- 11:25 AM,
Thursday, February 26th, 2004:
-
- The first thing
I saw today when I jumped onto my computer
was Howard Stern being taken off 6 Clear Channel
stations...the second thing I saw was my very own
cease and desist order from Twentieth Century Fox for
using screenshots of their show on my
site.
-
- Dennis L.
Wilson, Esq.
- Keats McFarland
& Wilson LLP
- Penthouse Suite
- 9720 Wilshire
Boulevard
- Beverly Hills,
CA 90212
- Tel: (310)
248-3830
- Fax: (310)
860-0363
-
- February 25, 2004
-
- VIA U.S. MAIL
- AND ELECTRONIC MAIL
-
- Catnaz Incorporated
- 6673 Canaan Circle
- Dublin, OH 43017
-
- Djackson@catnaz.com
-
- Re: UNAUTHORIZED
USE OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX PROPERTIES
- (http://4tvs.com)
-
- To Whom It May
Concern:
-
- We are writing to
you on behalf of our client, Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation and its
affiliated companies (hereinafter "Fox").
Fox is the exclusive owner of all
copyright, trademark and other
intellectual property rights in and to the
television series "On Air With Ryan
Seacrest" (hereinafter the "Fox Copyrights
and Trademarks"). No one is authorized to
reproduce, transmit, copy or otherwise
utilize the Fox Copyrights and Trademarks
without the express written permission of
Fox.
-
- It has come to our
attention that a web site located at
http://4tvs.com, for which you are the
service provider, contains screenshot
images from the "On Air With Ryan
Seacrest" television series.
-
- Fox has a good
faith belief that the use of the material
in the manner complained of is not
authorized by Fox, its agent or the law.
Fox diligently enforces its rights in Fox
Copyrights and Trademarks in all forms of
media. The "On Air With Ryan Seacrest"
television series entertains millions of
people worldwide and our client rightfully
takes its responsibility for the
protection of the Fox Copyrights and
Trademarks very seriously.
-
- As you may be
aware, Internet Service Providers can be
held liable if they do not respond to
claims of infringement pursuant to the
requirements of the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA). In accordance with
the DMCA, we request your assistance in
the removal of any computer viruses
contained on this web site, as well as the
removal of any infringement of Fox's
rights. We further declare under penalty
of perjury that we are authorized to act
on behalf of Fox and that the information
in this letter is accurate.
-
- Please contact me
at your earliest convenience to discuss
this matter further.
-
- Nothing in this
letter shall be construed as a waiver or
relinquishment of any right or remedy
possessed by Fox or any other affected
party, all of which are expressly
reserved.
-
- Very truly yours,
-
- /s/
-
- Dennis L. Wilson
- Keats McFarland
& Wilson LLP
-
-
- DLW:atp
- cc: Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation
|
-
- (sigh). That's
about all I could do when I read this: sigh.
-
- This is what you
get when you bombard the Ryan Seacrest show with
emails about that "4tvs" guy. They forward it to
their legal department. So I immediately write
back Catnaz:
-
-
- Hey
David,
-
- Wow! Is this
possible? I was able to get on the air, as
well as my sign "4tvs.com" in the
background on the Ryan Seacrest show and
showed it in my journal.
-
- !?!?! What should I
do?! I have to just take every entry down?
Is there a legal way to do this? Jesus
It's just my personal journal!
-
- Lemme know...don't
want to get you guys into trouble at
Catnaz.
-
- Adam
|
-
- I then just called
him and he seemed pretty nonchalant about it. Just
said to try and contact the lawyer to see if this is
even legit. So I wrote the lawyer:
-
-
- Mr.
Wilson,
-
- Got your letter
from Catnaz today and I want to comply
fully. I am however confused on the
legalities here. My site is just a journal
telling of all the struggles I go through
to make it here in LA. I have about 50
hits a month, all friends and family. I
was able to get into the audience at a
Ryan Seacrest show and I put that in my
journal and told the story of how I got
that, and my sign on the air. Can't I just
put "Property of Fox" on the pictures? I
want to comply but I'd hate to take down
the whole story.
-
- Thanks for taking
the time to read, let me know if there's
anyway to keep the story up and make
everyone happy.
-
- Adam
|
-
- I struggled with
whether to be insanely professional in the letter or
just up front. Guess what I chose. Heh. So then
we took the dogs to their first Vet appointment (dear
lord is that an entry in itself) and I let it all
sink in. Here's really what I'm up
against:
-
- Catnaz is the
"broadcaster" of sorts here. That's the company
that hosts my site. As in the Janet Jackson case it
CBS broadcast it, CBS is responsible. The
difference here is this is copyright infringement, not
some decency issue. Either way the ball is kind of in
Catnaz's court.
-
- They could
unilaterally take my site down if I don't comply.
Of course if push comes to shove I'd take them down,
but the more I think about this the more I doubt the
legality here. This is a personal website. You know?
Not to get me into more heat but if THIS is
illegal, every song I use in the videos is
illegal...right? I don't pay royalties when
I put the song "Popcorn" under the video of my
pups eating popcorn - so that's illegal?
-
- This is just so
out of whack. It's the law not taking scale into
account. If I were a TV show, yeah that
makes sense. But this is a personal journal.
I could just as easily lock the entries and just
email them to people on the list...but would
I get in trouble for EMAILING pages to people
that have PICTURES of TV shows? LOL.
-
- And what about the
THOUSANDS of fansites? Type say, "Three's Company"
into a search engine. You get hundreds of sites where
people write and show pictures of their favorite
episodes and what not. What's the difference? This is
absolutely LUDICROUS. LOL. That's where you have to
wonder what true legal backing they have. If this
doesn't fall under "fair use", I don't know what
does.
-
- Which comes to
what I'm going to do. The tiniest of spotlights has
come on me. I can turn it off, or I can try
and make it bigger. I of course don't want Catnaz
to take me down, but they'd warn me before that would
happen. I really think I need to make some
press releases and go crazy. Because this has to be
one of the craziest uses of copyright law enforcement
I've ever seen. I realize the whole country is in this
overwhelming "politcally correct" mode right now but
this is just goofy.
-
- The other part of
me is a bit annoyed that this is what the show chose
to do instead of contacting me. LOL. People write
about seeing my site on their airwaves and they put
their lawyers on me. ?!?! Doesn't anyone respect
determination anymore?!? Didn't anyone at the show
least smile at what I went through to get that
sign on the air? Maybe they're pissed that it worked?
I would say that's wishful thinking on my part,
but this cease and desist letter certainly means they
saw it. But how can THAT be the reaction? To
sue?!! LOL.
-
-
-
- Adam
|
