Claus-Dieter Zink takes measures against Lowlands Cup team

Well I'm glad I didn't decide to buy one of his calenders!


I can't really see what the guys problem is - you weren't
making any money out of it-you were trying to do something
to help promote gliding - surely if it caused him that
much offence he could have contacted you to remove
the item - strikes me Mr Zink is not much of a gentleman
- I think this action will harm him and his business
more than you.

Mr. Zink is at present heading a very successfull campaign against the
new JAR regulations in Germany see http://jar-contra.de

As far as his Copyright is concerned i am not sure he followed proper
procedures
1. Provide proof that it is his picture and that it is copyrighted
2. Ask for it to be removed immediatly
3. Find where else his picture was used on the net and ask them to
remove it.
4. If no action is taken proceed through legal channels.

Bruno

Mr. Zink is at present heading a very successfull campaign against the
new JAR regulations in Germany see http://jar-contra.de

As far as his Copyright is concerned i am not sure he followed proper
procedures
1. Provide proof that it is his picture and that it is copyrighted
2. Ask for it to be removed immediatly
3. Find where else his picture was used on the net and ask them to
remove it.
4. If no action is taken proceed through legal channels.

Bruno

Hi Ronald

I dont have millions of pictures but what ever I have
are freely available to any one who e mails me, including
CDZ.

If you do make some money from my pictures then a donation
to your natioanl team (and the proof) is all I ask.

Any one who is interested please e mail me direct

Regards

Ged

ps this could be a way of helping to fund your national
team
if others take it on board.

Their must be millions of private pictures out there
of good quality which could earn a penny or two for
the national team of the owners?


14:00 30 December 2005, Ronald Termaat wrote:
Hi All,

It was not the attempt to contact CDZ, it was the statement
from the
person who spoke in the name of CDZ saying it was ok.
To be sure we
also copied CDZ in this mailconversation. Now the claim
from the lawyer
is that he was not an official spokesperson.

A simple NO (or maybe even 'no thanks') would have
been enough. We did
something for the glidingcommunity and made a mistake
by using a small
picture found on the Internet (not on cdz site). Not
any way of
communication was possible with Mr Zink to settle this.
Only paying
1400 Euro's. Not really a nice way of settling an issue.

Indeed two lessons learned:
1. Always check what you use.
2. All people in the gliding community are friendly,
but some are more
friendly than others (original similar statements from
G.Orwell)

Hi Ronald

I dont have millions of pictures but what ever I have
are freely available to any one who e mails me, including
CDZ.

If you do make some money from my pictures then a donation
to your natioanl team (and the proof) is all I ask.

Any one who is interested please e mail me direct

Regards

Ged

ps this could be a way of helping to fund your national
team
if others take it on board.

Their must be millions of private pictures out there
of good quality which could earn a penny or two for
the national team of the owners?


14:00 30 December 2005, Ronald Termaat wrote:
Hi All,

It was not the attempt to contact CDZ, it was the statement
from the
person who spoke in the name of CDZ saying it was ok.
To be sure we
also copied CDZ in this mailconversation. Now the claim
from the lawyer
is that he was not an official spokesperson.

A simple NO (or maybe even 'no thanks') would have
been enough. We did
something for the glidingcommunity and made a mistake
by using a small
picture found on the Internet (not on cdz site). Not
any way of
communication was possible with Mr Zink to settle this.
Only paying
1400 Euro's. Not really a nice way of settling an issue.

Indeed two lessons learned:
1. Always check what you use.
2. All people in the gliding community are friendly,
but some are more
friendly than others (original similar statements from
G.Orwell)

Ged McKnight wrote:

If you do make some money from my pictures then a donation
to your natioanl team (and the proof) is all I ask.

I applaud and agree with your position.

What makes this particular situation so utterly peculiar is that this
photographer is going after a small group of guys (three?) who simply
organized an online "computer flight simulation" contest held via the
internet. No real gliders involved. Not a penny was earned or paid by
anyone or to anyone. Innocent fun. A good time was had by all. Until
the lawyer called. Knowing the details I just have to shake my head
and wonder.

Regards,

-Doug

I contacted Mr Zink to assist with the cause, and his reply reveals him
to be a quite reasonable man that is not doing this out of spite.

He simply reacted as any reasonable person would that is trying to
protect their lively hood.

He would probably have forgiven the infringement, but due to the fact
that there are legal fees that he has incurred to investigate the
matter puts him at a loss for this infringement, which would not be
fair to him at all.

I think it is only right that he be reimbursed for his incurred costs
due to some wrong performed by others....he should not be made to pay
the price for anothers wrong.

Everyone knows that copyright infringement occurs when the owner does
not approve the publication of something they do as a living....it is
very clear!

You should have waited for approval, and assumed it not approved until
he has emailed you to confirm it.

How would you like it if someone stole things that you use to earn your
livelyhood and gave it out for free?

Im sorry but I believe you have made a mistake and need to be
responsible for your actions, even though it was not intentional and
pay the price.

He is a reasonable man and would likely deal with you directly if you
are honest and upfront with him...avoiding any additional lawyer fees.

Ray Buhr

jb92563 schreef:

He simply reacted as any reasonable person would that is trying to
protect their lively hood.

He would probably have forgiven the infringement, but due to the fact
that there are legal fees that he has incurred to investigate the
matter puts him at a loss for this infringement, which would not be
fair to him at all.

Maybe you can also explain why in this case legal fees where required
at all ? There was no need to investigate anything, as *I* spontanously
contacted *him* after I found out about the source of the images (I
did, before we ever contacted by him, his lawyer or Mr Pfohl). A simple
'no" to my requests to maintain the banner and/or sponsor the event
would have seemed a lot more reasonable than having his lawyer send
€1.400 invoices, with liability claims in excess off €10.000.

Then also consider he sent those not to me, but to innocent young
people that had no responsability in this matter at all. That put me in
the situation of not being able to defend myself against these claims,
but having to choose between either paying (what i consider a grossly
unfair damage claim) or having friends face possible trial. Thats not
my idea of reasonable either.

I think it is only right that he be reimbursed for his incurred costs
due to some wrong performed by others....he should not be made to pay
the price for anothers wrong.

You may want to read the entire text on the LLC site, even though i
know its long. I did offer to pay for his damages, but he won't
negotiate.

You should have waited for approval, and assumed it not approved until
he has emailed you to confirm it.

How would you like it if someone stole things that you use to earn your
livelyhood and gave it out for free?

That might be a somewhat fair comparison if:
1) I, or anyone else made any money with this
2) actual damages would have occured to Mr Zinks business. No one can
seriously believe if I had known the source and price of the images, i
would have considered spending €600 on them. instead, I would have
used other ones that are free, with no impact on my "business", nor on
that of Mr Zink.
3) I did any of this in bad faith (like stealing a car). Believe it or
not, with maintaining the images while offering credits / links, i
actually thought to be protecting Mr Zinks business and provide a
win-win situation for all of us.

He is a reasonable man and would likely deal with you directly if you
are honest and upfront with him...avoiding any additional lawyer fees.

Again, read the documents I have published. We tried dealing with him,
through email, phone, fax. We have been upfront and honest, all we got
was frivolous claims from his lawyer. If he is reasonable, he still has
to show it to me.

VT

but due to the fact
that there are legal fees that he has incurred to investigate the
matter puts him at a loss for this infringement, which would not be
fair to him at all.

- "...fees he has incurred to investigate...." Investigate by
employing the lawyer and filing a claim?
What a BS...

This is one very nasty situation. Mr. Zink should not hire any lawyers,
if he is so pathetic about his "rights" ...well, he can keep his
calendars for himself. Hopefully nobody will buy his "art". I don't
think we need people like him involved with anything related to soaring
or aviation in general. I really feel sorry for the victims of his
"business practice". Sounds to me like "sovietizing"...I wonder, maybe
Mr. Zink is behind Russia cutting natural gas supply to Europe? Just a
thought....