Corporations have to protect their trademarks or they can lose them. That's why Apple starting going after everything with "pod" in the name. Yet even Apple has a little bit of restraint in setting the legal dogs on fan sites. Sure they sued Think Secret, but at least they eventually did the right thing (They paid the kids off to shut down if I recall correctly). Hopefully they recognize that sites like MacRumors and Apple Insider are good for them in the long run. After all, the people who come to those sites are their biggest fans

Today, Canon USA sent a cease and desist letter to their excellent fan site, Canon Rumors. They are insisting that the site's domain name violates their trademark. Clearly Canon Rumors is no different than Nikon Cafe, Nikonians, or the Apple site examples I gave above. This is no way to treat the people who come to a site day after day hoping to find out when they can give you some more hard earned money, Canon! It's amazing that companies with that kind of intellectual capital make such dumb mistakes.

The more blogs calling Canon out on this one, the better. I see that our friends at 1001 Noisy Cameras are on the case.

On a separate note, I'll point out that Canon sent the C&D order shortly after Canon Rumors reported on the highly plausible Powershot G10 and 21MP 5D II with HD video rumors. Coincidence??

Update: Canon Rumors heard back from Canon USA legal and posted an update today. Canon USA is insisting that Canon Rumors stop using the domain www.canonrumors.com. I am no lawyer, but I hope they don't give up the domain without first researching their rights. Perhaps the EFF would be of some help?