<nettime> Re: Notice of Intellectual Property Rights Infringement

[RTMark administration <admin@rtmark.com>]

     [orig To: "ALEXANDER KIM, BLOOMBERG/ NEW YORK" <AKIM1@bloomberg.net>]

Dear Charlene,

You have not written back to our last message. However, it has suddenly
come to our attention that Bloomberg, Inc. (hereafter referred to as
"Bloomberg") is making indecent use of RTMark material on its website. Most
notably among Bloomberg's ongoing series of acts that violate the interests
of news readers is a press release we sent out to news outlets on Dec. 29,
1999, with the full expectation that information within it would be
processed by professional or amateur journalists and turned into what is
commonly referred to as "news".

Your organization, counter to our expectations, took our press release and
simply republished it on its website (our archived copy:
http://www.rtmark.com/more/articles/etoybloomberg19991230.html).  Nowhere
in our Dec. 29, 1999 mailing did we suggest that such a practice by a
supposedly respectable news organization was acceptable or normal. It leads
us to think that you engage in such practice quite often, sometimes surely
with the press releases of far less savory enterprises than ours. It also
indicates that Bloomberg's processing of corporate p.r. effusions is in
general substandard and without proper critical distance, even when falling
short of outright reproduction.

You openly admit being in flagrante delicto in your letter of May 31, 2001,
posted for your convenience at http://rtmark.com/more/bloombergcd.doc .

Within ten (10) days:

 * supply, prominently on your website, written assurance that you, your
employees, agents and assigns will not in the future copy, sell and/or
distribute any material without prior proper journalistic treatment
thereof, especially when it originates with what you imagine are corporate
sources (as evidenced by May 31 letter cited above);
 * cease and desist any and all further distribution in print or
electronically of any insufficiently treated corporate press releases;
 * recall and impound any copies of such above-referenced material and
provide to us or any media watchdog group a list of all persons and
entities to whom such material has been distributed in any form;
 * surrender for destruction or creative use all inventory in your
possession or control of advertising, promotional or other materials
deriving from this material, if any; and
 * supply a written statement of any and all possible secondary or tertiary
misuse resulting from your sale or distribution of any such poorly
processed corporate material.

The above does not constitute an offer of settlement and is sent without
prejudice to any rights or claims of any media watchdog group, all of which
expressly are reserved.

Very truly yours,

Harmony Gutenberg Aldritchson
RTMark Tactics Department

http://rtmark.com/
Turning information resources into emotional capital.

On Fri, 1 Jun 2001, RTMark admin wrote:

> Dear Charlene,
> 
> Thank you for being so clear about your concerns. Clarity is the beginning
> of solution. And solution is the beginning of health. We do recognize,
> contrary to what you say, that there is a problem, and we are trying our
> best to rectify that problem.
>  
> For more on our rectification strategies, please visit our FAQ at
> http://rtmark.com/faq.html. You may be especially interested in the
> section entitled "Our relationship with Bloomberg".
>
> Best wishes,
> Harmony
>
> http://rtmark.com/
> Turning information resources into emotional capital.
>
> On Fri, 1 Jun 2001, ALEXANDER KIM, BLOOMBERG/ NEW YORK wrote:
>
> > Dear Harmony:
> >
> > You seem to refuse to understand that your company is engaged in illegal
> > activity. I do not appreciate your sarcasm nor the fact that your company is
> > infringing on Bloomberg's copyrights and trade mark. Remove the infringing
> > webpage from your website as soon as possible, or this matter will be
> > escalated. This is not an offer to settle and it is made without prejudice.
> > Bloomberg reserves all of its rights to all avenues of relief, including 
> > but not limited to legal, equitable, and criminal arena.
> >
> > Alexander Kim, Esq.
> >
> >> Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 16:59:09 -0400 (EDT)
> >> From: RTMark admin <admin@rtmark.com>
> >> To: "ALEXANDER KIM, BLOOMBERG/ NEW YORK" <AKIM1@bloomberg.net>
> >> Bcc: Frank Guerrero <frank@rtmark.com>
> >> Subject: Re: Your Reply
> >> 
> >> Dear Charlene,
> >> 
> >> We understand how difficult it must be to run an enterprise such as
> >> Bloomberg, Inc., in the face of all the adversity hurled your way. We will
> >> therefore clearly indicate on each of the pages you're worried about that
> >> these are NOT actual Bloomberg pages, but have been copied from
> >> Bloomberg.com for the purposes of the free dissemination of
> >> information. Your concerns will be noted for passers-by.
> >> 
> >> I, however, am no good at technical matters. Mr. Thomas is not very
> >> reachable. More soon.
> >> 
> >> Harmony
> >> 
> >> http://rtmark.com/
> >> Turning information resources into emotional capital.
> >> 
> >> On Fri, 1 Jun 2001, ALEXANDER KIM, BLOOMBERG/ NEW YORK wrote:
> >> 
> >> > Dear Harmony Gutenberg Aldritchson:
> >> > 
> >> > Thank you for your reply. For your and Mr. Thomas' information, your 
> >> > company failed to obtain a permission and or a license to post 
> >> > Bloomberg copyrighted articles on your website. In addition, your 
> >> > company does not have any rights to mirror any Bloomberg web page nor 
> >> > contents therein. The permissible use of the Bloomberg website is for 
> >> > you to provide a simple hypertext link to the home page of the 
> >> > Bloomberg.com. Therefore, Bloomberg will not provide you with
> >> > publicly accessible URLs, and once again request that your website 
> >> > remove and delete content from your web server. In case your company 
> >> > desires to use any of copyrighted Bloomberg content in the future, I 
> >> > am attaching a Permission Request form which must be filled out for 
> >> > each article in order for your company to obtain a license. Please 
> >> > reply to let  me know how soon the infringing article will be removed 
> >> > from your website. Regards ... Alexander Kim, Esq.
> >> >> 
> >> >>Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 15:04:31 -0400 (EDT)
> >> >>From: RTMark admin <admin@rtmark.com>
> >> >>To: "CHARLENE FRIEDLANDER, BLOOMBERG/ INTERN" 
> >> >>   <CFRIEDLANDE1@bloomberg.net>
> >> >>Bcc: Frank Guerrero <frank@rtmark.com>
> >> >>Subject: Re: Notice of Intellectual Property Rights Infringement
> >> >>
> >> >>Dear Charlene Friedlander, Bloomberg/ Intern:
> >> >>
> >> >>Thanks! This is the first cease-and-desist threat we've ever gotten! We
> >> >>will cherish it for a nice long time.
> >> >>
> >> >>I will pass it on, as well, to Mr. Thomas, who is currently vacationing 
> >> >>in Tahiti. I believe his cellular phone has worldwide receiving
> >> >>capabilities. He will want to see this right quick!!
> >> >>
> >> >>Also, I can advise you that it is RTMark policy to mirror only those news
> >> >>items that are no longer available on the providing site. If you can send
> >> >>us publicly accessible URLs, we will gladly destroy utterly the files you
> >> >>mention and link to your versions instead.
> >> >>
> >> >>Yours very truly,
> >> >>
> >> >>Harmony Gutenberg Aldritchson
> >> >>RTMark Tactics Department
> >> >>
> >> >>http://rtmark.com/
> >> >>Turning information resources into emotional capital.
> >> >>
> >> >>On Fri, 1 Jun 2001, CHARLENE FRIEDLANDER, BLOOMBERG/ INTERN wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >>> Dear Ray Thomas or Current Administrator for <rtmark.com>:
> >> >>> 
> >> >>> Attached please find an important message regarding your use of 
> >> >>> the Bloomberg copyrighted materials and trademarks.
> >> >>> 
> >> >>> A favor of a reply is requested.
> >> >>> 
> >> >>> Sincerely,
> >> >>> 
> >> >>> Alexander Kim, Esq.
> >> >>> Bloomberg Legal Department

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