Quote:
Originally Posted by Locke
Actually they might have to. That is way too close.
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As someone who has had to go after people for copyright and trademark infringement; you're right.
The problem is, if you ignore certain situations then you lose strength of argument in future cases of infringement because those lawyers will point to a previous case and say, "They didn't pursue that so clearly they only care when there's lots of money/notoriety/personal grudge."
I'm a writer so it's a little more black and white - either they copied or they didn't. It's not uncommon for me to write a blog for a client and then find someone has taken that blog and posted it verbatim on their own website. They think it's not a big deal because they get maybe 100 visitors in a month - and in the grand scheme of things it really isn't a big deal. But if I don't send them a strongly worded C&D letter then if the New York Times decides to take my work one day they can argue I have always allowed my work to be used freely without attribution they will say I'm only going after them because they have deep pockets. I might still win that case depending on how serious the copying was but my argument is a lot more difficult.