Revolutionary Moderation

'tis the season to be letigious....



.... fa la la la la, la la la la.



No, that doesn't scan at all. But it does make sense, if you don't want the world to notice what a control freak you really are. And Paul Martin obviously understands this.



James Bow reports that the PMO is issuing a cease and desist order against paulmartintime.ca, for infringement of style and a URL that's too similar to the PM's own. And the order comes along with vauge threats, so that's great, too.



Dare to compare: - one of the sites is here, and the other is here. If you've checked off the "new windows" box in my right column, you should be seeing both at once. Are you having any trouble figuring out which is which?



Yes, the styles are awfully similar. They're supposed to be. It's a stylistic parody. I suspect the main trouble is coming from the combination of stylistic parody and serious, unfriendly content. But it doesn't take very much reading to figure out you aren't at Paul Matin's propaganda page.



This aping of styles isn't new on the Canadian web. BlogsCanada looks a whole lot like the Government of Canada. But since the content is innocuous, the Government of Canada doesn't seem to have any problems with the style being pinched - it's an homage.



I'm sure that if Paul Martin Time was producing content more to the PMO's liking, there would be no threats. It seems to me that right there is the legal test to say that the stylistic aping is within fair use. But I really hope the PMO comes to its senses, and no court is ever asked to decide.