When I started blogging at Surrender, Dorothy, I knew trying to trademark my site name would be impossible. I stole the phrase from the sky, for one thing (although mine, with a comma, insists Dorothy surrender rather than be surrendered, which I think is an important point, ahem). For another thing, there is already a Surrender, Dorothy band, a movie, a book, you name it. We can’t all be suing each other. So I never thought much about the other Surrender, Dorothy bloggers out there, and there are many – I see them in my Google alerts. No big deal, I think. As long as I differentiate my writing style and include my photo, people will always know who I am. However, that said, I totally respect the right of anyone to trademark an idea. Trademarking is totally different than copyrighting.

The appearances by the three leading US presidential candidates grabbed the banner headlines at this year's meeting of the leaders of the newspaper industry, but that wasn't the only big news. A new advertiser-supported news service for iPhones was unveiled Monday that offers new hope for cash-strapped newspapers.