My books are arranged in stacks against the wall, Hoarders-style (minus the garbage and in an otherwise tidy and uncluttered room which happens to be ... ok, so my guest room and my living room but still) - as my bookshelves have not yet been built. Or bought. Some have post-its and pen notes, most have quite worn bindings from extensive reading... Not fine & valuable art, nor simply "respected" ... "loved" might be the best description for it.

Good professional journalists refrain from injecting their personal opinions in the news that they cover. Part of learning to do that is discovering and acknowledging your biases so that you are aware of how you phrase things when you write an article. No publication is neutral. Your assertion that Fox is fair and neutral is laughable for anyone who has ever watched Fox News, which I have and do. Also, "Dr. S. Robert Lichter, once held a chair in mass communications at the American Enterprise Institute and was a Fox News contributor." is the founder of the CMPA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Media_and_Public_Affairs) - vet your sources, AC.

Don't be so sure. I work "in the country" managing the tech associated with land division and soil management, as well as... some other things. They want better technology, because more productivity = more $$, and the smart farmers recognize that they have to evolve, at least in a business respect.

TL:DR

Bias: Lacking a neutral point of view.

A neutral presentation is the first thing you're taught when you study journalism. Even before the inverted pyramid structure. There is such a thing as ethics in reporting.

Which is unfortunately why print newspapers are going out of business left and right. You want the short story? I'm working as a GIS hack because I was kicked out of my school journalism program for writing an article about racism in the Greek system, left my first reporting job because my editor caved to an angry advertiser and allowed a retraction to be published that outright called me an incompetent reporter (incidentally, what he was referring to was my publication of a list of low-performing programs in a story about a series of budget cuts that specifically called for elimination of low-performing programs. Six months later, the programs were cut.) and the job I was offered after that vanished six months after I took it, because the investors in the newspaper decided they'd rather have a tax break than the small profits we made. There's no market for true and honest journalism in the world, and now I tell people which property is theirs so that they can sue their neighbors. At least /. is reflexive - it's only as good as what "we" put into it. For now.

God forbid the news services of /. be held to any kind of standards. Sorry, but I was a reporter for several years and you guys could use someone with a little editorial background on your staff. Not that I know anything about any of you guys, but you let a whole lot of bias slide through these so-called news stories. (Hint: A news article with bias is called an opinion article, and has a dedicated location on most reputable journalistic publications quite separate from the "news" topics.) The "company standards" of Dice seem quite worse, though, so I'm on the "leave /. alone" bandwagon. Too bad Vice didn't buy it, I'm quite fond of Motherboard.

Let me ignore your sarcasm and vitriol, and put this in a way you might relate to: you take pictures, right? Let's say you, instead of spamming flickr and instagram, built your own web site, filled with your pictures. Let's say you call it Z-Photography. You work on it for five years and get a pretty decent following of people who enjoy your work and buy your prints, of, let's say, buildings and cityscapes, so you trademark the name "Z-Photography" for your works - maybe you even put out a few coffee table books, as a series. Suddenly, eight years after you start your web site, and three years after you have a confirmed trademark on Z-Photography, a large corporate entity which sells stock photography comes out with a line of stock photos of cities for publication (which is, BTW, how you make money freelancing as a photographer when you're not doing weddings and senior portaits, as I'm sure you know) as well as a couple coffee table books, and calls the whole thing "Z-Photography" - the photographs aren't the exact same, but they're of buildings and cityscapes (just like your photographs!) - and they even use one of your sub-gallery names as their personal web address! Suddenly, when people search ThePlaceWherePeopleBuyPrints (let's say Etsy, even, hmm?) for Z-Photography, it's not YOUR stuff, but some other person's! When they search for your coffee table books on Amazon, it's not your books, which have been out for years, but this brand new stuff.

The issue here is that he must defend his trademark to maintain it, and that this woman and HarperCollins are stealing a brand he's been building for years. It could just as easily happen to you, or me, or anyone else who creates anything.

Seriously, google "Carnival of Souls series" the first two things to come up are Melissa Marr's book, and she herself notes "HarperCollins' Facebook page for the Carnival of Souls series" RTFA.

Say that to my face! Seriously, it's not like "oh, I'm going to sue you because I spilled some hot coffee on myself"... it's like "oh hey, you stole the name of my series for your series, oh, and it's about the same thing too" ... Why don't you go create something, and then have someone rip it off?

I do some freelance work in addition to my 8-5, and I will not consider forming a corporation or LLC any time soon. When I was contracting as a campaign employee, I considered doing so for tax reasons - however, it's easier to just file an "extra income" form (I had a W-4 on the campaign) and make sure you track your purchases. Between buying new software, a new computer, and other business-related expenses (and a little extra withholding from my real job) I don't pay much more in taxes than I normally would - itemizing expenses, of course - although I don't get anything back from the government at the end of the year (I did when I was not doing side projects). It makes for a more annoying tax filing, but nothing a reasonably intelligent person can't handle alone. I only make (at most) 33% of my "regular" income doing freelance (so let's say I make $30,000 a year, and take three freelance jobs for $3000 each per year) and it is neither a "considerable" amount of money compared to what I make nor is what I do something that I could potentially be sued over. Also, I don't own a house, car, etc. so I have nothing worth taking.

If you'll be making a lot of money or doing something that could get you sued, get an attorney and an accountant.

I am not reading the wrong documents. He notes in the current lawsuit that both are "Carnival themed with elements of love and violence" and mentions something re: horror, I believe. But yes, that's EXACTLY what this is about. It would be like me making a website, slash-dot.com, and using the "name recognition" of THIS web site to promote my own web site and make many many dollars. The tone of the original article (yeah, I'm talking to YOU, Nate and Soulskill) is GROSSLY biased and has set the stage for the disgusting vilification of Wild in these comments. Some of us have legitimate reporting experience (the journalistic kind, NOT the programming kind) and are able to recognize when someone is trying to manipulate us into feeling a certain way about an event.

You can, however, trademark a series title, which is what Wild did, and what he is defending.

How TF is this downmodded? It's relevant to the discussion, and contains legitimate references. Even if the AC is NOT Wild... Seriously, you would think people who understand creation would be defending this man. How would you feel if I took something you had spent years creating, something you poured your life and energy into, and made something similar and then stole all the "thunder" without having done any of the work involved? This is NOT some patent trolling company. This is one man, and his life's work. You should all be ashamed.

Oh, AC, how I adore you and your sarcasm. I looked it up before posting the above comment (how else would I have just checked it?) and there were more than three results from Wild's series, Marr's book didn't show up, and depending on your browsing/purchase history I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) Amazon gives you customized results, so yours and mine are probably not the same.

Yes, he is. Read the filing, please. I'm not AC and I agree with (on the same terms, having read the filing) the original poster (AC).