Posted by Jason, psxanarchist@hotmail.com, on 5/03/02

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Hello out there to all lawyers and learned folks. I have
come across a problem. I own and maintain a website on
which I have compiled a "checklist" for some original
art/nonsports cards (please take a moment to check out my
site and hit the FAQ section to understand what these cards
are all about). This list was created and formatted by
myself and took many many hours...maybe 75-100 or more of
my man-hours are invested in the research, HTML coding,
spell checking, etc. My problem is that, after a long
hiatus (almost 7 months), I am back to updating and
tweaking my site...I was aware of other collectors' sites
and checked them out for new info and such. I ran into a
site that has stolen my Checklists and passed them off as
his own. (side note, there are 4 checklists on my site--two
of which were furnished and distributed freely by the
actual nonsports card companies and cannot be
copywrighted. But 2 are mine--the MCC98 checklist (which
is the one that was heisted) and the Marvel Legends
checklist).

Furious at all my hard work and dedication to creating THE
master checklist for these particular cards, which was
lifted from my site and published on anothers.

Now I know I do not own the copywright for the character
names nor that of the artists who drew them, but I DO own
the effort put forth to create this checklist (formatting,
man-hours, hosting fees, research, etc.). And with the
copywright listed on those pages, as well as the
wording "This list may NOT be reproduced, published, or
edited in whole or part, without my written permission--
also, linking to this webpage or any other page within this
site must also have my permission."

So I decided to email this fellow (owner of
www.sketchagraph.com) and make a few small demands...this
is what I sent him today:

"I recently began updating my site again after a long
hiatus...so I began to surf around the old sketchagraph web
sites I used to visit. I came across yours
(sketchagraph.com) and noticed something strange and then
horrible--you STOLE my MCC98 sketchagraph checklist! Not
only did you steal it, but you make no mention of where the
list originated (linking back to my site), who compiled it
(ME-Jason Swanson), and you paid NOTHING for all my hard
work for the coding, research, etc--for its use on your own
site. I have probably over 100 hours invested in that list
alone (and I have SEEN every one of those cards, via email,
websites, auctions, stores, etc--so all cards are
verifiably REAL). Bottom line, you did not have permission
to snag that list or the HTML coding of that list.

Here's what you're going to do...you will place a link back
to my website (sketchagraphs.com) on every single page of
those checklists, since that is INDEED where the lists came
from (and acknowledge such origins). You will publicly
thank me for their usage on the pages, and also you will
apologize to me on each and every page for not getting my
permission to use those lists in the first place.

Finally, you will scour your "lists" and complie a list of
the sketchagraphs NOT on my site (so you will be repaying
me in sorts by working on this list for me), so I can
update mine as well. I will place a "thank you" for your
contributions as well on the top of my page. But I only
want cards that you have SEEN and verified existed, not
just crap someone told you they saw. Together we will form
a new partnership in updating the MASTER list which is MINE
and then you can update your own as well--we will keep each
other up to date on any findings.

If you refuse to do these tiny things, then I will be
forced to seek legal advice on how to proceed on copywright
infringment, as it states clearly on the startpage AND the
MCC98 checklist page ,"This list may NOT be reproduced,
published, or edited in whole or part, without my written
permission--also, linking to this webpage or any other page
within this site must also have my permission."

Get back to me on this ASAP.

Sincerely,

Jason Swanson
owner www.sketchagraphs.com
"

I thought that was more than fair and demanded nothing as
far as monies; the only demand was for recognition for my
hard work and an appology. Things would have been fine if
he would have complied, although I would still have been
very uneasy about how easily I was robbed.

But then I received this response in email from him:

"The Sketchagraph website has been around a lot longer than
your site, sorry I
will change nothing.
"

So I have laid out all of the info...please, shed some
clarification on this situation for me and let me know if
anything can be done to him (keeping in mind I am only 24
and work a minimum wage job and have little cash available
for a lawsuit).

Thanks ahead of time.

Sincerely,

Jason

Sketchagraphs.com

Re: Copywright infringement...needing help/advice, 7/24/02, by D.

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