Important Announcement From the Rugby Forum

[getofmeland]

The Rugby Forum Would like to issue the following Statement

Recently we at The Rugby Forum, have been hit with some legal action against us for Copyright infringement, this was a shock to the team and made us aware of an area we have recently been unfortunate to overlook.
We have agreed an out of court settlement for this legal action, but unfortunately it has had to come from our own pockets, to enable us to keep the forum open for business. We were fined £75 for Copyright Infringement by Sporting-Heroes.net

We at The Rugby Forum, would also like to make a public apology to Sporting-Heroes.net for any loss of Business and breach of Copyright which we may have done, and hope that we can allow this now to pass us by, so we are able to look forward to the future, and build on the basis of The Rugby Forum.

This fine has hindered us in the development and running of the board, and we would like to ask if you can afford to donate some money to help out with the fee we would be grateful for this, even if you can only afford £1, if we get £1 from 75 people you will have helped keep the board running for many years to come. A donation can be made by using Paypal. (Link on front page - http://www.therugbyforum.com)

The results of these actions has forced us to look and change some of our policies in place, we now would like to ask every user who posts an article from a news item to please include a link to the original article, any articles which do not have a link will be removed by the staff team. We would also like to ask members to keep an eye on images they post on the forum, if you feel there is no right for us to hold on to these images, then please don't post it, or if it is necessary please place a link to the original image.

Thank You for your Support and Once again we hope Sporting-Heroes.net will accept our sincere apologies.

Charlie
The Rugby Forum
Co-Owner of The Rugby Forum

 

[Thingimubob]

I'm guessing someone used a picture from their website or something? Slightly petty, but the law is the law I guess :/

 

[shtove]

Jaysus - the wankers are jizzing off all over the place.

I make my contribs to the forum, but I'd like to see links to their complaints before I get out the plastic again.

Are you sure you're not getting screwed by a bunch of chancers? Speech is free, fair use essential.

 

[getofmeland]

I don't want to publish the letter I got sent to my Home Address from them on the forum, it has been posted in the Staff forum, and every member of staff will be able to vouch for us, but actually we were getting asked for £200 to start off with, until I phoned the guy up offering him free advertising for 3 months all sorts to try and not pay out money, they came back with a negotiated figure of £75. Could not refuse that, because they wouldn't of come back any lower, and it would of been court and the end of The Rugby Forum, as I would of had to have shut the site down.

Also fortunately for me I work in a local council, so have access to Solicitors for free, I asked them to go over the letter and showed them the content on the site, they confirmed that we were breaching copyright as clearly stated on the sites website, therefore if taken to court they would be able to sue for damages, they did advise that the chances of this happening were slim for the amount of money, but to be honest, I haven't got the time to be pursuing a court case which if it backfired would cost me thousands rather than hundreds or in our case less.

Shtove, I understand why you may be sceptical over this, and we don't expect anything from anyone, but if they would like to help then we would be grateful, also as I have dealt with you previously if you would like to see the letter I will email you the contents of the letter.

 

[feicarsinn]

does 3v work with this? I think I still have 3 quid or so left on the last one which ill be happy to give.

 

[dundeesmiffy]

*sigh*

Fairly spineless if you ask me.

 

[Meh]

I don't post here that much but a couple of quid isn't a lot. I'll remind myself to send something your way because it's a good site.

 

[dullonien]

Can you inform us of exactly what it was that broke the copyright, image, article etc?

I understand copyright is important and all, but imo this is all a bit petty. To bring legal action against a small forum which is non proffitable, because a forum member/s have posted a pic, quote etc. without giving credit to the original website without realising the concequences.

I could understand it this were some big webside making money for it's owners, but it isn't! You guys are often funding this place off your own back, and moderating the place in your spare time. This means things are gonna slip through the net, and although many of us members will take this into consideration and credit the source, it's gonna be near impossible to make sure everyone does! Sorry for the rant, but the culture of sueing and legal action we find ourselves in is bloody rediculous.

Anyway, I've donated £10 to help out, and it's reminded me that I need to start donating a bit more often to help you guys keep this great forum alive.

Edit: ok, after visiting sportingheroes.net I realise it was a picture that's been posted without source.

 

[O'Rothlain]

Just to fully back up Charlie, Dan, and only slightly back up Chris (only because if I don't he'll call me a plastic paddy), I've seen the letter, the situation is real, and it sucks a big fat one.
I don't think setting up a mini-pledge drive amoungst our members is too much to ask. We boast a large and growing membership of which TRF gives away alot (especially to the gamers, who might have the most to lose if the site were shut down). There are well over 75 members, so how hard would it be for everyone to produce even .50 GBP? Not very.
I've made my donation, and I urge you all to join in.

 

[shtove]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (getofmeland @ May 22 2009, 11:38 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I don't want to publish the letter I got sent to my Home Address from them on the forum, it has been posted in the Staff forum, and every member of staff will be able to vouch for us, but actually we were getting asked for £200 to start off with, until I phoned the guy up offering him free advertising for 3 months all sorts to try and not pay out money, they came back with a negotiated figure of £75. Could not refuse that, because they wouldn't of come back any lower, and it would of been court and the end of The Rugby Forum, as I would of had to have shut the site down.

Also fortunately for me I work in a local council, so have access to Solicitors for free, I asked them to go over the letter and showed them the content on the site, they confirmed that we were breaching copyright as clearly stated on the sites website, therefore if taken to court they would be able to sue for damages, they did advise that the chances of this happening were slim for the amount of money, but to be honest, I haven't got the time to be pursuing a court case which if it backfired would cost me thousands rather than hundreds or in our case less.

Shtove, I understand why you may be sceptical over this, and we don't expect anything from anyone, but if they would like to help then we would be grateful, also as I have dealt with you previously if you would like to see the letter I will email you the contents of the letter.[/b]

No expertise in this, but chancers do target people they know can't afford the price of defending themselves.

How do you know the people making the demand have the copyright? Could you post the demand letter with personal details blanked? Have you googled the solicitor's firm? If it's not a solicitor's firm then they're probably bullshitting.

And check out copyfraud - a nice little earner.

 

[getofmeland]

To be honest Shtove, they probably were chancer's, but it wasn't a chance I was willing to take, the legal advice I got given was can you afford to take the risk of going to court, as if they want to take you to court then they would have a case. e

I have posted the letter now, and have hidden the address...

[attachment=175:Letter_f...g_Heroes.pdf]

Also thank you all who have donated so far, if we do get more than we require to pay this bill, I will be putting up a few comps with Prizes

 

[Nickdnz]

I'm really sorry but I have no credit cards or means of donating money, otherwise I'd happily send a few dollars to help. Good move in my opinion not risking the forums over this and I'm sorry money had to come from your own pocket. Thankyou for the forum and I'm sorry I couldn't help.

 

[St Helens RLFC]

Thanks again for the donations and the support so far. Please, keep it coming.

 

[Ickon]

I sent you some dosh yesterday. If you don't get the full amount I'll pay the diff for you as well. (I would have wasted it on a night out anyways). Just PM me.

 

[Steve-o]

Awesome generousity from our awesome rugby community!

 

[feicarsinn]

can we get one of those cool target money bars and put it along the side, ya know classy like

 

[St Helens RLFC]

In addition to this, we had to renew our Invision account last week at a cost of $25, and today our sponsor, who provide the ads on the main page, has pulled out due to the economic downturn. That was a nice, easy way for us to pay our hosting costs but that's gone for the chop now too.

We've nearly hitour £75 mark, and I can't thank those of you who have donated enough, but this is a big blow to us and we need all the help we can get. So please, if you can, spare us a thought.

 

[esoj]

I would definitely give if I could. All I can offer is my support in words and say what I wonderful this site is and for me has been for many years now. the guys that run this site are genuine good guys so if you can spare anything give them your support so that this great site can continue on.

 

[Mr.cyclopede]

Discovering this important annoucement today" The link to danate is dead, is it because the total amount of 75£ is reached or is it still possible to contribute ?

Sorry to be late, but I discovered the annoucement by chance. I think this kind of "call for members help" would have deserved a PM, wich would have been subject to an automatic warning has every new one we receive in our mailbox.
I Do not consider myself as an active member, but feel I responsible to give this very relative sign of engagement.

 

[GazzaJAnimal]

Much apologies, but I've just read this announcement. I have donated a quid, and as someone earlier said, I don't contribute regular, but I do visit here a lot and I would miss this forum if it had to close.