Sweetwater Sound Inc. has taken a stand, defending itself against the misuse and misappropriation of its proprietary Web content. Sweetwater Founder and President Chuck Surack said, “We regret having to take action, but we believe that the integrity of the MI business is at stake. We are acting not only on our own behalf, but in the interest of all online retailers who invest in the creation of unique content.” For example, Sweetwater has informed Chicago Music Exchange of copyright infringement and the misuse of Sweetwater’s proprietary Web content. In return, Sweetwater has received a letter of apology from Chicago Music Exchange President David Kalt. The document includes assurances that all misused content has been removed from the Web site and that no Sweetwater content will be misappropriated in the future.
Sweetwater’s VP of E-Commerce, Mike Clem, said, “Other MI Web sites have been lifting our content for years and, typically, they remove such content from their Web sites quickly after we bring it to their attention. It’s typically caused by an employee taking a shortcut. Owners, who often aren’t even aware of it, take immediate corrective measures. In this instance, we thought the misuse of our content was much more widespread and, so, we felt the need to take a more aggressive approach to solving the problem.”
Senior VP of Marketing Michael Ross said, “We’re taking a stand because we feel that we’re all in the music retail business together and we should all respect the content and innovations of our fellow retailers, in the same spirit that none of us would like someone stealing a piece of gear off our showroom floor.” Sweetwater.com is known for many features, including Guitar Gallery, inSync, Case Finder and Cable Finder, as well as thousands of helpful, informational articles about music technology issues. Also, an enormous amount of creative work by Sweetwater writers goes into the product descriptions on every product page on Sweetwater’s Web site.
Sweetwater Founder and President Chuck Surack said, “For years, many companies have been copying the innovative, pioneering stuff we’ve created on the Web. While ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,’ lifting and copying our content verbatim is entirely different. Like any creative artist would, we need to protect our work and the extraordinary efforts of our employees.”