A company I don’t recommend you deal with (Update 1)

Dear Andy

I am really sorry to put you in this position. But as the copyright holder I expressly request that you take down the site. XXXXX admit via their lawyer that they are using our material. I have never agreed that they can use it in this way and unless they provide you with a licence that states they are allowed to use our material as they have done signed by my company then I respectfully ask you pull down the site until this matter is resolved. We have not been paid since October 2008 and this also puts me in an impossible position. By keeping this site live you are committing a criminal offence by publishing this material without my permission and you are also stopping from publishing this material elsewhere.

—snip—

This firm has today received instructions from xxxxxxx Limited to deal with your allegations concerning breach of copyright by xxxxx Limited on its website.

The only materials appearing on the xxxxxx website that were authored by employees of Suzanne Martin and Associates were authored and supplied by on the express understanding that they would be amended, copied and disseminated by our client.

Consequently, our client has enjoyed and continues to enjoy a licence to copy the materials. This licence will provide a complete defence to any claim of copyright infringement.

On that basis, our client intends to retain the materials complained of on its website.

Yours sincerely

xxxxx xxxx
xxxxxx xxxxxxx
DDI: 01223 xxxxxx
Fax: 01223 xxxxxx
E-mail: xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.com

I only have your word for all this, a person I’ve never met.

I also have an opposite statement from xxxxx.

I suggest you expedite your case with xxxxxx and once there is a court
ruling then the appropriate actions can be speedily taken.

To do otherwise is to prefer one side over the other and to prejudge the
final outcome – I am not in a position to evaluate the competing claims.
That is a job for others and I assume it is the substance of your
discussions with xxxxx.

The damage to xxxxxx resulting from a shutdown appears to be
disproportionate to the ongoing damage to you by keeping the server up.
My doing nothing in this case is appropriate as it minimises the overall
harm to both companies involved and it isn’t my fight anyway.

BTW I am not doing anything illegal and I do not expect you to repeat
your statement. I just run the UNIX servers in various countries outside
the UK.

I suggest you deal with the content managers for the websites in
question (If you need the contact details for xxxxxxx I suggest you look
at one of the websites). xxxxxxxx have assured me that they have full
rights to use the material – I cannot judge your competing claims.

I remind you that I am not resident in the UK and you should send
anything you want to me at Villa xx, xxxxxxxxx Compound, xxxxx xxxxxl,
Doha Qatar. Note that simply receiving correspondence from you does not
of itself incur any obligations upon me. Note also there is no postal
delivery service out here. Feel free to apply to the local Sharia court
in Doha if you wish. The address you cited for me in your previous email
is incorrect and I will not receive any mail even assuming that you can
find someone to sign for it.

Any problems you have with xxxxxxx is between the two of you, I have
little interest in your financial arrangements with them. I’m also
doubtful of your statement regarding your wish to republish elsewhere as
I expect the material contains xxxxxxxx proprietary information. However
I’m sure you kept a copy of the stuff you delivered to them so I cannot
see how you are prevented from republishing.

Please don’t continue to waste my time in this matter. Sort out your
problems with xxxxxxxx in a professional manner, once this is done things
can be resolved out.

All email to the X31.com domain is subject to the EMAIL policy as
defined in http://www.x31.com/email-disclaimer.html This webpage has
been on a prominent position on the website since 2000 and sending mail
to the domain constitutes acceptance of these conditions.

Andy