Thursday, July 8, 2010

John Smithson Changes Website After DMCA Filing

In the continuing story regarding John Smithson's baseless attacks against this website, The Midnight Review has noticed something very interesting - John Smithson changed his website yet again following his admission to plagiarizing this website.

If you haven't followed this story or are unfamiliar with this blog, let me offer a quick recap:

John Smithson is a conservative activist who operates a similarly titled blog called "Midknight Review."  A couple months ago, Smithson visited this site claiming that I plagiarized his name, demanding that The Midnight Review cease using it's name or face a legal challenge.  There was only one big problem with Smithson's accusations - Smithson offered zero proof that this website's name was stolen (which it wasn't).

In response to Smithson's claims, this site researched Smithson's site revealing that Smithson himself was guilty of plagiarizing numerous articles, which he vehemently denied any wrongdoing despite mounds of evidence against him.  Apparently, in response to these revelations, Smithson thought it was important to plagiarize one more time, copying this site!

On July 6th, I pointed out that John Smithson copied the header of this site, copying the slogan "report & opinion" and passing it off as his own.  Here is a graphic:


Notice where he writes that his site is the "best" in "original commentary?"  This would be like Reebok copying Nike's "Just Do It."

Smithson's response to this latest incident was an admission of guilt, writing that since this website's name closely resembled that of his site, he was justified in plagiarizing this site.  He failed to understand the Breyers/Dreyers comparison I offered a while back.

In response to this blatant disregard for intellectual property rights, I filed a Digital Millenium Copyright Act infringement notification against John Smithson and lo and behold, Smithson changed his header to the following:


Notice how Smithson also altered the text below his header, to indicate that his blog was "copyrighted?"  Why would Smithson conveniently change his website after a DMCA notice had been filed, especially since he adamantly defended his plagiarism in a comment left on this site?  Luckily The Midnight Review has photographic evidence of his violation, as well as the other occasions involving his improper copying and citation of others' works.

Last time I checked, Smithson did not own any copyright to the name "The Midnight Review" and prior to the creation of this website, had never even referenced his site as such.  I'll tell you who does own rights to the name, as well as the domain TheMidnightReview.com - me!

Smithson's antics are typical for the kind of person he is - a conservative activist.  He has shown that he will stop at nothing to try and advance his agenda in taking down opposing thoughts and opinions - this blog is definitely not part of the right-wing fringe that Smithson represents.  In his attempts to intimidate the authors of this blog with claims of plagiarism and threats of legal action, he had committed acts of libel.

This isn't the first time John Smithson had gotten in to some water with his blog either - back in December, Google had removed his blog and disabled the URL because they deemed his site violated their Terms of Service for spamming.



All that The Midnight Review requests from John Smithson is an official apology posted on his website and for him to cease publishing false information about the authors of this blog.

5 comments:

  1. DMCA filing. I welcome the contact with DMCA folks, should they contact. I have made it easy for them to do so.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do you mean you made it easy for them to realize that your site is the site of a plagiarist?

    As this website has pointed out, you have copied numerous articles, in some instances violating specific copyright notifications, as well as this site, which you admitted to copying.

    ReplyDelete
  3. One question for you: Do you own the rights to TheMidnightReview.com?

    Let me answer for you - no.

    You seem to be operating from some site called jds-themidknightreview.blogspot.com

    Hmmmm.

    There is zero instances in which you ever used the words "The Midnight Review" together. Zero. You give no proof to back up your claims that I had copied your site and omitted the "k" when starting my blog. Show me proof that I visited your website prior to the creation of my website.

    As I had pointed out before, I have had projects in the past using the word "Midnight." You don't see me crying foul...

    ReplyDelete
  4. just for the record, your DMCA filing was determined to be worthless. You do not understand the concept of "plagiarism" and the fact that you have zero audience makes all this rather silly. You do not know the outcome of the Dec 26 incident and, apparently, you do not work for a living.

    The nonsense that you are a "moderate Republican" is a lie, met to deceive on all levels.

    The notion that I get traffic from your site is laughable. No one from your site comes to mine except some poor fellow from Lincoln, Neb. Could that be you?

    ReplyDelete

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