Embroiled in my very own Coveted scandal…

This last week has not been the greatest….. 

Somehow I managed to end up in the middle of my very own brand theft/copyright struggle and I thought I would share what is going on. 

Early last week I received an email from a gentleman I shall call Mr Brown.  Mr Brown sounded really nice.  He wanted to start up his own brand/art website/blog and was considering the name “Depict This” until he did a search and found out that there was already a “Depict This!” which, of course, is my blog.   He wondered if it would be okay if he used a different variation of the title {Depict This Blog: Thoughts on Art and Theology} and whether I would be cool with that.

I sat and thought about his request, but had to admit that I was not comfortable with the idea of Mr Brown having a blog title that was essentially the same as mine.  I explained my reasons to him as I wanted him to understand why I felt that way.

Firstly I said that I felt we were trying to reach a very similar target audience ~ I write about art and photography on Depict This! as part of my life style blog, but also I use Depict This! as the writing portfolio for my B dot Depictions studio.  I am trying to reach the online art community.   Mr Brown wants to create an art brand and start an art blog using the same name; he is trying to reach the online art community.

I also explained how I had worked excessively hard in creating exposure for Depict This! and that I would hate to lose any of that ~ particularly with Google searches, etc.  A great deal of my traffic comes through Google so if anyone was to search Depict This, I knew Mr Brown’s site would come up as well and there would most definitely be a conflict of interest.

I sent that email and received a reply.  All was well.  Mr Brown responded politely, saying that he understood where I was coming from and stating that he would not use Depict This because he also did not want a conflict of interest for his work. 

I thought everything was settled.  

I was wrong.  

Suddenly I receive a bombshell email from Mr Brown.  He decided that as he could not come up with any other titles for his brand that were not already taken, he was going back to his original idea of calling his brand/blog Depict This.  He also decided to buy the URLs depictthis.com and depictthisblog.com.

When I got this email, it really upset me.  The last two months have been difficult for me.  I have been  living out of a suitcase; a stranger in a strange city.  On top of that I have been shuffled from pillar to post ~ from room to room, hotel to hotel.  And if that does not seem like such a huge deal, I agree.  It probably isn’t.  But add the fact that I am in the middle of my last trimester, expecting my first child {which, let’s face it, is never a smooth ride!} and everything goes up in smoke! 

To be honest, at this stage I was {and still am when I think about it} on the verge of tears.  I really just wanted to pack it all in. 

I have poured my heart and soul into this blog ~ I love it.   I love the writing.  I love creating outfits and taking photos.  I love sharing with a community of likeminded people.  I just love most everything about it {except writer’s block!}; but after reading that email from Mr Brown I felt like I could not go on.   That I just do not have the strength to fight for my blog and frankly, I had no idea what to do about it.

I sent a reply to Mr Brown, offering to assist him in creating a brand/blog name that would benefit the both of us, but he was not having any of it.  So here I am; completely stuck and completely miserable.   Husband steps in at this point and he emails Mr Brown.  We have not heard back from him yet, and I am not sure that I want too. 

I really am devastated about this turn of events.  I do not know if Depict This! is going to survive a branding battle, but whatever the outcome, I am going to keep writing.  I am going to keep on blogging.  I feel like giving up; I really do. 

I won’t though.  

See, in the end, I am not fighting for my right to blog under this name ~ I do not have any aspirations to become a professional blogger; I know in my heart that’s not what I want.   I would love it if I could still be the only Depict This! blog; I have worked so hard under that name and to have that snatched away by someone else is just shattering.

In the end, I feel like I am fighting for the right to enjoy my blog.  At the moment it is like someone has taken a knife and spray paint to my work; hacked it up and said “Here, you can have the leftovers.”   I just want to be able to blog without worrying about competition, confusion and conflict.

It does not look like that is going to happen. 

So please, if you love blogging and care about your blog name; register it as a URL.   It does not matter if you never go pro, it does not matter if you never use it.  At least you have the peace of mind knowing that your blog name is safe. 

Do not make the same mistake that I did and leave it until it is too late.  

xox,

bonita