Madonna recently flooded the P2Pnets with bogus tracks that appear to be leaked singles from her new CD, but in fact consist of silence punctuated by her sneering, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” This is funny stuff, but not nearly so funny as the potential consequences for her trademarked name (which she’s already used to steal Madonna.com from a guy who was trying to give it to the Madonna Rehab Hospital). Wendy Seltzer, an EFF staff attorney who knows from IP, sez:
I doubt Madonna has thought about the damage these planted spoofs could do by diluting her trademarks. Trademarks, after all, are intended to protect consumers by defending a source’s association with quality goods and services. If the same name is increasingly found on deliberately poor quality music files or curses, with the authorization of the trademark holder, duped listeners might reasonably stop thinking favorably of the brand — giving a plausible argument that the artist had diluted or abandoned her own mark.
Also, don’t miss this Digital Cutup Lounge remix (3.7MB MP3, via Oblomovka) of the “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” track.
(via Scripting News)