Copyright Law and how to deal with piracy?

[StuartStrangeboy]

I totally understand why you are doing what you are doing and i will make some suggestions if I may.
Firstly the costs are very little because there is no need to go through a the legal system as it is a private matter. You send a letter with whatever amount they owe you and give them seven days to respond if they don't pay up or respond and most do then use a bailiff they will charge between 7-10% of the recovery and trust me the bailiffs are great.
Secondly why not split your database up into 12 thus creating a jigsaw that will be complete in 12 months, that way they don't get it all for £2.
I have always been a fan of this website, however it is always dangerous for a free forum to start selling products from that same website as it confuses people into thinking they can give your product away, we know that's not right but it happens. For me I think you should set up a separate entity that sells your database and that way there is no confusion because you did used to give it away for free and there are probably still some oddballs out there that think it's free. I will be selling my alerts through a separate website as well as my own. I would be quite happy to put your database on the website when it's completed.
Ok one last thing I have spoken to the goverment recently and trading standards and they both suggest the same thing, set up a trade body as there is not one that covers us from a sat nav point of view, this in term gives much more freedom for shutting down websites. If you want to speak more on this then please contact me.
There is always a way but if you give into the minorities the majorities loss out.
Stuart
Celebrity Voices Ltd

[DennisN]

The pirates and torrenters don't owe anything, though, do they? They have probably paid the proper price for membership. So claiming and doing bailiffs (at 10% of £2) for what they owe isn't an option.

To sue, you have to first show that you have suffered a loss (not easy unless you can prove that a third party obtained the data for free, but even that isn't necessarily a loss, merely a missed sale, which might not have occurred if the goods had carried a price tag, i.e. it must be a LOSS, not a missed GAIN - a sue-able loss is a salesman who leaves, taking the marketing customer database and using it to poach customers who cancel existing orders as a result), put a value on it (by numbering the free downloads), then prove it was Jo Bloggs who done it.

Best thing will be if Darren has a decent candidate for a copyright damages test case to win, then that would establish a precedent to threaten others with. The subsequent threats should work simply from a letter, in light of a successful court action against Mr/Mrs/Ms Test Case.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

[StuartStrangeboy]

You are completely missing the point of what I am saying. When you build something or record something and save it in a known format you own the copyright to it, it's the law of this country. Therefore it's not about sales whether it's passed on for free or sold for £2 or whatever price my point is PGPS owns the copyright therefore you do not need to go through the courts, you just need to enforce that copyright. As copyright owner you go to the websites or ISP's and tell them that you own the copyright if no joy then the letter and so on.
When you say they owe nothing I suggest you read the copyright and patents act 1988 it's against the law so yes they do owe something, they are sued on the breach of copyright not the amount of money. The point of what I am trying to say is first you go to the user then you go to the websites if you still have no joy you can shut them down as copyright owner. You must use the copyright law if you own the copyright because the ISP's don't want the lawsuits.

[aj2052]

StuartStrangeboy said

[DennisN]

[BMW330]

[StuartStrangeboy]

I presumed copyright was the issue because if someone steals a digital product then it's copyright theft so sorry for not making that clear.

AJ you are talking about a tangeable good and this is slightly different, digital goods are always covered by copyright law and of course some tangeable goods. I understand what you are saying about public domain and the data but if someone collects that data and makes a product from it that is fine. It's a bit like the yellow pages putting all businesses together and making a directory. That's why there are a few companies now popping up that are selling the databases and this will continue because it makes sense. I will give you an example of what I meant, when I record a voice let's say a tomtom voice and soon as I have saved that voice I own the copyright. This is how the copyright law works in this country and is covered worldwide under the Berne convention. Now of course some artists will record and then sign a buyout then the buyer then owns the copyright under whatever agreement is signed. There are of course variations which you mentioned with electrical goods as these would need to be a registered product, where a voices does not need to be registered it;s automatic and the same applies with computer software.

I hope I have made myself a little more clear I am genuinely trying to help I hope you can see that.

Stuart

[Darren]

Stuart, we do appreciate your comments. We have taken advice on this issue and are happy that we can claim copyright over the database as a completed work, i.e. the sum of its parts.

The issue I think we do need further guidance on is how or indeed if it is worth us pursuing individuals to enforce copyright. These matters are my responsibility within the company and I have had some success in forcing ISPs and individuals to remove our data on previous occasions. But where the issue is a persistent offender sharing our database at every opportunity it becomes more difficult!
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Darren Griffin

[StuartStrangeboy]

Darren- No problem I use a copyright lawyer myself and he is in Hampshire so if you need the details please let me know.

Stuart

[aj2052]

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