The Flip Medley

I got this letter today, and modified my “infringing” posts to comply with the (surprisingly very friendly) New York Times legal team who contacted me. Ironically, one of the infringing posts was entitled:

You’re not paranoid if they are really after you!

August 8, 2008

VIA Email: contact@neobeans.com
and U.S. Mail

Mr. Charles Medley
130 Hedgewood Drive
Greenbelt, MD 20770

Re: Infringing Use of New York Times Materials on

http://www.neobeans.com/blog/

Dear Mr. Medley:

I am with the Legal Department of The New York Times Company. Continuously for more than one hundred years, The Times has published the world famous newspaper The New York Times. We are the owner of U.S. Registration No. 227,904 for our trademark “The New York Times”, which registration is now incontestable.

It has come to my attention that you have posted on your web site a screen grab showing an nytimes.com page containing an article entitled “Russian Gang Hijacking PC’s In Vast Scheme”, written by John Markoff and published in The New York Times newspaper on August 5, 2008 (at http://www.neobeans.com/blog/) and an article entitled “The Secret Curse of Expert Archers” written by Katie Thomas and published in the newspaper on August 1, 2008 (at http://www.neobeans.com/blog/2008/07/31/cant-shoot/) (collectively, the “Materials”). We have no record that you ever obtained permission to post the Materials

Please note, The New York Times Company owns the copyright in and to all of the material published in The New York Times newspaper. We encourage linking and you can find our guidelines for doing so appropriately at http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/linkingfaq.html. Also, if you wish to post a legal eprint of any New York Times article(s) on your web site, we invite you to contact Leigh Russo at PARS International (phone: 212-xxx-xxxx, xXXX / email: leigh.russo@xxxxxxxx.xxx), who will be happy to assist you.

However, your current use of the Materials constitutes an infringement of The Times’s rights under U.S. Copyright and Trademark law. Accordingly, we hereby demand that you immediately cease and desist from any further use of the Materials in any manner whatsoever and immediately remove the Materials from your site.

If we do not hear from you within three (3) business days of receipt of this letter, we will have no choice but to pursue all available remedies, both civil and criminal. The demands made herein shall not prejudice or waive any right or remedies that The Times may have in respect of the subject matter set forth herein, all of which rights and remedies are hereby expressly reserved.

Sincerely,

Deborah Beshaw
Legal Department
The New York Times Company
620 Eighth Avenue, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10018
212-xxx-xxxx
(f) 212-xxx-xxxx

cc: Tom Jolly
Richard S. Samson, Esq