Tabberone's Hall of Shame - Girl Scouts of America - Article

Tabberone Logo
Tabberone is pronounced tab ber won
not tay ber own

Tabbers Temptations www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/ Home | Site Index | Disclaimer | Email Me!

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"
Edmund Burke

The Tabberone™ Archives
These articles concern what we consider major trademark and copyright issues. They are usually reproduced with the original source referenced. Bear in mind, these articles are copyrighted and commercial use without permission of the authors may be considered infringement. The intended use here is educational, commentary and non-commercial. The reason they are reproduced in the Tabberone™ Archives, as opposed to just providing a link, is because links disappear and pages are removed. That presents a messy confirmation process that is annoying to the browser (you) but also presents a credibility issue. We do not claim any rights in these pieces. Do not regard the absence of a copyright statement or © to mean the article is not copyrighted. Some sites do not have a copyright statement.
When an article or a comment is posted on the internet by the copyright owner, the owner is seeking a world-wide, 24/7 audience; sometimes for a limited amount of time, sometimes indefinitely. In essence, an internet posting intentionally relinquishes one's copyright for exclusivity because the owner has posted it on the internet to been seen by everyone, everywhere. The Tabberone™ Archives non-commercial duplication of the posting is simply a continuance of the original wishes of the copyright owner. We post these articles for reference, for commentary and for confirmarion of our position.

Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/14/girl-scout-banned-selling-cookies-youtube/?page=2
March 14, 2009 - The original article was abridged by the Washington Times to eliminate the first nine paragraphs.

Girl Scout banned from selling cookies on YouTube by Jennifer Harper Saturday, March 14, 2009

Wild Freeborn, 8, attempted to hawk Girl Scout cookies via a YouTube video before the Girl Scouts requested she remove ... She is bright-eyed, pig-tailed and resplendent in Girl Scout green and a multitude of merit badges.
Wild Freeborn -- adorable and age 8 -- has caused considerable hubbub with entrepreneurial spirit and a little homemade video.
"Help me help others. Buy cookies. They're yummy," little Wild says in her one-minute sales pitch for Thin Mints, Samoas and other traditional mainstays of Girl Scout cookie cuisine.

The modest message included an online order form, was videotaped by her father, Bryan Freeborn, in the family living room in Brevard, N.C., and posted at YouTube.com
But not for long.
The Girl Scouts were not pleased with Wild's intention to sell 12,000 boxes of cookies and help send her troop to summer camp. The organization ordered the video removed from the social-networking site on the grounds that it violated a policy that bars online sales of Girl Scout cookies. Officials were also concerned that Wild's methods could put less techno-enabled young ladies at a disadvantage.
The collective outrage among perplexed cookie fans went viral -- and global -- once a hungry news media got its choppers into the situation.
"Cookie monster," proclaimed Newsweek. "U.S. Girl Scout video scandal," blared a headline at the Guardian, a British newspaper.
"Cookie controversy," said NBC, which managed to corral Wild, her father, and Denise Pesich, a Girl Scouts of the USA representative, for a sitdown interview Friday.
"It's girl safety at its core," Ms. Pesich said.
But Mr. Freeborn said he and his daughter "weren't out to test any policy or break any rules. We just wanted to help my daughter meet her sales using up-to-date technology and marketing."
Wild smiled demurely during the encounter, which included the nervous smiles of adults who couldn't quite believe they were in such a situation.
But the little girl's charm won out. Asked whether she would make her ambitious sales goal, Wild had a quick answer:
"Probably," she said, and smiled again.
The Girl Scouts garnered little sympathy from critics, bloggers and the press in the aftermath. In an editorial, Woman's Day magazine, for example, was pro-Wild in no uncertain terms.
"Not only did her video sales pitch display a sense of creativity and salesmanship, it proved her independence. That it was banned for its possibility of robbing the other Girl Scouts of a fair chance makes sense, but it also sort of suggests a fear of the unknown," the magazine said Friday.
Even the New York Times chimed in, offering a lengthy argument over whether subjecting Girl Scouts to outdoor cookie sales in nasty weather was more hazardous than online sales.
Approaching the organization's centennial anniversary, the Girl Scouts have struggled for more than two decades to update their image without offending those who revere the traditions of virtue and service.
Changes in the uniform, increased attention to feminist ideas and a foray into morality irked many Americans who hoped the organization could remain free of modern entanglements. A 1990 survey of Girl Scouts that included girls' views on sex, drugs, alcohol and abortion was particularly controversial.
The group has found a happy medium during Girl Scout Week -- which ends Saturday and marks the Girl Scouts' 97th birthday. Young ladies around the nation have been asked to wear pearls -- yes, classic white pearls --to honor founder Juliette Gordon Low, who pawned her pearls in 1912 to fund the fledgling organization.
Still, the Girl Scouts are very clear when it comes to their Internet policies, offering a special "Be Prepared" pledge to girls to avoid risky behavior when they are online.
"I will not give out personal information," the pledge states. "I will tell an adult right away if I come across any information that makes me feel uncomfortable."
Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC

Federal Court Cases
Alphabetically | by Federal Circuit | by Subject | by Court Quotations

Federal Statutes
Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 5 | Digital Millenium Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 12 | Lanham Act 15 U.S.C. 22
<