He's at it again. Got a demand letter today. He cited his Sister's address, phone, fax, profession, and email address as a C/O to his own name. Oh, forgot to mention that his sis is a LGBT attorney in Memphis. Guess we know why he's so sensitive to our critique of his works, now don't we.

Anyway, I found an interesting little tidbit... Title 17 of the US Code protects critiquing Copyrighted materials after they are published by their owner. Whoopsie. As long as you are critiquing the work, it is not in vilolation of Copyright! smile

Here's what I received:





My email to his Sister, reply letter attached:

Quote:
Ms. Mackenzie:

Attached you will find my response to the letter sent to me and signed by Ken Mackenzie in regards to his claim of Copyright infringement.

As you can see, he used "c/o Susan Mackenzie" and the phrase "Attorney at Law" in closing the letter, in addition to your own address and phone numbers. This is very disturbing since you are not currently licensed to practice law in the State of Alabama, according to Code of Alabama - Title 34, Section 34-3-1. I trust that this is an oversight on his part and that you were not privy to his actions in using your name on this letter.

I do not have contact information for Ken Mackenzie. Although you cannot legally represent him in the State of Alabama, I ask that you please forward my enclosed response to him in a timely fashion.

Sincerely,
Andrew Pipkin



My reply letter sent to her via email:




Her response:

Quote:
Mr. Mackenzie is allowed to use my address, both physical and email to receive correspondences. I am doing nothing more than receiving correspondences and passing them on to him. I am not engaged in the practice of law in the State of Alabama. I will see that he gets your response to his letter.



My retort:

Quote:
Thank you for your quick response.

I sincerely hope that he understands that his claim of Copyright infringement cannot be applied when critique is clearly allowed under Title 17. I would hate for this to go further and the State would have to determine for themselves what role you play.

I trust that this will be our last communication since you claim that you do not represent Ken Mackenzie, even though he is citing your name, profession, address, phone, fax, and email in his letter. Should Ken need to contact me further, I would suggest that he do so himself since I'm sure you have much better things to do than to be his messenger, especially considering that you are not his legal representative in Alabama.

Sincerely,
Andrew Pipkin

Last edited by bamachem; 11/01/12 03:36 PM.
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