9000maps Lawsuit Threat - EtQ - They ask for a favour and they complain 9 years later

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Marc

Fully vaccinated are you?
Leader
I got the letter, scanned it and removed the material from the site. It was Sunday when I read the letter in detail. What I am mad about is the 'mis-statements', the accusations of what was not there.

My basic policy here is if anyone complains of copyright or other issue - by e-mail, phone call, letter or what ever, I'll remove it if I believe they have a valid arguement or even when I feel they may have a real claim.

On the other hand, although there was another complaint (which I posted) recently, I can't say it has been a problem. It's rare, actually.
 

Al Rosen

Leader
Super Moderator
Marc, have you looked at this article on the shyster's web site?
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica](broken link removed) Computer[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Currents, August 1996, Visual Basic Tips & Tricks, August 1996

I hope you can show ETQ gave you permission to post the material.
[/FONT]
 

Marc

Fully vaccinated are you?
Leader
I'm not really worried about it. They asked that it be removed and I did so practically immediately. Not to mention that article is on his web site so you know it's essentially an advertisement.
 
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Craig H.

About this article...sheesh.

Clip art? I have to wonder. Either this was some very specialized clip art, or the claim that the decrease in sales of a commodity directly relates to the alledgedly illegal post is bogus. If I install a public drinking fountain and the water company experiences a decrease in demand, am I at fault? Give me a break.
 

Jim Wynne

Leader
Admin
Craig H. said:
Clip art? I have to wonder. Either this was some very specialized clip art, or the claim that the decrease in sales of a commodity directly relates to the alledgedly illegal post is bogus. If I install a public drinking fountain and the water company experiences a decrease in demand, am I at fault? Give me a break.

I think there's a case to be made regarding copyright infringement in a situation such as that described in the article. It seems pretty cut-and-dried; XYZ owns the copyright and another company was giving the product away without permission or attribution. The problem, as I see it, comes when damages are assessed. Take this statement from the article, for example:

Each unauthorized download was a lost sale for XYZ. In addition, according to the Software Publishers Association, for each unauthorized copy of a software program that can be identified, there are several other "pass-along" copies that will never be discovered but still represent lost sales to the publisher.

The first sentence can't be proven. I might accept a free copy of something that I would never dream of paying for, if that were the only way to get the thing. Thus it's impossible to say that each download represented a lost sale. If you win a Cadillac in a raffle, it doesn't mean that the local Cadillac dealer has lost a sale if you wouldn't have bought a Cadillac in the first place. The dealer has lost nothing. In fact, the dealer might actually benefit if you tell all your friends what a great car it is and one of them decides to buy one.

Sometimes "pirated" copyright material results in sales that wouldn't have happened if the illegal copying hadn't happened. For example, someone might give you a burned copy of a music CD, and as a result of listening to it and liking it, you go out and buy legitimate copies of CDs by the same artist. Those are sales that might never have happened if not for the bootlegged copy.
 
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Craig H.

Yes, Jim, I think we both take different paths toward the same conclusion.

Of course the person(s) responsible for posting the clip art on the net without attribution or compensation is in the wrong. But, there are lots of other places to get clip art, for free or for very little money. Unless the clip art in question is the equivalent of the Mona Lisa, than any claim for monetary damage is suspect at best.
 
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etqglenn

The Facts About The Miss Use of EtQ's Intellectual Property

Marc,
As a Business Owner and a consultant you understand the value of protecting intellectual property. You repeatedly say we asked you post our product on your site as a favor. Our contact management system goes back to 1992, and we found no record authorizing your use of our copyrighted material. The only reference to yourself in our system was from Sept. of 1999 wherein you called regarding our 9000 Maps product and our Solutions product.

Marc, this tells us you knew our 9000 Maps product was in fact a revenue-generating product as you inquired about it. As you may also be aware, our 9000 Maps product was licensed by other organizations to bundle with their product, most notably, Micrografx who marketing it as ISO Charter. Does it make sense we would ask you, as a favor, to post our revenue generating product, in its entirety, on your website as a free download? And we would allow you to post it without our copyright? Does this make sense to you? I would ask you send us a copy of the communication from EtQ where-in we asked you for this favor.

Marc, you indicate EtQ is greedy. On what basis do you make this charge? Protecting our intellectual property makes us greedy? You further recommend people stay away from our products. On what basis do you make this recommendation? Have you used our products? You obviously found value in our 9000 Maps product.

Marc, we appreciate your removing our product from your site. We would also appreciate your considering the basis for your charges and recommendations. We wish you the best in all your endevours.

Sincerely,
Glenn McCarty
CEO
EtQ Inc.
 

Marc

Fully vaccinated are you?
Leader
I stand by my statements herein. I made no revenue off of the html files. There were no advertisements on the pages, no site header or footer, and your logos were on several. Bottom line is you got free advertising for a number of years. You should have thanked me rather than threatened me.
 
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etqglenn

Facts About The Miss Use of EtQ's Intellectual Property

Marc,
We posted specific questions about your actions. You knew the product was revenue generating... we have that information in our system from Sept. 2nd of 1999 wherein you inquired about the product. We therefore stand by our statements but more importantly we stand by our questions to you. Why would we ask you to post our revenue-generating product? To put this to bed, please provide a copy of the communication from EtQ asking you for such a favor.

Sincerely,
Glenn McCarty
CEO
EtQ Inc.
 

Randy

Super Moderator
What's your real beef? Are you indicating that some material that had apparently been posted here has caused irreversable financial damage, impuned your organization or has created a level of harm that your only recourse is civil action?:mg:

For the life of me I'd like to know what it was just out of curiousity. Apparently it was of such a fantastic quality that in the 8 or 9 years I've been coming here it escapes my memory...which is quite good:confused: , and I never once recommended or referenced it to a client when I was self employed.:nope:

Help us to understand, please!
 
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