Hey, we’re all for Circuit City flouting the DMCA. It’s a bogus law, as anti-consumer as they come. So we were a bit disappointed when Bill Cimino, director of corporate communications, clarified that the sign wasn’t the opening jab in a legal title fight between Circuit City and the RIAA/MPAA, but was instead a disconnect between the wishes of corporate and that particular Circuit City’s store manager.

But how does that happen? Reader Andrew F. wrote us in to explain:

The sign is probably real and up at a real circuit city, but not overall corporate approved signage.

While most of the retailers: Best Buy, Circuit City, Future Shop (Canadian), etc are not franchises, certain marketing practices of their operate in a similar way. Working at multiple different stores in a single chain one of the most common things I would notice is the individual non-company approved ad campaigns we’d have in stores for services we thought were practical or would make us money. This bears all the earmarks of being the exact same type of sign.

He points out that it’s a printed Word document and the lack of the usual corporate watermarks.

Come on, Circuit City. Don’t pussy out. Roll this out to all your stores. You’ll be our corporate hero.

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