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avatar, avatar: the last airbender, the last airbender

AVATAR/ZAZZLE/VIACOM UPDATE

FOFL ZAZZLE HAS PUT THE ORIGINALLY REMOVED RACEBENDING PRODUCTS BACK FOR SALE.

The story since last time you joined this hoohah:
- Zazzle removes products from the racebending store, claiming it's copyright infringement
- I inquire clarification
- They tell me Viacom claims intellectual property
- I'm like wtf and post on my LJ
- SO MANY PEOPLE GIVE ME AMAZING ADVICE, including the kickass people from otw_news and jedifreac. the hero to my sidekick.
- BoingBoing.net does a write up about it.
- Zazzle tells me that the products were removed because Viacom does routine searches on Zazzle to remove IP
- I put up MORE products, some saying 'CENSORED BY V1ACOM'
- One of those products gets removed, claiming again 'intellectual property'.
- I file a DMCA counternotification from Zazzle
- scrollgirl, bless her, emails Viacom and asks them for an explanation.
- VIACOM REPLIES IMMEDIATELY (!!!) saying:

We didn’t take anything down from Glockgal’s Zazzle store. Zazzle did it without our request or our knowledge. When we eventually heard about what they had done, we asked them to restore the merchandise as quickly as possible.

- Zazzle products...back for sale. Including all of the keywords.

Most hilarious part? Try doing a keyword search for 'airbender' on Zazzle. Other than a couple more obscure products which had never been removed, my products are the ONLY ONES THAT SHOW UP.
(this is subject to change, if the Zazzle or Viacom peeps read this journal. Hiya! *waves*)






This has been one incredibly surreal event in my life. The blending of fannish and real life...crimeny. Good god, a big thank you so EVERYONE who helped and gave advice and told me not to just shrug and accept this.

heh

(61 comments) - (Post a new comment)

	parsimonia 2009-05-06 03:32 am UTC (link)
	\o/ (Reply to this) (Thread)

	glockgal 2009-05-06 09:50 pm UTC (link)
	WHEE! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	*points to icon* caterfree10 2009-05-06 03:36 am UTC (link)
	(Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: *points to icon* glockgal 2009-05-06 09:50 pm UTC (link)
	LOVES (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)(Expand)

Re: *points to icon* - caterfree10, 2009-05-06 10:07 pm UTC (Expand)

	ali_wildgoose 2009-05-06 03:41 am UTC (link)
	I'm sorry this ended up being such a huge mess! But you were totally ACE in how you dealt with it, seriously! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	glockgal 2009-05-06 09:52 pm UTC (link)
	Nawww I almost feel like it kinda worked out for the better, in a way. Viacom and Zazzle didn't know that I had an entire phalanx of WAY smarter people to back me up and provide support. Heh! I LOVE PEOPLE. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)(Expand)

\o/ - francescacoppa, 2009-05-07 11:17 pm UTC (Expand)

	furiosity 2009-05-06 03:42 am UTC (link)
	Awesome. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	glockgal 2009-05-06 09:52 pm UTC (link)
	Truly! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	quietrevolution 2009-05-06 03:49 am UTC (link)
	If I were you, I'd email Zazzle one more time and ask for them to make it perfectly clear whether or not Zazzle removed the products without their request or knowledge as Viacom is claiming. I'm of the opinion Viacom is lying, but it's always best to have these things plainly stated, ya know? You did damn good! (Reply to this) (Thread)(Expand)

	jedifreac 2009-05-06 06:31 am UTC (link)
	haha, yeah, just because they put it back up doesn't mean they DON'T have to respond to your DCMA. (Reply to this) (Parent)

(no subject) - glockgal, 2009-05-06 09:53 pm UTC (Expand)

	kerryblaze 2009-05-06 04:05 am UTC (link)
	I love you!!! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	glockgal 2009-05-06 09:53 pm UTC (link)
	I LOVE YOU TOOOO!!! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	dahemo 2009-05-06 04:19 am UTC (link)
	Wut. That's crazy. I think this is what happens when people don't understand IP laws. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	glockgal 2009-05-06 09:54 pm UTC (link)
	You'd think that, you know. CORPORATIONS might. Weh. XD (Reply to this) (Parent)

	gestaltrose 2009-05-06 04:25 am UTC (link)
	go you \o/ (Reply to this) (Thread)

	glockgal 2009-05-06 09:55 pm UTC (link)
	GO TEAM! If I didn't have all the advice and support from people saying to question this, I might have just curled up and pretended it didn't happen. YAY! (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) - gestaltrose, 2009-05-06 10:04 pm UTC (Expand)

	idlerat 2009-05-06 04:37 am UTC (link)
	booyah! Congratulations! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	glockgal 2009-05-06 09:55 pm UTC (link)
	Fweeee thank you! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	re_weird 2009-05-06 04:52 am UTC (link)
	You are amazing to deal with all of this, including some of the more clueless commenters on BoingBoing. (Reply to this) (Thread)

glockgal 2009-05-06 09:58 pm UTC (link)

I am amazed and in awe of how many people offered to help, even people I didn't know. This has been a really unifying experience for me, fandom-wise. I...I'm kinda in love with fandom right now. XD As for the BoingBoing...yeah. I stopped even looking at the comments. There were some AWESOME ones, but I really didn't want to get derailed and that's exactly what D. Garrison was doing by telling me our cause is not factual enough to be valid. Bleh. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	vejiicakes 2009-05-06 05:43 am UTC (link)
	WHOOHOO! VICTOLY! :D Zazzle tells me that the products were removed because Viacom does routine searches on Zazzle to remove IP VIACOM: We didn’t take anything down from Glockgal’s Zazzle store. Zazzle did it without our request or our knowledge. WELL I'D SAY ONE OF THESE FOLKS' PANTS IS ON FIRE, MMMMMMM? (Reply to this) (Thread)(Expand)

	carta 2009-05-06 07:05 pm UTC (link)
	Well, those aren't really contradictory statements. If Viacom does do routine searches on Zazzle, Zazzle could have preemptively removed the products. In which case, both statements would be true. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) - vejiicakes, 2009-05-06 07:19 pm UTC (Expand)

(no subject) - glockgal, 2009-05-06 09:59 pm UTC (Expand)

	aurait 2009-05-06 06:32 am UTC (link)
	Fantastic news! Though annoying that both Zazzle and Viacom deny accountability for the screw-up. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	glockgal 2009-05-06 10:01 pm UTC (link)
	It's bizarre, innit? I want to give one of the the benefit of the doubt in terms of their culpability, but. I really don't know how to start doing that, considering Viacom's policies in general. :/ Okay, Zazzle, then. I'll put Zazzle under the 'just following orders' clause. (also - YAY Godwin's Law, invoked! XD) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	woldy 2009-05-06 06:39 am UTC (link)
	Excellent! Good on you for forcing hem to back down :-D (Reply to this)

	ratcreature 2009-05-06 06:59 am UTC (link)
	Wow, so they are trying to pin the blame on each other now? What is this, kindergarten?? But yay! for your products being restored! (Reply to this)

	anais_rhys 2009-05-06 07:58 am UTC (link)
	Wow. This, and you, are kind of amazing (Reply to this)

	_inbetween_ 2009-05-06 09:05 am UTC (link)
	It's a rare and pleasant occurence (on my LJ) to have something like this dealt with quickly and successfully. Your place in above-and-beyond-fandom-fame is assured!! (Reply to this)

	amanuensis1 2009-05-06 09:51 am UTC (link)
	WIN WIN WIN. (Reply to this)

	ursamajor 2009-05-06 11:44 am UTC (link)
	Hooray! I'm glad things are working out, though I'm still giving both Zazzle *and* Viacom the suspicious hairy eyeball. (Reply to this)

	semielliptical 2009-05-06 12:24 pm UTC (link)
	Yay!! Go you for fighting and winning this battle!! (Reply to this)

itsbeenvery 2009-05-06 12:39 pm UTC (link)

Hurrah! Now if only Zazzle and Viacom could learn the true meaning of IP & copyright infringement, we'd be set (actually, it seems a good number of businesses need to learn this as well - I think they settle for trying to scare small groups/individuals into ceasing whatever they are doing, hoping they won't notice the lack of evidence to support such demands). THIS IS FANDOM! WE KNOW WHAT WE CAN AND CANNOT SELL!* *does not include SVA (Reply to this)

	nightchik 2009-05-06 01:58 pm UTC (link)
	Yay! (Reply to this)

	neocloud9 2009-05-06 02:32 pm UTC (link)
	Hell yeah! \o/ (Reply to this)

	skywardprodigal 2009-05-06 05:09 pm UTC (link)
	That's wonderful news. Thanks for sharing it! (Reply to this)

	deepad 2009-05-06 05:12 pm UTC (link)
	I AM SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS. (I left a comment in the feedback form on the Viacom form, strongly protesting the removal, so I feel a tiny stake of personal ownership.) And, since I haven't said this before, thank you so much for all your hard work for the Airbender protest - you rock! (Reply to this)

	kadymae 2009-05-06 05:29 pm UTC (link)
	Go you! (Reply to this)

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(61 comments) - (Post a new comment)