11.15.06: MSFT Zune campaign comes with a loyalty oath
By Richard Koman - November 14, 2006
Apparently, Microsoft lawyers are running a loyalty oath for blogs and websites that they advertise on. Autumn Davis writes on WebProNews that MSFT contracts include this friendly clause:
Microsoft sent out agreements to bloggers and sites which it advertised on stating that, "You may not display the Logo(s) on any site that disparages Microsoft or its products or services, infringes any Microsoft intellectual property or other rights, or violates any state, federal or international law."
Andrew Baron of Rocketboom decided he couldn't sign that oath. He told Microsoft:
I have been losing sleep over it and decided this is just not going to be right for Rocketboom. While I expect this will be a big traffic loss for us, at heart, I really love Apple and will stick by them in this competition. I also remembered from last year that Microsoft was the first company to really make me feel as though I was being taken advantage of personally.We are not in this to side with a player. In fact, I hope that people who do enjoy the Zune will enjoy watching Rocketboom on their Zune players. This can happen however without the need to cross promote each other.
Also, with regards to the logo agreement, just by having the Zune logo on our page would mean we would not be able to make disparaging comments about Microsoft and that's just not a reasonable restriction for Rocketboom.
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