Bullying tactics, threats of libel - any legal/journo minds here?

[yaruar]

He'd be fine using the cover shot, he's covered by fair use.

from: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (c. 48)

30 Criticism, review and news reporting

(1) Fair dealing with a work for the purpose of criticism or review, of that or another work or of a performance of a work, does not infringe any copyright in the work provided that it is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.

.

 

[rynnor]

I'm not so sure - I had a look here - P-27: Using the copyright work of others

On fair use the criticism section only seems to cover excerpts of a written article rather than images.

Edit - and if I were to be really pedantic I would argue that he didnt actually review the image...

 

[Arnie 2Tone]

I like Lisa - she doesnt seem to realise the UK is a country seperate from the US that just might have its own legal traditions and laws

'Lisa' is still at it. This time she's referencing the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (a US copyright law). Incidentally, Lisa is posting from an IP address registered to a private network owned by a UK based horror magazine...

 

[rynnor]

'Lisa' is still at it. This time she's referencing the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (a US copyright law). Incidentally, Lisa is posting from an IP address registered to a private network owned by a UK based horror magazine...

<sigh> if the entity posting as Lisa et. al. keeps up it could start to constitute harassment which is of course a criminal offence in the UK.

Being upset is one thing but this is getting very silly.

 

[Arnie 2Tone]

It probably already does constitute harrassment. There's been threats of DoS attacks as well as homophobic insults from that IP, amongst other things. There's also someone pretending to be Jamie posting on the magazine's forum, using an image of him. What are the chances that the logged IP will match the private network used for all of the comments on his blog?

 

[DaGaffer]

Well, that was a soul destroying waste of 10 minutes. I'm not sure why people are bothering to engage with "Lisa" (or any of the other sockpuppets on there). The site owner should tell them to put up or shut up and piss off.

One thing though; everyone's banging on about UK law, the site is hosted by Wordpress, which means its in the USA; and US, not UK jurisdictions apply (funnily enough I heard this from the horse's mouth in person, Matt Wullenweg of Wordpress, only about two weeks ago). This is not a bad thing by the way, First Amendment and fair use rights are more than adequate in this context, including use of the contentious cover image.

 

[TdC]

lol what a bunch of nutbags tbh!

 

[Damini]

To be fair, when I first posted this thread it was about strong arm tactics - now it just seems to be about people who are slightly unhinged, assuming multiple personalities.

 

[Insane]

I dont think Matt Wullenweg of Wordpress would be happy about you calling him a horse on a public forum DaGaffer

 

[yaruar]

Gorezone lose at teh informationsuperhighwebz.:lol:

 

[Ch3tan]

Have we invaded the gorezone forums yet? If not why not? We can wake up teedles and wij and give them one last hoorah.

 

[Damini]

I not sure the forums actually exist. I think it's just like a fun fair hall of mirrors, with one man running around frantically wearing different hats, arguing with himself.

 

[Ch3tan]

GOREZONE - The Ultimate UK Horror Magazine - FORUM

*whistles*

 

[Cadiva]

I think even the cover was fair game. I've only studied a bit of law, and didn't really cover copyright law, but the UK statutes I've read would suggest that for the purposes of criticism, putting up a pic of the cover is fine provided it's already been made available to the public and the source is acknowledged.

Yup, being a journalist for 20 years, this is quite correct. You are legally entitled to use an illustration for the purposes of a legitimate critic without needing to ask permission from the copyright holder. Those posting the threats also need to be aware that internet anonymity does not give them protection. An internet poster was successfully sued for libel after making accusations against a member of the UK Independence Party via a bulletin board. She ended up having to fork out £10,000 in damages. It's an interesting case - http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,39259041,00.htm

Also, the alleged law students also haven't been reading up on their libel laws as views posted on the internet are counted as "spoken" rather than the written word due to the more casual nature of them.
http://www.lawdit.co.uk/reading_roo...les/5176-Bulletin-Boards-Slander-Or-Libel.htm

 

[Gumbo]

Well I for one will be cancelling my subscription tomorrow, if I had one, which I don't, but, there's boobies I understand? Maybe I should get a subscription, just for a bit, and then maybe I should cancel it in disgust.

 

[old.user4556]

Defamation?

That.

Regarding the OP, the internet is jam packed to the brim full of retards.

 

[Arnie 2Tone]

There's a sticky closed post on their forum now, telling their readers that Jamie is a liar and faked the reverse DNS lookup results. I think they might have just committed the heinous crime of "deformation"!

 

[pcg79]

lolcakes i just read their post addressing the 'hate campaign'

i wonder who the student's 'ringleaders' are ? i thought this bloke hadnt read this magazine in ages and was just piqued by an interesting article in the recent issue??

i have never heard of any writers, journos etc, getting their panties in such a twist by (effectively) a review of their work!

 

[Arnie 2Tone]

There's definitely some tin-foil hats in that camp!

 

[rynnor]

There's a sticky closed post on their forum now, telling their readers that Jamie is a liar and faked the reverse DNS lookup results. I think they might have just committed the heinous crime of "deformation"!

Pretty stupid - they are UK based and we have the most evil Libel laws in the world - its incredibly expensive to defend a case and most often fails adding to the damages which are often quite extreme - no way the magazine would survive if he chose to pursue it.

He should send them a letter (recorded delivery) requesting they remove the defamatory material from their forums - if they dont they really are idiots and doomed at trial.

 

[Sparx]

Or let it lie and it will be forgotten in a week and everyone moves on to someone else

 

[Ch3tan]

Or let it lie and it will be forgotten in a week and everyone moves on to someone else

I prefer rynnors suggestion to yours.

 

[Damini]

Why should he let it lie? Don't you think its rather disturbing behaviour for a published magazine to undertake, especially when you consider the "jamie" on their forums is fake? Someone is playing a very odd game.

 

[Sparx]

Ok well whats the result said person whats at the end? then think is all the hassle worth it?

Months of headache just to prove a point etc? I personally would just let it go and forget about it

 

[Tom]

Gorezone, the magazine so notable it doesn't even have its own badly-written Wiki article.

Nobody will be suing anybody, its simply too expensive. Hopefully the magazine's solicitor will send him a letter. If so, he should send one back requesting more information. Every time he does that, the solicitor's bill to the magazine goes up.

 

[Gumbo]

Just to save me wading through it again, what are they threatening to sue over? You can't sue for a bad review. When I skimmed it yesterday I didn't even think it was a review, so much as a request to tighten up the proofing and lower the tittie quotient.

 

[throdgrain]

Spoiler

 

[Malecheon]

Don't you think its rather disturbing behaviour for a published magazine to undertake

Just because it's a published magazine doesn't really count for much. I'm not familiar with the title, but it could just be some noddy little publication with a small reader base like 'Goat World' or 'International Car Park Design'*

*taken from Have I Got New for You guest publications.

 

[Arnie 2Tone]

In his rantings and ravings, the editor claims a readership of 424'000. A little digging (on their own website no less) reveals a publishing run of 80'000 a month. Perhaps he makes estimates for how many copies end up in toilets & waiting rooms and get flicked through by more than one person.

 

[throdgrain]

So anyway, how about a pigeon?