Hi
I am hoping for some advice regarding using the small claims track to pursue a claim of copyright infringement. My situation is that in 2008 I self published a reference book in five volumes that contained almost 14,000 names of soldiers who fell in the Great War from the county in which I lived, this work of research was begun by my late father in the mid eighties and after he passed away I continued the work to final completion and in 2008, as previously mentioned I published the work.
In 2016 in a local newspaper a person published selective names from my books, for soldiers who fell during the Battle of the Somme, and I knew by some of the information that accompanied the names that it could only have come from my books, however I allowed the matter to rest, then in 2017 a similar list was published for soldiers who fell in the Battle of Passchendaele, again I knew that the information was taken from my books, again I allowed it to rest.
But in November 2018 the same person published in the local newspaper a 40 page supplement that contained all of the names from my books, and in the opening article took full credit for it being his own work, the damning evidence against him is that he had also copied all the mistakes that had been made in the books and which have since been corrected. I contacted him at his home and he made all manner of excuses including offering to write on the letters page of the newspaper an apology for using my work without permission, the word using is a misnomer if ever there was one, he did not use my books, he plagiarised the whole work.
I wrote to him by recorded delivery post and explained what I considered he had done and made it clear, that I had damning evidence to prove my case, and I gave him a number of options to settle the matter to my satisfaction without the need to take the matter further, and I gave him a 28 day ultimatum, I have yet to receive a response to this letter and the ultimatum expires on the 20th December.
In the meantime I have gathered a great deal of additional evidence, including a written statement that he attended a meeting and openly admitted to removing the covers from my five books and inserting all the pages into ring binders, and have having built a spreadsheet containing all the names from my books. I have another statement confirming that he attended a WW1 event and had these ring binders on his table and was passing the work off to unsuspecting members of the public as his own work. I spoke with the editor of the newspaper and was given confirmation that it was this spreadsheet that was forwarded to the newspaper for publication by email.
I am now faced with the prospect of using the small claims track to [1] Obtain an injunction against him to stop him further using my work. [2] Loss of revenue from the sale of my books, at present they are in the process of being republished next year. [3] The handing over of all material that he holds in paper or other media form. [4] A letter of apology published in the local newspaper stating the fact that it was not his work that was published in the supplement but mine.
Any comments or advice relating to the above court procedures would be gratefully received.
The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
Hi Peter,
I think it is fairly rare to get such a blatant example of infringement.
I'm not sure what advice you are seeking. I assume you have read the advice on the www.gov.uk/ipo web pages and obtained a copy of the guidance notes for using the IPEC Small Claims court.
Having read what you are seeking to get by way of remedy, it is worth noting two limitations with using the IPEC small claims track. The first is that the court cannot make an order for an interim injunction and it can't make asset freezing orders. That said I don't think these should unduly affect your claim since I would be surprised if this individual was likely to compound his infringement by continuing his activities while he knows a claim against him is underway.
As for the bases of your claim, these would include not only copyright infringement - sections 16 to 21 (although probably not section 18A) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 - but also database right infringement contrary to the Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997. At first sight, these may seem like much the same thing, but in fact the acts which infringe database right (see regulation 16) are different in form to the acts which amount to copyright infringement. I suggest that you need to include a claim for database infringement in order to guard against a defence that your work or parts of it, lacked originality because it was a mere catalogue of facts. Database right is established where there has been "a substantial investment in obtaining, verifying or presenting the contents of the database", which I suspect accurately describes the work you and your father put into this venture. The second advantage of also claiming database right infringement is that it tends to block any defence of fair dealing under section 29 (copying for the purpose of private research) which is only applicable to the copyright part of your book (ie the bits which were your own creative expression, as opposed to the hard facts). Or to put that another way, the facts in your book will be unlikely to attract copyright, but your own creative expression will be protected. However it might be argued by the defendant that he did not infringe your copyright (the creative bits) because he was only using that part for private research (as defined in section 29) and that the only bits which he published were the facts which were not themselves protectable with copyright. By also claiming database right, none of this would work as a defence. Incidentally, I don't think it would work as a defence under copyright law either, but I could see it being tried if the defendant gets legal advice or counsel to fight his case.
Since this five-volume work has been published, section 77(2) means that you do not need to have included an explicit assertion about being credited as the author of the work, and thus you also have a claim under section 77 of CDPA. It is under this head of claim that you are most likely to get the court to order an apology to be published in the newspaper. Although you have not mentioned including the paper as defendants, they are certainly morally liable for secondary infringement. I think you would be sensible not to formally join them in the claim because they would fight it and this could add unwelcome additional complication and expense for you. Nonetheless it would do no harm to alert that editor as to the situation as they may agree to help, or at least not hinder, your case since they will know they are on tricky ground legally speaking. They will of course flat out deny any liability, because that is the standard practice with all newspaper legal departments.
As for the court's procedures, I would strongly advise you to read through Ann H's thread (and also here) about the trials and tribulations of bringing a small claim, and be prepared for delays. Finally, try to be as dispassionate as you can about the process you are embarking on. Don't see it as a matter of principle or of justice being done, but rather a pragmatic business matter. Know when to press on, but equally, when to cut your losses and not to incur financial costs which you cannot possibly recover through the courts, especially the small claims track (eg any legal fees). On the specific remedy of damages for lost revenue of your own book sales, think long and hard about how you can satisfactorily prove* the amount of sales which have been lost, and more to the point, how you can attribute* these lost sales soley to the defendant's actions. I would say that without doubt you are entitled to damages for your losses and, no doubt, additional damages for the flagrancy of the defendant's behaviour, but you will need to provide convincing argument to persuade the court.
* on the balance of probabilties.
I think it is fairly rare to get such a blatant example of infringement.
I'm not sure what advice you are seeking. I assume you have read the advice on the www.gov.uk/ipo web pages and obtained a copy of the guidance notes for using the IPEC Small Claims court.
Having read what you are seeking to get by way of remedy, it is worth noting two limitations with using the IPEC small claims track. The first is that the court cannot make an order for an interim injunction and it can't make asset freezing orders. That said I don't think these should unduly affect your claim since I would be surprised if this individual was likely to compound his infringement by continuing his activities while he knows a claim against him is underway.
As for the bases of your claim, these would include not only copyright infringement - sections 16 to 21 (although probably not section 18A) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 - but also database right infringement contrary to the Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997. At first sight, these may seem like much the same thing, but in fact the acts which infringe database right (see regulation 16) are different in form to the acts which amount to copyright infringement. I suggest that you need to include a claim for database infringement in order to guard against a defence that your work or parts of it, lacked originality because it was a mere catalogue of facts. Database right is established where there has been "a substantial investment in obtaining, verifying or presenting the contents of the database", which I suspect accurately describes the work you and your father put into this venture. The second advantage of also claiming database right infringement is that it tends to block any defence of fair dealing under section 29 (copying for the purpose of private research) which is only applicable to the copyright part of your book (ie the bits which were your own creative expression, as opposed to the hard facts). Or to put that another way, the facts in your book will be unlikely to attract copyright, but your own creative expression will be protected. However it might be argued by the defendant that he did not infringe your copyright (the creative bits) because he was only using that part for private research (as defined in section 29) and that the only bits which he published were the facts which were not themselves protectable with copyright. By also claiming database right, none of this would work as a defence. Incidentally, I don't think it would work as a defence under copyright law either, but I could see it being tried if the defendant gets legal advice or counsel to fight his case.
Since this five-volume work has been published, section 77(2) means that you do not need to have included an explicit assertion about being credited as the author of the work, and thus you also have a claim under section 77 of CDPA. It is under this head of claim that you are most likely to get the court to order an apology to be published in the newspaper. Although you have not mentioned including the paper as defendants, they are certainly morally liable for secondary infringement. I think you would be sensible not to formally join them in the claim because they would fight it and this could add unwelcome additional complication and expense for you. Nonetheless it would do no harm to alert that editor as to the situation as they may agree to help, or at least not hinder, your case since they will know they are on tricky ground legally speaking. They will of course flat out deny any liability, because that is the standard practice with all newspaper legal departments.
As for the court's procedures, I would strongly advise you to read through Ann H's thread (and also here) about the trials and tribulations of bringing a small claim, and be prepared for delays. Finally, try to be as dispassionate as you can about the process you are embarking on. Don't see it as a matter of principle or of justice being done, but rather a pragmatic business matter. Know when to press on, but equally, when to cut your losses and not to incur financial costs which you cannot possibly recover through the courts, especially the small claims track (eg any legal fees). On the specific remedy of damages for lost revenue of your own book sales, think long and hard about how you can satisfactorily prove* the amount of sales which have been lost, and more to the point, how you can attribute* these lost sales soley to the defendant's actions. I would say that without doubt you are entitled to damages for your losses and, no doubt, additional damages for the flagrancy of the defendant's behaviour, but you will need to provide convincing argument to persuade the court.
* on the balance of probabilties.
Advice or comment provided here is not and does not purport to be legal advice as defined by s.12 of Legal Services Act 2007
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
Hi Andy
First of all can I thank you for the incredibly detailed response that I have received from you in relation to my situation with the blatant plagiarism of my work, the question for me is to now, sit down and read your reply through a number of times to make sure I am clear on the direction that I need to take regarding using the small claims track to pursue the person responsible for producing an almost carbon copy of my work and passing it off in a 47 page local newspaper supplement as his own work of research.
Of course I had not thought of the spreadsheet database that he has created too, that raises further issues for me to consider, and while on that subject I think that I ought to also highlight a further situation that now comes to mind.
After my books were published they became very popular with many WW1 researchers as they were the first books to actually identify all of the casualties from the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland for the period of the Great War, no other work of its kind had previously existed, this discovery of my father's proved the catalyst for his vision of creating the Roll of Honour in the first place, and became, until his untimely passing his life's passion, after his loss I continued the work to its final publication in five volumes in 2008.
The books were all sold out within two years, and Leicestershire County Council purchased 28 full sets to place in the reference sections of all of their main libraries, following on from this purchase a War Memorial Project team was developed by the Council, and its newly elected leader requested an informal meeting with me which took place at my home, at this meeting we reached an agreement that they could use my database within the casualty section of their website, the terms being agreed that I retained ownership of all the material, and additionally I was to be the sole administrator, and to this end I usually visit the website every two weeks to add new material, or indeed make any necessary corrections and additions of newly discovered casualties. There is no financial gain for me from this venture as I am remaining true to my late fathers wishes of making available all the information for the public to access at little or no cost to themselves, the books by the way, were self published by myself and as such I took on the total financial cost involved, and once the publication costs had been met all the profits were donated in accordance with my late fathers wishes to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Maidenhead to the fund that pays for the upkeep of the cemeteries and memorials throughout the world in which our fallen are coomemorated or lie sleeping.
Moving on from this scenario I was also approached by the Website FindmyPast who wished to use my database, but in this case there was a contract drawn up that protected my ownership of the material and there was also a finacial gain involved in a percentage of the royalties being paid to me as the owner of the material, but as in the case of the books all the royalties have been paid to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, so I have gained nothing financially from the venture, having said that it was never an intention to generate any financial gain from the books, the whole purpose of my father's original idea was to bring together all of the names, and whatever information that could be added to their entries and present them all in an accessible format for future generations to appreciate the great sacrifice that had been made by Leicestershire and Rutland in the Great War.
Which of course now raises the question of the man who has created his own spreadsheet database of my work, and had it published in a newspaper supplement and as such was circulated to a readership in their thousands, and at a meeting recently he was actively seeking a sponsor to launch his own website using the same data, so the urgency of my acting to stop this continued infringement of my work becomes more so given his obvious blatant disregard of the meaning of copyright.
The other issue of concern to me is that it appears that the small claims track wishes the claimant to have made an effort to reach a settlement of a dispute before recourse to the court, however I wrote to the person concerend a two page letter setting out my grievances and I also gave him the option of resolving the issues by his meeting a number of demands that I set out, however I have received no reply to that letter whatever, and on Thursday the 28 days that I gave him expire. So would the court view that as an attempt by me to resolve the issue prior to taking court action? Also I now understand from a telephone call with the editor of the newspaper that published the supplement that the person involved telephoned him and enquired if he could write a letter to the letters page to apologise for using my work without my permission!! That is to put it lightly, he did not use my work without my permission he blatantly coppied all my work and passed it off as his own research.
I asked the editor in what format he received the data and he confirmed that it was by email with an attached spreadsheet, when I asked if I could have a copy he said he would have to speak with the legal department of the newspaper. I am unsure of how to proceed on that matter. Okay I think I have added enough to my response, and I now intend to dead the correspondence that passed between Annh to see any parallels with my own situation, then I need to sit down and formulate my own plan of attack so to speak!!
Again many thanks for all the trouble you have gone to in presenting me with so many scenario's my head is swimming, I will of course be back again when I finally decide on how to proceed on Thursday, kind regards
First of all can I thank you for the incredibly detailed response that I have received from you in relation to my situation with the blatant plagiarism of my work, the question for me is to now, sit down and read your reply through a number of times to make sure I am clear on the direction that I need to take regarding using the small claims track to pursue the person responsible for producing an almost carbon copy of my work and passing it off in a 47 page local newspaper supplement as his own work of research.
Of course I had not thought of the spreadsheet database that he has created too, that raises further issues for me to consider, and while on that subject I think that I ought to also highlight a further situation that now comes to mind.
After my books were published they became very popular with many WW1 researchers as they were the first books to actually identify all of the casualties from the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland for the period of the Great War, no other work of its kind had previously existed, this discovery of my father's proved the catalyst for his vision of creating the Roll of Honour in the first place, and became, until his untimely passing his life's passion, after his loss I continued the work to its final publication in five volumes in 2008.
The books were all sold out within two years, and Leicestershire County Council purchased 28 full sets to place in the reference sections of all of their main libraries, following on from this purchase a War Memorial Project team was developed by the Council, and its newly elected leader requested an informal meeting with me which took place at my home, at this meeting we reached an agreement that they could use my database within the casualty section of their website, the terms being agreed that I retained ownership of all the material, and additionally I was to be the sole administrator, and to this end I usually visit the website every two weeks to add new material, or indeed make any necessary corrections and additions of newly discovered casualties. There is no financial gain for me from this venture as I am remaining true to my late fathers wishes of making available all the information for the public to access at little or no cost to themselves, the books by the way, were self published by myself and as such I took on the total financial cost involved, and once the publication costs had been met all the profits were donated in accordance with my late fathers wishes to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Maidenhead to the fund that pays for the upkeep of the cemeteries and memorials throughout the world in which our fallen are coomemorated or lie sleeping.
Moving on from this scenario I was also approached by the Website FindmyPast who wished to use my database, but in this case there was a contract drawn up that protected my ownership of the material and there was also a finacial gain involved in a percentage of the royalties being paid to me as the owner of the material, but as in the case of the books all the royalties have been paid to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, so I have gained nothing financially from the venture, having said that it was never an intention to generate any financial gain from the books, the whole purpose of my father's original idea was to bring together all of the names, and whatever information that could be added to their entries and present them all in an accessible format for future generations to appreciate the great sacrifice that had been made by Leicestershire and Rutland in the Great War.
Which of course now raises the question of the man who has created his own spreadsheet database of my work, and had it published in a newspaper supplement and as such was circulated to a readership in their thousands, and at a meeting recently he was actively seeking a sponsor to launch his own website using the same data, so the urgency of my acting to stop this continued infringement of my work becomes more so given his obvious blatant disregard of the meaning of copyright.
The other issue of concern to me is that it appears that the small claims track wishes the claimant to have made an effort to reach a settlement of a dispute before recourse to the court, however I wrote to the person concerend a two page letter setting out my grievances and I also gave him the option of resolving the issues by his meeting a number of demands that I set out, however I have received no reply to that letter whatever, and on Thursday the 28 days that I gave him expire. So would the court view that as an attempt by me to resolve the issue prior to taking court action? Also I now understand from a telephone call with the editor of the newspaper that published the supplement that the person involved telephoned him and enquired if he could write a letter to the letters page to apologise for using my work without my permission!! That is to put it lightly, he did not use my work without my permission he blatantly coppied all my work and passed it off as his own research.
I asked the editor in what format he received the data and he confirmed that it was by email with an attached spreadsheet, when I asked if I could have a copy he said he would have to speak with the legal department of the newspaper. I am unsure of how to proceed on that matter. Okay I think I have added enough to my response, and I now intend to dead the correspondence that passed between Annh to see any parallels with my own situation, then I need to sit down and formulate my own plan of attack so to speak!!
Again many thanks for all the trouble you have gone to in presenting me with so many scenario's my head is swimming, I will of course be back again when I finally decide on how to proceed on Thursday, kind regards
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
Hi Peter,
Thank you for all the extra detail about this project to which you and your late father have obviously devoted so much time and effort.
From that informtion it is even clearer that database right is an appropriate basis for your claim. Although copyright is ideal for protecting works such as fiction, drama, music or paintings etc which are entirely the creation of the mind, historical non-fiction works always pose problems because because major parts of them - the facts - are usually not protectable per se under copyright law. Thus if someone uses your material to publish a list of the fallen, while this is obviously plagiarism, it may not amount to copyright infringement. As I explained, database right protects the underlying investment (in effort as well as financial) required to assemble a database, irrespective of whether the contents of the database are subject to copyright or not. You can find a more detailed explanation of the difference between the two rights set out here.
Given this was a labour of love, and your generosity in donating the profits to the CWG, I would hate for you to incur any financial costs, and possibly more significantly, any emotional stress in trying to resolve this issue. Maybe the courts are not the best option in your case. Certainly, I think you will have little difficulty in bringing a successful claim, but I worry that the stress may outweigh any benefit you will gain. Ann H's thread demonstrates the stress and frustration which can occur with litigation, not to mention the fact that it can be time-consuming.
Therefore some form of mediation may well be more appropriate in your case. However this does require the other party to co-operate and at present he appears not to wish to do that.
You mention FindMyPast. As you have licensed them to use your work, they may be keen to protect their investment from this sort of exploitation and so may be prepared to take on the litigation aspects on your behalf. They have deep pockets and will instruct good lawyers if they think this is a worthwhile endeavour. It may be worth discussing this with your contact at the company. I think it less likely that the County Council will want to get involved, firstly as there is no contractual relationship in place, and secondly as they are not commercial business, they have less motive to become involved. And of course there may be some mileage in getting the local newspaper to run a story about how you have been wronged. If this man is local to the same counties, a public shaming of this sort may well be a cheap and satisfying method of achieving your aim of exposing this man for what he is.
Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck, and wish you well with the next edition of your book.
Thank you for all the extra detail about this project to which you and your late father have obviously devoted so much time and effort.
From that informtion it is even clearer that database right is an appropriate basis for your claim. Although copyright is ideal for protecting works such as fiction, drama, music or paintings etc which are entirely the creation of the mind, historical non-fiction works always pose problems because because major parts of them - the facts - are usually not protectable per se under copyright law. Thus if someone uses your material to publish a list of the fallen, while this is obviously plagiarism, it may not amount to copyright infringement. As I explained, database right protects the underlying investment (in effort as well as financial) required to assemble a database, irrespective of whether the contents of the database are subject to copyright or not. You can find a more detailed explanation of the difference between the two rights set out here.
Given this was a labour of love, and your generosity in donating the profits to the CWG, I would hate for you to incur any financial costs, and possibly more significantly, any emotional stress in trying to resolve this issue. Maybe the courts are not the best option in your case. Certainly, I think you will have little difficulty in bringing a successful claim, but I worry that the stress may outweigh any benefit you will gain. Ann H's thread demonstrates the stress and frustration which can occur with litigation, not to mention the fact that it can be time-consuming.
Therefore some form of mediation may well be more appropriate in your case. However this does require the other party to co-operate and at present he appears not to wish to do that.
You mention FindMyPast. As you have licensed them to use your work, they may be keen to protect their investment from this sort of exploitation and so may be prepared to take on the litigation aspects on your behalf. They have deep pockets and will instruct good lawyers if they think this is a worthwhile endeavour. It may be worth discussing this with your contact at the company. I think it less likely that the County Council will want to get involved, firstly as there is no contractual relationship in place, and secondly as they are not commercial business, they have less motive to become involved. And of course there may be some mileage in getting the local newspaper to run a story about how you have been wronged. If this man is local to the same counties, a public shaming of this sort may well be a cheap and satisfying method of achieving your aim of exposing this man for what he is.
Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck, and wish you well with the next edition of your book.
Advice or comment provided here is not and does not purport to be legal advice as defined by s.12 of Legal Services Act 2007
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
Hi Andy
Further to your last, I attach a statement from a member of Leicestershire County Council War Memorial Project team regarding the person in question, who I very much doubt would engage in any form of mediation, given that he has had ample time to make contact, almost five weeks now since I made him aware of my displeasure.
I attended last meeting of the WW1 Centenary Reference Group, which was held at County Hall on the 5th September. -?- was also present at this meeting and at some point, probably towards the end when we went around the table giving everyone the opportunity to update the group on the various activities/events that were taking place- -?- told the room about his ongoing project. He said that he had a set of your books which he was using to create a database which records every WW1 casualty from Leics and Rutland. He said that to make this easier, he had torn the books apart, placing the loose pages into ring binders, and that he was then inputting all the data into a spreadsheet. He said he was working with others to do this, and that they had nearly finished- it had taken them a couple of years to do and he cited a very specific number of records- 14, 000 and something- I can’t remember what this was now. He said they were adding to this database as new information came to light, with photographs etc- he appeared to suggest that they had collected photographs for most of the casualties. He went on to say that when they had finished the data entry, they would be looking for a repository for their work, somewhere to host to host their database- and were looking for suggestions.
At this point I spoke up- reminding -?- and the room of the LCCs own War Memorials Project, based on the long standing agreement that we have with you- I said that we already had a live database of the county’s war casualties that we were adding to all the time- I said that during the course of our partnership we had with you, we had identified a number of missing casualties and duplicate entries and so the very specific figure he mentioned was no longer accurate. I also said that we might have photographs in our records that are missing from his, and vice versa. I said it was a shame that instead of working in isolation, he couldn’t have worked with us, to provide one complete record- I asked him if he had spoken to you about his project and he didn’t answer- he just said that he knew you well and wondered how you were, as he had heard that you had been quite unwell. He said we should talk further after the meeting- which we did. He talked to me for about 40 minutes afterwards- we exchanged email addresses and he said that as soon as he got home he would email me a copy of his database spreadsheet. I didn’t receive any email from him- I’ve not heard anything from him since.
After the meeting I spoke to -?- and -?- about -?--I’d not met him before and I didn’t know what to make of it all- I couldn’t believe he was unaware of the LCC project having sat on the same committee group with -?- for 4 years. I also spoke to -?- about it the following week- he was at the same meeting, and I wanted to know what he thought, about -?- himself really, so I could work out what to do.
After seeing the newspaper article and then having spoken to you about the matter, I asked -?-, my contact in the Lieutenancy Office for a copy of the minutes of that meeting. He sent these to me, but I am afraid that they are not accurate. I am not even listed as having attended, although later on in Sections 6 and 8, my comments on other matters are noted. And it does not mention anything at all about -?- project, which is not helpful. I am attaching them here anyway, so you can see who else was there at least.
I have inserted question marks to protect the identities of persons at the meeting and wonder whether this statement would be admissible in evidence for my claim against the defendant, who I am afraid, whatever the stress and time involved in using the samll claims track is worthy of pursuing to stop his continued abuse of my material, kind regards
Further to your last, I attach a statement from a member of Leicestershire County Council War Memorial Project team regarding the person in question, who I very much doubt would engage in any form of mediation, given that he has had ample time to make contact, almost five weeks now since I made him aware of my displeasure.
I attended last meeting of the WW1 Centenary Reference Group, which was held at County Hall on the 5th September. -?- was also present at this meeting and at some point, probably towards the end when we went around the table giving everyone the opportunity to update the group on the various activities/events that were taking place- -?- told the room about his ongoing project. He said that he had a set of your books which he was using to create a database which records every WW1 casualty from Leics and Rutland. He said that to make this easier, he had torn the books apart, placing the loose pages into ring binders, and that he was then inputting all the data into a spreadsheet. He said he was working with others to do this, and that they had nearly finished- it had taken them a couple of years to do and he cited a very specific number of records- 14, 000 and something- I can’t remember what this was now. He said they were adding to this database as new information came to light, with photographs etc- he appeared to suggest that they had collected photographs for most of the casualties. He went on to say that when they had finished the data entry, they would be looking for a repository for their work, somewhere to host to host their database- and were looking for suggestions.
At this point I spoke up- reminding -?- and the room of the LCCs own War Memorials Project, based on the long standing agreement that we have with you- I said that we already had a live database of the county’s war casualties that we were adding to all the time- I said that during the course of our partnership we had with you, we had identified a number of missing casualties and duplicate entries and so the very specific figure he mentioned was no longer accurate. I also said that we might have photographs in our records that are missing from his, and vice versa. I said it was a shame that instead of working in isolation, he couldn’t have worked with us, to provide one complete record- I asked him if he had spoken to you about his project and he didn’t answer- he just said that he knew you well and wondered how you were, as he had heard that you had been quite unwell. He said we should talk further after the meeting- which we did. He talked to me for about 40 minutes afterwards- we exchanged email addresses and he said that as soon as he got home he would email me a copy of his database spreadsheet. I didn’t receive any email from him- I’ve not heard anything from him since.
After the meeting I spoke to -?- and -?- about -?--I’d not met him before and I didn’t know what to make of it all- I couldn’t believe he was unaware of the LCC project having sat on the same committee group with -?- for 4 years. I also spoke to -?- about it the following week- he was at the same meeting, and I wanted to know what he thought, about -?- himself really, so I could work out what to do.
After seeing the newspaper article and then having spoken to you about the matter, I asked -?-, my contact in the Lieutenancy Office for a copy of the minutes of that meeting. He sent these to me, but I am afraid that they are not accurate. I am not even listed as having attended, although later on in Sections 6 and 8, my comments on other matters are noted. And it does not mention anything at all about -?- project, which is not helpful. I am attaching them here anyway, so you can see who else was there at least.
I have inserted question marks to protect the identities of persons at the meeting and wonder whether this statement would be admissible in evidence for my claim against the defendant, who I am afraid, whatever the stress and time involved in using the samll claims track is worthy of pursuing to stop his continued abuse of my material, kind regards
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
Dear Peter
My advice is to try and keep it simple. At some stage in bringing a case to court IPEC will ask you to summerise your case on one side of an A4 sheet of paper. In my limited experience it helps to do that at an early stage.
Also, you mention the copying of mistakes. I once spoke to a map publisher and asked him how he could prove copyright of his maps as they had exactly the same information as other maps. He told me that it was the mistakes that were his original copyright.
My advice is to try and keep it simple. At some stage in bringing a case to court IPEC will ask you to summerise your case on one side of an A4 sheet of paper. In my limited experience it helps to do that at an early stage.
Also, you mention the copying of mistakes. I once spoke to a map publisher and asked him how he could prove copyright of his maps as they had exactly the same information as other maps. He told me that it was the mistakes that were his original copyright.
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
Hi Peter,
Yes that statement from your contact at the Centenary Reference Group would certainly assist your case, as it is evidence that -?- (as we may call him) clearly acknowledged that he was copying your work. It is also useful as it tends to establish that he copied the entirety of your database. This is important because there have been database claims in the past which have failed because the claimant had not established that a substantial amount of the database was extracted - a necessary requirement under Regulation 16 of the Database Regulations 1997.
You should ask you contact if he would mind toping and tailing the statement with a short introductory paragraph in which he identifies himself and his position within the Centenary Reference Group or War Memorial Project Team, and a concluding paragraph containing the following statement: "I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true." And then he needs to sign and date it. If the matter goes to court, the defendant -?- may seek to challenge this evidence if -?- also has a copy of the official minutes of the meeting, and if so, it might be necessary for your contact to appear as a witness at the hearing. That said, since I assume there were plenty of other witnesses (eg the other people mentioned in the statement) to those events, it would be difficult for -?- to undermine your witness's credibility.
Just a final word about discussing too much detail here. From what you have already told us, it would be perfectly possible for -?- to find this thread accidently using a search engine, even if he was only looking for information about what to do in event of facing an infringement claim. Therefore you should be circumspect in how much you reveal about your strategy. By all means continue to talk about the main facts which -?- will already know, since to do so may demonstrate to him how weak his position is, and why he should consider entering into some sort of mediation/reconcilliation. But he doesn't need to know all the details of your case or your witnesses until much later. And just to add to ATMOSBOB's remarks, you need to have a very clear idea of exactly what remedies you are seeking. The injunction and the forfeiture of the infinging material are clear enough, but the matter of financial damages and any additional damages, needs to be thought through carefully. Theoretically damages are based on either the actual loss you have suffered due to the infringement, or the unlawful profits -?- has made through infringing your work. Additional damages are at the discretion of the court, but you should certainly be eligible for them based on the flagrancy and widespread nature of -?-'s activities.
Yes that statement from your contact at the Centenary Reference Group would certainly assist your case, as it is evidence that -?- (as we may call him) clearly acknowledged that he was copying your work. It is also useful as it tends to establish that he copied the entirety of your database. This is important because there have been database claims in the past which have failed because the claimant had not established that a substantial amount of the database was extracted - a necessary requirement under Regulation 16 of the Database Regulations 1997.
You should ask you contact if he would mind toping and tailing the statement with a short introductory paragraph in which he identifies himself and his position within the Centenary Reference Group or War Memorial Project Team, and a concluding paragraph containing the following statement: "I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true." And then he needs to sign and date it. If the matter goes to court, the defendant -?- may seek to challenge this evidence if -?- also has a copy of the official minutes of the meeting, and if so, it might be necessary for your contact to appear as a witness at the hearing. That said, since I assume there were plenty of other witnesses (eg the other people mentioned in the statement) to those events, it would be difficult for -?- to undermine your witness's credibility.
Just a final word about discussing too much detail here. From what you have already told us, it would be perfectly possible for -?- to find this thread accidently using a search engine, even if he was only looking for information about what to do in event of facing an infringement claim. Therefore you should be circumspect in how much you reveal about your strategy. By all means continue to talk about the main facts which -?- will already know, since to do so may demonstrate to him how weak his position is, and why he should consider entering into some sort of mediation/reconcilliation. But he doesn't need to know all the details of your case or your witnesses until much later. And just to add to ATMOSBOB's remarks, you need to have a very clear idea of exactly what remedies you are seeking. The injunction and the forfeiture of the infinging material are clear enough, but the matter of financial damages and any additional damages, needs to be thought through carefully. Theoretically damages are based on either the actual loss you have suffered due to the infringement, or the unlawful profits -?- has made through infringing your work. Additional damages are at the discretion of the court, but you should certainly be eligible for them based on the flagrancy and widespread nature of -?-'s activities.
Advice or comment provided here is not and does not purport to be legal advice as defined by s.12 of Legal Services Act 2007
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
Hi Andy
Again many thanks for your continued advice and yes I need to be mindful of what I divulge, however on the last topic mentioned by you of what I desire in settlement, as I made clear in my letter to -?- I require an immmediate stop to his unfringing, I require all the material that he has copied to be placed into my possession and additionally I want a public apology regarding his claim that the work was all his own work. To these demands I have received no reply from -?-.
This morning the newspaper editor telephoned me to say that he had tried to contact -?- to obtain his permission to send me the spreadsheet used for the newspaper supplement, as yet with no reply from -?-. However I have received an assurance that the editor will keep a copy of the spreadsheet should the court require it to be produced in evidence.
Where I am at a loss as to what to do, is in the matter of damages, he has not made any financial gain from my work as he has not published it for sale, except in the newspaper supplement, the supplement by the way has sold out and is now unavailabel such was the demand!! He only holds the information in a spreadsheet database, but I am mindful that upon republishing my books next year there may be a loss of revenue due to his having placed the list of names from my original work into the public domain via the newspaper supplement. But how do you quantify those sorts of financial losses? And additionally what grounds do I have to seek other damages? Apologies for the long winded and ever more complicated thread, and I am so very grateful for all the excellent advice that I have so far been given by you, I feel far more confident in what I intend to do now, and in fact am relishing the opportunity to move matters along to what could be an interesting scenario. Obviously his non response to my original letter and dare I say it, olive branch makes me curious to see how he reacts to the court process being activated, and my interest is of course what his defence will be, but that is some time in the future and reading of the experience of AnnH could be a long drawn out process, we shall see, kind regards
Again many thanks for your continued advice and yes I need to be mindful of what I divulge, however on the last topic mentioned by you of what I desire in settlement, as I made clear in my letter to -?- I require an immmediate stop to his unfringing, I require all the material that he has copied to be placed into my possession and additionally I want a public apology regarding his claim that the work was all his own work. To these demands I have received no reply from -?-.
This morning the newspaper editor telephoned me to say that he had tried to contact -?- to obtain his permission to send me the spreadsheet used for the newspaper supplement, as yet with no reply from -?-. However I have received an assurance that the editor will keep a copy of the spreadsheet should the court require it to be produced in evidence.
Where I am at a loss as to what to do, is in the matter of damages, he has not made any financial gain from my work as he has not published it for sale, except in the newspaper supplement, the supplement by the way has sold out and is now unavailabel such was the demand!! He only holds the information in a spreadsheet database, but I am mindful that upon republishing my books next year there may be a loss of revenue due to his having placed the list of names from my original work into the public domain via the newspaper supplement. But how do you quantify those sorts of financial losses? And additionally what grounds do I have to seek other damages? Apologies for the long winded and ever more complicated thread, and I am so very grateful for all the excellent advice that I have so far been given by you, I feel far more confident in what I intend to do now, and in fact am relishing the opportunity to move matters along to what could be an interesting scenario. Obviously his non response to my original letter and dare I say it, olive branch makes me curious to see how he reacts to the court process being activated, and my interest is of course what his defence will be, but that is some time in the future and reading of the experience of AnnH could be a long drawn out process, we shall see, kind regards
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
I now find myself faced with completing my Form N1, where I understand the Brief Details of Claim section would be to quote the relevent paragraphs and sections under the CDPA 1988 and the CRDR 1997, and my version of how they have been compromised by the defendent and in addition I then state what I want the court to do on my behalf regarding reparations for the infringing.
Where I am struggling is the Particulars of Claim section: Do I list all the evidence I wish to produce to the court under this section? And if so how do I provide copies of all of this evidence to the defendent in the form of, for example the five volumes of books that he has plagiarised and also website images of his infringing?
I look forward to any helpful guidance, regards Peter
Where I am struggling is the Particulars of Claim section: Do I list all the evidence I wish to produce to the court under this section? And if so how do I provide copies of all of this evidence to the defendent in the form of, for example the five volumes of books that he has plagiarised and also website images of his infringing?
I look forward to any helpful guidance, regards Peter
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
Hi Peter,
The important thing about your Particulars of Claim is to give the court sufficient information for the reviewing judge to conclude that you have a viable claim. Set out the particulars as you would to someone with no prior knowledge of the facts. Try to follow the formula of stating what you think the defendant -?- has done and why you think this. As ATMOSBOB said a few entries above, you need to be brief, although as you will have two heads of claim, copyright and database infringement, you can exceed the one A4 page he advises.
Briefly explain how the data was researched and how it was compiled and laid out in the book (you could append a typical page from the book). Include as many relevant dates as you can to provide context. Just some overall statistics should do. You don't need to go into all the detail about the 5 volumes and how much was taken from each. For example, your 5 volumes listed nearly 14,000 names and -?- claims to have created a database of 14,000 names, meaning that he has taken a subsantial part of your work. Also quote the number of names etc which appeared in the newspaper supplement (if I recall correctly, I think you said it was all of them from your book) with a reference to the newspaper and date. Then point to errors in your research which were copied into his, as this is good evidence that he copied your work and did not obtain the facts from the same sources as you. For the copyright claim you need to highlight the instances (the quantity not the actual wording) where -?- has copied your original creativity, such as any introduction, comments or explanatory remarks. For the database claim you need to briefly describe the investment (in terms of time, financial outlay etc) that you (and your late father) put into obtaining, verifying and presenting the contents of the database which comprises your book. I suspect that the actual amount of time you put into this will have been considerable. It doesn't matter that you were doing this voluntarily, because the way you would have expected to recoup this investment was through selling your book, and this has been seriously damaged by -?-'s actions. You could certainly append a printout of his website showing the alleged infringing entries, but you don't need to provide copies of all 5 volumes. I doubt that the fact that you authored these volumes will be contested by -?-; he is more likely to try and claim that he got his information in the same way you did (hence the need to highlight the repetition of your errors in his work). You should also mention that you intend to submit statement(s) from the members of the Centenary Reference Group who were present when -?- openly admitted that he had taken the names from your book. Obviously you will need to check beforehand that they will be prepared to do this. If you have any evidence that -?- bought a copy of your book (eg a sales invoice), then mention this as it establishes that -?- had primary access to your work. Obviously since the book was available in some local libraries, it is not essential to prove the access point. And finally state that at no time did you give -?- permission to use your data in the way that he did. He will no doubt claim that because the content of your book was available through the County libraries you had effectively given blanket permission for anyone to use your data. This is not a defence to database infringement (or to copyright infringement), unless you had explicitly issued the data with an open access licence of some sort, which I assume you did not. This is because database right is infringed in the following way
And as you have said, you need to clearly set out what remedies you are seeking. The injunction and surrendering up of his materials part is relatively straightforward. However putting a figure to the damages you are seeking will be more difficult. Both heads of claim relate to the same thing: namely the amount of time you invested in the project, and the value of the lost book sales which you feel will be attributable to -?-'s actions. I'm not really able to help on that.
The important thing about your Particulars of Claim is to give the court sufficient information for the reviewing judge to conclude that you have a viable claim. Set out the particulars as you would to someone with no prior knowledge of the facts. Try to follow the formula of stating what you think the defendant -?- has done and why you think this. As ATMOSBOB said a few entries above, you need to be brief, although as you will have two heads of claim, copyright and database infringement, you can exceed the one A4 page he advises.
Briefly explain how the data was researched and how it was compiled and laid out in the book (you could append a typical page from the book). Include as many relevant dates as you can to provide context. Just some overall statistics should do. You don't need to go into all the detail about the 5 volumes and how much was taken from each. For example, your 5 volumes listed nearly 14,000 names and -?- claims to have created a database of 14,000 names, meaning that he has taken a subsantial part of your work. Also quote the number of names etc which appeared in the newspaper supplement (if I recall correctly, I think you said it was all of them from your book) with a reference to the newspaper and date. Then point to errors in your research which were copied into his, as this is good evidence that he copied your work and did not obtain the facts from the same sources as you. For the copyright claim you need to highlight the instances (the quantity not the actual wording) where -?- has copied your original creativity, such as any introduction, comments or explanatory remarks. For the database claim you need to briefly describe the investment (in terms of time, financial outlay etc) that you (and your late father) put into obtaining, verifying and presenting the contents of the database which comprises your book. I suspect that the actual amount of time you put into this will have been considerable. It doesn't matter that you were doing this voluntarily, because the way you would have expected to recoup this investment was through selling your book, and this has been seriously damaged by -?-'s actions. You could certainly append a printout of his website showing the alleged infringing entries, but you don't need to provide copies of all 5 volumes. I doubt that the fact that you authored these volumes will be contested by -?-; he is more likely to try and claim that he got his information in the same way you did (hence the need to highlight the repetition of your errors in his work). You should also mention that you intend to submit statement(s) from the members of the Centenary Reference Group who were present when -?- openly admitted that he had taken the names from your book. Obviously you will need to check beforehand that they will be prepared to do this. If you have any evidence that -?- bought a copy of your book (eg a sales invoice), then mention this as it establishes that -?- had primary access to your work. Obviously since the book was available in some local libraries, it is not essential to prove the access point. And finally state that at no time did you give -?- permission to use your data in the way that he did. He will no doubt claim that because the content of your book was available through the County libraries you had effectively given blanket permission for anyone to use your data. This is not a defence to database infringement (or to copyright infringement), unless you had explicitly issued the data with an open access licence of some sort, which I assume you did not. This is because database right is infringed in the following way
16.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part, a person infringes database right in a database if, without the consent of the owner of the right, he extracts or re-utilises all or a substantial part of the contents of the database.
(2) For the purposes of this Part, the repeated and systematic extraction or re-utilisation of insubstantial parts of the contents of a database may amount to the extraction or re-utilisation of a substantial part of those contents.
And as you have said, you need to clearly set out what remedies you are seeking. The injunction and surrendering up of his materials part is relatively straightforward. However putting a figure to the damages you are seeking will be more difficult. Both heads of claim relate to the same thing: namely the amount of time you invested in the project, and the value of the lost book sales which you feel will be attributable to -?-'s actions. I'm not really able to help on that.
Advice or comment provided here is not and does not purport to be legal advice as defined by s.12 of Legal Services Act 2007
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
Andy
Many thanks for your most helpful response, and my apologies for the long delay in getting back to you but within two days of your reply to me and my beginning to formulate my paperwork for the IPEC, a most bizarre event occurred. Early in the morning when opening the blinds, my wife noted a white object at the end of the driveway by the pedestrian gate at my home, on informing me of the discovery I walked to the gate and could see that it was in fact a white plastic carrier bag, tightly sealed with a hand written note sellotaped to it saying from -?- for the attention of myself by name. Taking the heavy parcel indoors and very carefully opening it, I discovered that it was all the pages (1,632) of my five volume publication, stripped of their front and back covers and all the introductory pages to each volume also missing, so as to obviously conceal the authors name, at the sides of the pages they had all been hole punched, giving the impression that they had been contained in A4 ring binders. This now confirms the witness statement I have that -?- was passing these books off at an event as if they were his own work. What has really puzzled me is that he has literally now given me further evidence of his plagiarism that I can take along to court to present as part of my case against his actions. I am now at a loss as to what he may do next, as I am hoping by midweek to have received my final witness statement, and as such then hope to complete my Form N1 and post it to the IPEC. I look forward with interest to what you think of this latest development, regards
Peter
Many thanks for your most helpful response, and my apologies for the long delay in getting back to you but within two days of your reply to me and my beginning to formulate my paperwork for the IPEC, a most bizarre event occurred. Early in the morning when opening the blinds, my wife noted a white object at the end of the driveway by the pedestrian gate at my home, on informing me of the discovery I walked to the gate and could see that it was in fact a white plastic carrier bag, tightly sealed with a hand written note sellotaped to it saying from -?- for the attention of myself by name. Taking the heavy parcel indoors and very carefully opening it, I discovered that it was all the pages (1,632) of my five volume publication, stripped of their front and back covers and all the introductory pages to each volume also missing, so as to obviously conceal the authors name, at the sides of the pages they had all been hole punched, giving the impression that they had been contained in A4 ring binders. This now confirms the witness statement I have that -?- was passing these books off at an event as if they were his own work. What has really puzzled me is that he has literally now given me further evidence of his plagiarism that I can take along to court to present as part of my case against his actions. I am now at a loss as to what he may do next, as I am hoping by midweek to have received my final witness statement, and as such then hope to complete my Form N1 and post it to the IPEC. I look forward with interest to what you think of this latest development, regards
Peter
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
Hi Peter,
Yes I think bizarre describes it pretty well. Maybe he thinks this will be sufficient to stop you from pursuing the matter! A bit naive if he does, since there is undoubtedly another copy in digital format still in his possession.
Yes I think bizarre describes it pretty well. Maybe he thinks this will be sufficient to stop you from pursuing the matter! A bit naive if he does, since there is undoubtedly another copy in digital format still in his possession.
Advice or comment provided here is not and does not purport to be legal advice as defined by s.12 of Legal Services Act 2007
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
Hi Andy
I have to admit to have been stunned at the time, however as I said, I fully intend to pursue the matter, and will keep you updated on what happens next, thanks again for all your most helpful input, kind regards
Peter
I have to admit to have been stunned at the time, however as I said, I fully intend to pursue the matter, and will keep you updated on what happens next, thanks again for all your most helpful input, kind regards
Peter
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
It's ironic that the document that he has returned to you is the only thing which doesn't infringe in some way, and which he might have legally retained, assuming he bought the book in the first place.
Advice or comment provided here is not and does not purport to be legal advice as defined by s.12 of Legal Services Act 2007
Re: The Small Clains Track and Copyright infringment:
Hi Andy, As an update to the continuing saga, I am still awaiting a witness statement, but have at last completed my particulars of claim, having written and re written it a number of times in order to break it down to being as clear and concise as I possibly can, it still runs to one and a half A4 pages though, and I have also added a short opening two paragraphs to explain how I have attempted to resolve the issue without recourse to the courts, I would welcome your comments, but feel it would be more appropriate to send it to you as a PM as I am very conscious regarding your earlier comment about not giving too much information away in open forum in case -?- stumbled upon it. Would that be okay with you, kind regards Peter