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Terry Hooper-Scharf

Tuesday 2 August 2016

The Nasty Little Folk Of Comics Are At It Again.

There has been a lot of "nastiness" going on behind the scenes since I posted the big comic industry post.  These people think they can act with impunity.  My patience is at an end.

What has been going on is a perfect example of WHY comics are dying because of the people in it. I will not respond to comments on this post for legal reasons. I issue a warning to those involved and who are heading for this weekend's Bristol expo -That they cannot stop me from attending.
________________________________________________________
So, bad night and I open my emails today to have two from Spreadshirt. This is the main one:
"Our legal service has just checked your uploaded design.
Unfortunately, we cannot allow their use on our platform:
designimage Design name:
Design-ID: 16618937
Uploaded: 09.07.2016
Reason: Copyright
designimage
designimage Design name: Kelvin Jones
Design-ID: 129687807
Uploaded: 12.07.2016
Reason: Copyright
Having examined your designs/products, we are afraid we cannot make them available on the Spreadshirt Marketplace:
The operator of this platform deems it an obligation to exercise diligence and examine every uploaded design in order to prevent potential conflicts. This is why we ask for written permission concerning the rights of use in a given case. The idea is to help you avoid costs pursuing from cease-and-desist orders issued by the initiator. Until the matter is resolved, we have temporarily deactivated the designs you see above.
Reasons for rejecting a design are:
Copyright:
The designs/products listed above contain intellectual property of a third party and are bound to breach commercial trademark rights or someone's personal rights. When uploading the image, you ticked a checkbox that states that you hold the rights of use for this design. We would like to ask you to provide written evidence within 7 days. You can either send a fax to 0049 - 341 - 594 00 5479 or send an email to our legal service team: legal@spreadshirt.net
Note: holders of rights often sanction a limited licence for a small batch of non-commercial use. You can always ask the right holders! On receipt of your permission, we will be glad to clear your design. Until then, please don't upload the image again.
To find out whether your design, text or name is a trademark, you can browse the database of the European Patent and Trademark Office. There you will also find contact information of the respective right holders.
European Union Intellectual Property Office
Note: if you have recently ordered a product with this design, your order will be produced and dispatched soon. In the event that our production team should consider your design invalid, it will not be printed, and your payment will be refunded.
This is a precautionary measure, we apologise for any inconvenience. This is by no means to be considered an act of harassment or condemnation, it is merely a necessary service.
Your Spreadshirt Team "

They are talking about characters I created and publish and draw. I've asked them for IMMEDIATE evidence of third party copyright but my guess is the nasty little turds (Comics "nice guys") who also reported every comic video I put upon You Tube are behind this as well.

Again MY characters.

Let me explain. A month or so back every You Tube video I had uploaded that dealt with comics -not the personal ones but the comic ones that took a lot of work- were reported to You Tube as infringing copyright. Yes, some of my videos were banned from being seen in 241 countries. I thought YT were going insane until I was told a "You Tube user" had reported the videos.  See, MY rights are protected, too, so I know the ISP number and the name(s) used.  Those are with my solicitor.

I understand Spreadshirt's decision was based on "information" forwarded.  They are an EU company so they have to produce the material identifying the person(s) making the claim. They have already had the official response.  When I get the material I need it goes to my solicitor.  We'll check and match.  Now seems a good time to truly teach these people a legal lesson they will NOT forget.

I have a good idea who is behind this and there is the Bristol Expo this coming weekend.  They will be there.  I suggest they keep at least 100 metres from me and DO NOT talk to me.

2 comments:

  1. That's insane. Kelvin Jones is entirely your character - why would anyone say otherwise ? If that is the T-shirt image I'm thinking of - the artwork is entirely original - and the character is yours copyright of BLACK TOWER ADVENTURE issue 8 2012 ( I think that was Kelvin Jones first story ). Insane. When you go to the Expo have a good time - enjoy being a 'customer' for the first time in YEARS... and don't let the trolls get you down.

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  2. Well, Kelvin Jones and The Thinker are the ones in question but it seems it's also some D-Gruppe stuff. Just the "nice guys" of British comics at work. They KNOW they dare not look me in the face and confront me. This is UK comics in action. You'll notice I've let your comments through the block along with a few regulars. Others are banned! ;-)

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