Looks like I’m going to have to change the name of my blog. Here’s a letter I got from a Russian law firm:
Comrade Bridges,
Your website, entitled “TruePravda,” must change its name immediately or else you will be faced with legal action. The name of this website is much too similar to our client, Pravda. It also implies that our client’s newspaper is false—which is far from the truth.
Our client has enjoyed an unparalled reputation for truth for decades. Our client’s paper is government-owned, therby making it impossible to err. Your website is privately owned and some readers of Pravda may be confused into thinking that they are reading the true Pravda when they read TruePravda. We suggest you change the name to something less confusing, like “FalsePravda.”
If you do not meet our request within 24 hours, Comrade Bridges, we will begin legal action. We will seek damages that require you visit our client’s production facilities in Irkutsk, Siberia—that you may inspect what damage your site has inflicted upon our client.
Dmitri Bogdanovich,
Senior Partner
Bogdanovich, Masherova, & Jones, LLP
Is that an “all expenses paid” trip to Irkutsk, Siberia? That might be worth it. The “& Jones” is a nice touch too, Comrade Bridges.
No, Ryan, Jones is a native Russian name. You didn’t know that?
If it were a /real/ legal threat, they’d have taken. . . other means. . . to shut you down. Just look at the “free press” in Russia during Putin’s recent re-election. . .