anyone know of websheriff.com? - GoFuckYourself.com

SMG · 03-16-2004, 08:47 AM

this place emailed me today through one of my mainstream sites (an mp3 site) ... at first I thought maybe its serious but:
1) the reply-to on the email is an aol account
2) there are some ridiculous demands in the email
3) theres porn on one of the pages on their site (the outlaw gallery)...what kinda copyright agency would post porn openly on their site with no legal notices or anything regarding 2257, adult content, etc?

btw, this is in regards to a link that was submitted to my search engine, not something on my site itself, and for all I know its not even a working link.
Below is a copy of the email:

reply-to: [email protected]
Subject: MP3Nut question from WEB SHERIFF
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 09:16:14 -0600

WEB SHERIFF
Protecting Your Rights On The Internet

Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013 / 44-(0)1672-519 388
Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080 / 44-(0)1672-511 178
E-Mail [email protected]
Web-Site www.websheriff.com

SUMMARY NOTIFICATION

1. Rights Owner : SONY MUSIC

2. Rights Agent : WEB SHERIFF

3. Infringed Rights : COPYRIGHT & TRADEMARK

4. Infringed Artist : GEORGE MICHAEL

5. Infringed Title : "PATIENCE" (ALBUM)

6. Infringing Activity : MP3 DOWNLOADING

7. Infringing Web Address: www.mp3nut.com

FULL / LEGAL NOTIFICATION

Dear Sirs,

Please be advised that Web Sheriff represents Sony Music (hereinafter referred to as "SM") in relation to - inter alia - the above matter.

Please be further advised that our said clients own or otherwise control the international trademark GEORGE MICHAEL (hereinafter referred to as the "Trademark), together with the copyright in the various master recordings commercially recorded by the GEORGE MICHAEL, including, but not limited to, the master recordings comprising the said artist's forthcoming album "AMAZING" (hereinafter referred to as the "Masters"), together with the copyright in certain of the musical compositions variously recorded by the GEORGE MICHAEL (hereinafter referred to as the "Compositions"), together with the goodwill in and associated with the business trading under the name GEORGE MICHAEL (hereinafter referred to as the "Goodwill)".

We understand that your company (a) would appear to be the registered owner of the so-called 'website' as stated in our SUMMARY NOTIFICATION above trading from the so-called 'domain' as stated in our SUMMARY NOTIFICATION above (hereinafter referred to as the "Infringing Site") and (b) would appear to have utilised the Infringing Site to trade by usage of the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill without the authority or permission of our client. The said activities are a clear and flagrant breach of - inter alia - our client's proprietary rights in and to the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill.

In consequence of the foregoing - and in order to mitigate the serious and on-going damage suffered by our client - we would ask you to immediately comply with the following instructions:-

1. All trading using the Trademark, the Master, the Compositions and the Goodwill must cease.

2. All other exploitation and / or use of the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill must cease including, but not limited to, so-called 'down-loading' and / or so-called 'streaming' from the Infringing Site (as applicable).

3. Final accounts relating to all income derived pursuant to your use of the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill must be prepared and furnished to our clients together with all monies thereby shown to have been earned by such activities.

4. All relevant, so-called 'rights collection societies' must be paid in full for the mechanical reproduction and / or public performance of the Masters, the Compositions and all other copyright works (as applicable) pursuant to your aforementioned activities.

5. Your domestic and overseas licensees and / or distributors and / or so-called 'ISPs' and / or associates (as applicable) must be notified of the foregoing and must likewise be obliged to comply with the instructions herein contained.

6. You must undertake to take out a half-page advertisements in Billboard Magazine, Music Week Magazine and Music & Media Magazine within fourteen (14) days of the date hereof clarifying the fact that (a) your usage of Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill was not authorised by or otherwise associated with our client, (b) the services offered by you under the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill were not offered by or on behalf of our client and (c) you are no longer trading either under or otherwise by use of the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill. Furthermore, the said advertisement must include an apology to our client.

7. You must undertake to execute such documentation as may be reasonably required by our client in order to give proper effect to the instructions contained herein.

In addition to the foregoing, we would ask you to provide us by return with substantive details of the means by which you propose to compensate our clients for the clear and flagrant breaches of our client's intellectual property rights in the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill. In this regard we would highlight the fact that our clients have invested heavily in the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill over a period of several years : as such, any proposals for compensation must seek to both address and redress the same.

Should you be unwilling or otherwise unable to comply with the foregoing, we must ask you provide the name and address of the domestic attorneys and UK solicitors whom you intend to instruct in relation to this matter for the purposes of accepting the service of such proceedings as our appointed litigators would issue against - inter alia - yourselves on behalf of our clients in such an event. Should we fail to hear from you in this regard, such proceedings would then be served directly upon your trading premises / registered offices / residential address (as applicable).

Whilst writing, we would also caution you against 'posting' or otherwise communicating any correspondence and / or remarks to third parties which could in any way be construed as being defamatory of any officers of our client or otherwise constitute a malicious falsehood injurious to our client's business.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, all rights of Sony Music and George Michael - including, but not limited to, the right to apply for injunctive relief and damages without further notice or recourse to you are hereby strictly reserved.

Yours faithfully,

WEB SHERIFF

zzgundamnzz · 03-16-2004, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Whilst writing, we would also caution you against 'posting' or otherwise communicating any correspondence and / or remarks to third parties which could in any way be construed as being defamatory of any officers of our client or otherwise constitute a malicious falsehood injurious to our client's business.

Looks like they didn't want you to post this.

SMG · 03-16-2004, 09:01 AM

lol I didnt even see that, thats just one more thing that shows me it must be a joke, cus if they were legit they'd have nothing to hide ... I searched google for [email protected] and came up with 2 more emails similar to this that went to other people - they were ridiculous, one was for filesharing on kazaa or something and these people wanted the guy to put a half page ad in billboard saying he shared files over it!!!

03-16-2004, 08:47 AM	#1
SMG Confirmed User Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,798	anyone know of websheriff.com? this place emailed me today through one of my mainstream sites (an mp3 site) ... at first I thought maybe its serious but: 1) the reply-to on the email is an aol account 2) there are some ridiculous demands in the email 3) theres porn on one of the pages on their site (the outlaw gallery)...what kinda copyright agency would post porn openly on their site with no legal notices or anything regarding 2257, adult content, etc? btw, this is in regards to a link that was submitted to my search engine, not something on my site itself, and for all I know its not even a working link. Below is a copy of the email: reply-to: [email protected] Subject: MP3Nut question from WEB SHERIFF Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 09:16:14 -0600 WEB SHERIFF Protecting Your Rights On The Internet Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013 / 44-(0)1672-519 388 Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080 / 44-(0)1672-511 178 E-Mail [email protected] Web-Site www.websheriff.com SUMMARY NOTIFICATION 1. Rights Owner : SONY MUSIC 2. Rights Agent : WEB SHERIFF 3. Infringed Rights : COPYRIGHT & TRADEMARK 4. Infringed Artist : GEORGE MICHAEL 5. Infringed Title : "PATIENCE" (ALBUM) 6. Infringing Activity : MP3 DOWNLOADING 7. Infringing Web Address: www.mp3nut.com FULL / LEGAL NOTIFICATION Dear Sirs, Please be advised that Web Sheriff represents Sony Music (hereinafter referred to as "SM") in relation to - inter alia - the above matter. Please be further advised that our said clients own or otherwise control the international trademark GEORGE MICHAEL (hereinafter referred to as the "Trademark), together with the copyright in the various master recordings commercially recorded by the GEORGE MICHAEL, including, but not limited to, the master recordings comprising the said artist's forthcoming album "AMAZING" (hereinafter referred to as the "Masters"), together with the copyright in certain of the musical compositions variously recorded by the GEORGE MICHAEL (hereinafter referred to as the "Compositions"), together with the goodwill in and associated with the business trading under the name GEORGE MICHAEL (hereinafter referred to as the "Goodwill)". We understand that your company (a) would appear to be the registered owner of the so-called 'website' as stated in our SUMMARY NOTIFICATION above trading from the so-called 'domain' as stated in our SUMMARY NOTIFICATION above (hereinafter referred to as the "Infringing Site") and (b) would appear to have utilised the Infringing Site to trade by usage of the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill without the authority or permission of our client. The said activities are a clear and flagrant breach of - inter alia - our client's proprietary rights in and to the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill. In consequence of the foregoing - and in order to mitigate the serious and on-going damage suffered by our client - we would ask you to immediately comply with the following instructions:- 1. All trading using the Trademark, the Master, the Compositions and the Goodwill must cease. 2. All other exploitation and / or use of the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill must cease including, but not limited to, so-called 'down-loading' and / or so-called 'streaming' from the Infringing Site (as applicable). 3. Final accounts relating to all income derived pursuant to your use of the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill must be prepared and furnished to our clients together with all monies thereby shown to have been earned by such activities. 4. All relevant, so-called 'rights collection societies' must be paid in full for the mechanical reproduction and / or public performance of the Masters, the Compositions and all other copyright works (as applicable) pursuant to your aforementioned activities. 5. Your domestic and overseas licensees and / or distributors and / or so-called 'ISPs' and / or associates (as applicable) must be notified of the foregoing and must likewise be obliged to comply with the instructions herein contained. 6. You must undertake to take out a half-page advertisements in Billboard Magazine, Music Week Magazine and Music & Media Magazine within fourteen (14) days of the date hereof clarifying the fact that (a) your usage of Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill was not authorised by or otherwise associated with our client, (b) the services offered by you under the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill were not offered by or on behalf of our client and (c) you are no longer trading either under or otherwise by use of the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill. Furthermore, the said advertisement must include an apology to our client. 7. You must undertake to execute such documentation as may be reasonably required by our client in order to give proper effect to the instructions contained herein. In addition to the foregoing, we would ask you to provide us by return with substantive details of the means by which you propose to compensate our clients for the clear and flagrant breaches of our client's intellectual property rights in the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill. In this regard we would highlight the fact that our clients have invested heavily in the Trademark, the Masters, the Compositions and the Goodwill over a period of several years : as such, any proposals for compensation must seek to both address and redress the same. Should you be unwilling or otherwise unable to comply with the foregoing, we must ask you provide the name and address of the domestic attorneys and UK solicitors whom you intend to instruct in relation to this matter for the purposes of accepting the service of such proceedings as our appointed litigators would issue against - inter alia - yourselves on behalf of our clients in such an event. Should we fail to hear from you in this regard, such proceedings would then be served directly upon your trading premises / registered offices / residential address (as applicable). Whilst writing, we would also caution you against 'posting' or otherwise communicating any correspondence and / or remarks to third parties which could in any way be construed as being defamatory of any officers of our client or otherwise constitute a malicious falsehood injurious to our client's business. Notwithstanding the foregoing, all rights of Sony Music and George Michael - including, but not limited to, the right to apply for injunctive relief and damages without further notice or recourse to you are hereby strictly reserved. Yours faithfully, WEB SHERIFF __________________ TGP Webmasters: sign up for the top 100 tgp list! Submit galleries If you add me to icq (title) make sure to mention GFY or I'll think you're a bot and deny you.

03-16-2004, 09:01 AM	#3
SMG Confirmed User Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,798	lol I didnt even see that, thats just one more thing that shows me it must be a joke, cus if they were legit they'd have nothing to hide ... I searched google for [email protected] and came up with 2 more emails similar to this that went to other people - they were ridiculous, one was for filesharing on kazaa or something and these people wanted the guy to put a half page ad in billboard saying he shared files over it!!! __________________ TGP Webmasters: sign up for the top 100 tgp list! Submit galleries If you add me to icq (title) make sure to mention GFY or I'll think you're a bot and deny you.