The news broke last week that Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography of Steve Jobs had a title change from iSteve to the much more straightforward Steve Jobs.
Bookforum has now pointed out that the change might have been instigated by a conservative blogger named Steve Sailer, whose blog has “iSteve” in its URL.
Mr. Sailer put up a post in April seeking pro-bono legal help to defeat the corruption of his brand:
The name iSteve is essential to my business strategy of having a unique and unmisspellable term for search engines, since my last name is easily confused with a common word (“sailor”) and easily misspelled (“sailor,” “saylor,” “seiler, “sayler,” etc.).
He goes on to say that he will not go down without a fight:
I shall defend my iSteve brand and intellectual property against infringers, especially a well-known billionaire like Mr. Jobs. I do not shoplift the creations of Mr. Jobs, of Mr. Isaacson, and of Simon & Schuster without paying for them, and I expect the same from them.
