Copyright Infringement complaint from Vanity Fair/Condé Nast

Email

[Jim Robinson]

Subject: Copyright Infringement

Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 15:42:53 -0400

From: "Gigante, John D."

To: "'WEBMASTER@FREEREPUBLIC.COM'" WEBMASTER@FREEREPUBLIC.COM

September 23, 2003

VIA CERTIFIED MAIL RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED, AND BY E-MAIL TO WEBMASTER@FREEREPUBLIC.COM Free Republic, LLC P.O. Box 9771 Fresno, CA 93794

Re: Copyright Infringement Dear Sir or Madam:

We represent The Conde Nast Publications, publisher of Vanity Fair. It has come to our attention that your website posted and continues to post without permission at least two copies of an article entitled "The Message in the Anthrax" written by Don Foster for the October 2003 issue of Vanity Fair.

Mr. Foster owns the copyright in this article and Vanity Fair paid for the exclusive right to publish the article for a limited period of time. As the copyright owner, Mr. Foster has the legally enforceable right to determine who, if anyone, may publish the article, and during the period of its exclusivity, Vanity Fair has the legally protectable right to be the only party publishing the article.

Your reproduction of this article on your site (even if it was posted by third parties) is an infringement by you of Mr. Foster's copyright rights and, since your infringement continues to occur during the period of Vanity Fair's exclusivity, it also violates Conde Nast's rights. The remedies available under the U.S. Copyright Act are severe, including injunctive relief, payment of statutorily-prescribed damages of up to $150,000 per infringement, and reimbursement of attorneys' fees.

We demand that you immediately remove from your website all materials from Vanity Fair and any other Conde Nast publication, and that you provide us with a written statement specifying all of the material removed, and that you agree not to use any Conde Nast material in the future unless you first obtain the copyright owner's written permission (which may be granted or withheld). If you do not agree, we will advise our client it must pursue more formal means to resolve this problem. We expect to hear from you within ten (10) days of your receipt of this letter.

Sincerely,

John Gigante, Esq. Sabin, Bermant & Gould LLP Four Times Square New York, N. Y. 10036-6526 Tel. 212-381-7066 Fax. 212-381-7227

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail may contain information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, purge it and do not disseminate or copy it.

[=Intervention=]

Is there a list somewhere of the mags and the excerpting rules? That would be a good page to have.

[AppyPappy]

You just broke the rule. I'm tellin'.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Thanks for the list.

[July 4th]

A lot of stuff here is from Wired. That sucks.

[isthisnickcool]

Maybe it might be a good idea to generate a drop-down list of publications that should not be linked to. On the input page for posting?

[Jim Robinson]

They said links only.

[Bikers4Bush]

That is no doubt what is happening.

[RightWhale]

Conde Nast publishes Wired and New Yorker among a variety of less important magazines. Wired was hot a couple years ago, but it's Tired now. New Yorker is great, but wouldn't be of much interest at FR anyway. Shouldn't be a problem.

[Defiant]

Good riddance, Vanity Fair.

[Mears]

The last time I looked VF was 80% advertising(I'm estimating here),15% Hollywood and Beautiful People gossip,and 5% newsworthy articles.

No posting,no problem!

[TheBigB]

Okay!

[2nd amendment mama]

I wonder if these publications have sent the same letters to all the "leftist/socialist" sites????? Might have a claim for discrimination....hehehehehe

[Bon mots]

Well, let's just boycott the advertisers who support that worthless rag. Can we get a list and concentrate on just one publication?

Now just who would advertise in something like "Vanity Fair"?

[Atlas Sneezed]

I think someone has set up a list of no-no publications (can someone provide a link?) It might make sense to put this list on the FR home page.

What would be really nifty is a feature that scans the "source" line, and if it finds a match with a prohibited publication, it warns the poster to do an excerpt.

[MetalHeadConservative35]

i think youre right...this is our enemies doin this

[AppyPappy]

Note: It IS legal to summarize the article, referring to only the important parts. You cannot cut and paste but you can explain what is in the article in your own words.

[jellybean]

I'm curious. Do all those publications who troll through FR and lift quotes from FReepers request permission from you or the poster to use their quotes?

[dighton]

Architectural Digest
allure
Bon Appétit
Bride’s
Condé Nast Traveler
Glamour
Gourmet
GQ
House & Garden
Lucky
ModernBride
Self
The New Yorker
teen Vogue
Vanity Fair
Vogue
Wired

[Mears]

Hey! Wait a minute,what about Modern Bride? I may be old but hope springs eternal------.