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We should change Redskins to Warriors on everything, see if Danny gets mad about copyright stuff then.

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I wish I could come up with something encouraging and inspiring to say, but all I can think to say right now is the NFL can just suck it!

This whole thing is just stupid. You don't deserve to be singled out like this Matty. Just know that we're behind you and appreciate everything you've put into this place, no matter what happens.

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so do you have to start over again as far as profile and post count..or will eveything transfer?

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i think they're bullying without merit.

redskinswarpath isn't an nfl trademark, and so far linking to ANY kind of content is completely legal... link to chris cooley's youtube videos;)

that's just retarded.

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Let's all put this in perspective. From the NFL's standpoint they HAVE to protect their brand and the brands of their teams. They have the pull and the cash to pick fights with little guys as examples. Want to show the Superbowl in a church on a big sreen? Can't do it. Why? Who the hell knows. But I do undertand the basic business principles behind the thinking. I can say that and still wonder out loud how they think creating barriers to access of their product ultimately is in their benfit but that I guess is not for me, or us to understand. In the end we can't do a thing about it and we should just live with it. Maybe someone else has the wherewithall and the resources to fight what is probably half kosher and half total crap but certainly none of us do. This site will be fine. The loss of logos is mind blowingly inconsequential and the the loss of the domain name only serves to make it harder for us to attrack new boneheads (No offense to the 1 in 15 new non-boneheads we get around here). We'll live on.

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I do agree with some other's comments. The only things I would push back on is the linking to other content. I know of no legal precedent that prohibits anyone from linking to content on another site reardless of its veracity or legality. If youtube chooses to serve copyrighted clips then the NFL's qubble is with them. They certainly have no legal remedies to stop anyone from linking to it. I think taking the high road and complying with everything they request OTHER THAN THAT is the way to go. And I might point it out to them. Of course they can file legal proceedings but they couldn't win. They'd just be harrassing.

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they cant just take your url either. they may be able to sue you so you cant use it, but they can't just demand ownership, and i don't think anyone is going to mistake redskinswarpath.com with The Washington Redskins National Football Team (R). they're different products (football team, web forum) that just aren't that easy to confuse, so in an actual legal fight, it'd be real hard for them to win that.

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Whoa, this sucks. Can we expect a big sweep of ALL fan sites like that? I have some skins related domain names, guess I gotta come up with something else. UGH

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[QUOTE=cpayne5;446121]This is crazy.

I don't think the NFL has any right to the redskinswarpath.com domain. It's yours. They may not like you using it "for profit" (I know, profit - funny, right?), but that doesn't mean that they have a legal right to overtake it. It can point to nothing, if they want. I'd recommend that you check on your other domain names and get them re-registered ASAP - protect yourself from the league trying to pull any future funny business.

Did they say that we could still mention players' names? Or do we have to come up with codes? Probably couldn't use jersey numbers; they'd get wise to that.

For what it's worth, I have no doubt that this comes directly from the Redskins organization. The league may be the ones executing the plan, but I have to believe that it began in Ashburn.[/QUOTE]

Domain seizure is a tricky subject and there really isn't much case law on it. I'd say start off by doing a simple 301 redirect on the domain name and see where it goes from there.

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[QUOTE=sandtrapjack;446138]Okay what I do not understand is if it is a video on YOU TUBE, then why do you have to ban it on your site.

If the NFL has an issue with that, then their issue is with YOU TUBE and not this site.[/QUOTE]

A case last year I believe dealt with a blog owner not being responsible for comments posted on his blog, since the offending items were not hosted on his site, only distributed. I'd have to imagine that a message board would get the same ruling, but being taken to court would be shitty.

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thewarpath.net is a forbidden site in Israel, F-ing GREAT!

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It's not just Israel. Don't worry thewarpath.net will be back up and running soon, providing the same great quality you're used to seeing here every day.

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[QUOTE=SmootSmack;446174]It's not just Israel. Don't worry thewarpath.net will be back up and running soon, providing the same great quality you're used to seeing here every day.[/QUOTE]

How long ago was the propogation request entered?

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I don't know. Matty has been handling everything.

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It's working for me now so at the latest it'll be world wide by late tonight.

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I don't understand why the fuss from the NFL? They should be happy that fans care enough about their teams to develop a community such as this.
Usage of Redskin emblems, names, players pics, and so on only intensify the bond between us and the team.

A time will come when the No Fun League will wish they had the fan base
and support teams now enjoy. Over regulation and micro management of
fan message boards...someone needs to get a life.

Thanks to Matty and other mods for a great site.

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[quote=tryfuhl;446175]How long ago was the propogation request entered?[/quote]

I haven't done it yet. I just wanted to get the word out now, I'll let everyone know once the change has been put through.

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How sure are you that it actually was the NFL that contacted you about this?
It just sounds so far fetched that the league would actually monitor bulletin boards.

You would think that they would have better things to do than to monitor the literally THOUSANDS of fan bulletin boards on the net.

And unless the site is using the logos, videos and such for PROFIT, I do not see how they can take issue with it. I am just not buying it.

I am a long time member of several fan forums and this is the only one I have encountered where the league took issue. Just does not make sense that they would have the manpower and resources to seek out boards like this and take issue.

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[QUOTE=mlmpetert;446106]I allways did the thewarpath.org and it says "forbidden" for the last couple of days.

yeah,thats what mine said too,i just thought the server was down

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[QUOTE=FRPLG;446185]It's working for me now so at the latest it'll be world wide by late tonight.[/QUOTE]

I think it was just a server configuration issue (ie, not DNS), so it should be live for everyone.

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Jeebus! I picked a hell of a time to come back. It's funny to me that no matter how shitty NFLsoft is to it's fan's, we just keep coming back for more. And I find it hard to believe that the Redskins front office had nothing to do with it...

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[quote=Mattyk72;446140]yeah I even mentioned that basic point, I said I wasn't aware I was doing anything wrong since every fan site out there uses logos and stuff. [I][B]They said they are aware of it but they can only deal with them as issues come up, whatever that meant[/B][/I]. They even asked me if there are sites out there I wanted to direct them to and I said nah, I'm definitely not interested in throwing others under the bus.

I think our highlight videos got their attention and things just snowballed.[/quote]

Matty, the fact that they said 'as issues come up', tells me someone,(ES), made a complaint to them specifically, those bastards are jealous.

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the NFL SUCKS!! they took down my vids on youtube and now that!!! They're going too far on copyrights and stuff like that. We're not doing anything wrong if we are using the skins logo on avatars or posting homemade videos. I wish we could react, but no way, all we can do is stick to the rules.

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[quote=SkinEmAll;446196]Matty, the fact that they said 'as issues come up', tells me someone,(ES), made a complaint to them specifically, those bastards are jealous.[/quote]

I really don't think they had anything to do with it. I think our highlight videos on warpathfilms may have raised the wrong eyebrows. That was the main gripe they had.

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Matty...DO NOT give up the domain redskinswarpath.net if YOU own it! Keep renewing it and put a 301 direct on it. If they want the domain, make them purchase it.

I see a WJLA on your side story with this one. I certainly understand the need to protect, but this is clearly petty and NOBODY here is using this stuff for profitable gains. I sense that this site was put in front of some people to make it "above the radar" and to those folks that may have done so can kiss my ass!

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are we still allowed to write the word Redskins or do we have to type R******. :silly:

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I really think if we had the legal wherewithal to fight this, the NFL wouldn't stand a chance in hell. It's just that, in a situation like this, you have to weigh what's really important and simply move on.

Some fights just 'aint worth fighting.

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See, this is really making me upset now...

Here it is the NFL, who can't take care of it's on retired players adequately, and what do they do, snoop around the internet to see who's breaking the rules? Give me a break.

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Snyder and his army of minions stikes again!!!! I think someone from the site that shall not be named was upset that more and more people are comming here and not going there. Clicks = big bucks, and although you've never proposed doing this if you were to take your click numbers and market them to a company to purpose advertising on the site, you would make a strong case. Just sale the site to snyder and make a couple million matty! (Just Kidding) I'm sorry to see the site get lowered with the smackdown, the growth over the past few years has been amazing!

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I didn't realize that the site changed from thewarpath.net in the first place. I don't think these changes will have any affect on the site...no videos and logos is not a big deal.

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I think it's just dumb luck that we got singled out. But I have heard of other cases where it's happened. Either way the NFL has very strict rules about logos and online video use (including links), particularly when the league and official team sites are not credited. MLB is heading in that direction as well.

Trust me, it's extremely difficult and restrictive for me at work. It's an uphill climb to get permission for things so I can't imagine what it's like for Matty and a fan site.

NFL is protecting its brand the way it best sees fit. But again, we're going to be fine. Let's just take the high road on this and continue being the best fan site in the world.

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[quote=jbcjr14;446200]Matty...DO NOT give up the domain redskinswarpath.net if YOU own it! Keep renewing it and put a 301 direct on it. If they want the domain, make them purchase it.

I see a WJLA on your side story with this one. I certainly understand the need to protect, but this is clearly petty and NOBODY here is using this stuff for profitable gains. I sense that this site was put in front of some people to make it "above the radar" and to those folks that may have done so can kiss my ass![/quote]

I dunno, that's a very tricky area. If I had the resources to consult with an attorney it would be one thing, but I don't so I'm not sure how much of a fight I can put up or if it's even worth it.

At this point I'm feeling like I don't even want the name, they can just F'ing have it if that's the way they're going to be. I may see if I can work some sort of deal to keep a 301 redirect for at least a period of time so the search engine rankings don't plummet.

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[quote=SmootSmack;446218]I think it's just dumb luck that we got singled out. But I have heard of other cases where it's happened. Either way the NFL has very strict rules about logos and online video use (including links), particularly when the league and official team sites are not credited. MLB is heading in that direction as well.

Trust me, it's extremely difficult and restrictive for me at work. It's an uphill climb to get permission for things so I can't imagine what it's like for Matty and a fan site.

NFL is protecting its brand the way it best sees fit. But again, we're going to be fine. Let's just take the high road on this and continue being the best fan site in the world.[/quote]

I can understand where the NFL is coming from, and I can respect that. But I think for me at least, this seems to be a growing narrative; Corporate America clashing with a growing internet culture - a community.

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like some of their liberties have been violated some?

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I don't feel like any liberties have been violated (in the end, its theirs, no doubt - other than the domain), but I do feel like the NFL is just being a giant jerk about it. They need to realize that sites like these most likely do more good than harm to their image and bottom line. I would bet these little sites, by generating and promoting fanaticism, actually increase the league's revenue.

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you gotta do what ya gotta do i guess mattly will evolve us and lead us to greener pastures

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I found this article. It's pretty old, but it shows the league has been doing this kind of stuff for a while.

[url=http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/20010329thebig.asp]The Big Picture: NFL crackdown on Web sites aggravates Steelers fan[/url]

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I found an interesting quote in [URL="http://www.motownsports.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2899"]this[/URL] article...

[QUOTE]''To the extent that it's purely a non-commercial site devoted to commentary about the team, we're supportive and happy that fans are excited about our sport,'' says Paula Guibault, NFL senior counsel. ''It's not an issue for us.''[/QUOTE]

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Jeez, the No Fun League must have a lot of time on it's hands in the off season - haven't they got better things to do, like take care of retired players? The changes shouldn't be such a big deal in and of themselves but it is the principle of this action that really stinks.

The giant corporate monopoly flexes it's considerable might to pick a fight with the little guys.

NFL = No F#cking Loins.

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The NFL is shooting itself in the foot with this policy. Don't the NFL realize that sites like this stimulates interest in the teams and the league. We are more likely to be season ticket holders and purchase licensed merchandise. This is stupid.

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As much money as the fans spend each year on the team this is crazy. Makes you now want to spend less money.