a business out of charging for FOSS code and shareware. Often the identities of these infringers are intentionally hidden under layers of corporate obfuscation across multiple countries. When we can ascertain their identities, we notify them and first try to resolve it amicably. In response, we generally get the proverbial stiff arm. At times I wonder why we even bother with this step because if you’ve gone through the effort to set up an elaborate scheme to hide your identity and rip people off, why would you just stop if we say “please” and ask nicely. As an added bonus, these sites may also continue to charge the user’s credit card even after the user realizes the deception and cancels the subscription.

Many of you have sent us links about sites you suspect infringe. Thank you. At any given time there are 50 – 70 matters under investigation. Also, we now have a central place for everyone to report such sites. The more information you provide us when you file the report, the easier it is to evaluate and respond appropriately.

When we come across the bad and the ugly, and we can’t reach an accord with the person(s) responsible, we sometimes have to use legal remedies.  This may include legal action or administrative procedures where and when appropriate. For example, if a cease and desist letter does not work, we have instituted UDRP proceedings at WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization). In some jurisdictions, we have filed and obtained preliminary injunctions to compel the infringer to stop. Surprisingly, sometimes a court order is not even enough. So far, we have been successful in the actions we’ve initiated. Recently we recovered a bunch of domains from a domain hijacker and in other actions, we obtained preliminary injunctions against web site operators engaged in fraudulent practices. In almost all of these cases, a community member reported the problem or it may even have been first reported in the media.

These actions are not only expensive and time consuming, but they divert us from our primary purpose. Unfortunately, it’s an area where I foresee continued growth and continued efforts to defend the meaning of the brands. Having the support and help of our community makes our work easier and more worthwhile.

Mos Def at Yoshii’s

The other night I had the chance to see Mos Def at Yoshii’s in San Francisco, an awesome venue with a great tradition of delivering seminal jazz artists.  Sadly, Mos didn’t add to that tradition. I was pretty disappointed mostly because it seemed like he mailed it in. Perhaps he was tired from a long road trip, thought he had to do the jazz thing, or he’s been doing too many movies.  Most of the show was him rambling about this or that, and occasionally a sorta song or jazzy beat that seemed more like a practice session.  The problem is that Mos is so much better than what he showed and he has an ample body of work to prove it.  The crowd came to hear that work, but alas, this was a miss. On the up side however, Yoshii’s shines even more as a venue for a broad range of artists and all types of events.