Image: legalweek.com
The following post is, in the main, for Monica Burch, Chairperson of the Board at GlaxoSmithKline's lawyers, Addleshaw Goddard.
Now, I don't know why Addleshaw Goddard, Lawyers for GlaxoSmithKline, would want to visit my blog using the Rippers 0 browser. Apparently the Rippers 0 browser is used to download and copy entire websites.
Here is some info I gained about 'ripping' software:
Your website is up and business is good. Your traffic is steadily rising and people are starting to pass around your link in blog posts, via email, forums and other forms the global internet community use to pass around website information. Then one day, you encounter your first experience with a "site ripper". It normally happens by opening your email program and finding an unread message with the subject line of "Look what I found!" or "I think your site was stolen". You pray its spam as you move the mouse pointer to that bold title while the anxiety starts to kick in. You click and scan the body of the message, reading the sometimes helter-skelter details of how he or she found a site that looks identical to yours. At the end of it all, you find two links: One is your website, the other leads to a near duplicate of your layout except the banner may have a few changes and the domain name in the browser link field is different. Guess what? You've been ripped, and your world will never be the same.
So now what are you supposed to do? After the fits have subsided and you admit to yourself that spending thousands to track the offender down and beat them with a cudgel isn't very realistic, it's time to look at laws designed specifically for your protection, and best of all, the initial stages don't cost you a monetary penny.
The DMCA, or Digital Millennium Copyright Act, is an American Act created and passed by the US Congress on October 12th, 1998. A couple of weeks later on October 28th, our favorite cigar toting US President, Mr. Bill Clinton, signed the Act into law. So, does this mean that DMCA law is exclusive to the US? Yes and no. You see, the DMCA was designed to implement the treaties that were signed in December of 1996 at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Geneva conference, which of course is a global organization. The DMCA simply addresses additional issues with matters related to the WIPO treaties.
Now, Addleshaw Goddard have been on my page this morning, their IP, 195.59.149.193, clearly shows this in my webstats. [FIG 1]
I would like to know if they are copying my work - and ask them if they would firstly like to ask my permission [if they are copying]. I'd also like to draw their attention to the INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISCLAIMER at the foot of my blog.
If this is intimidation tactics by Glaxo's lawyers then let this post go on record of my findings this morning.
Ripper is a tool for downloading a website and storing it for offline use. It can be used to copy and steal a website, it can also be used for offline browsing of a website with no ill-intent whatsoever.
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| Are Glaxo's lawyers working alongside Strangford resident Jeremy Bryce? |
So maybe Addleshaw Goddard are just storing it for offline use with no ill-intent meant - They wouldn't be silly enough to copy and steal the content to create a duplicate site as my online stalker, Jeremy Bryce, has would they?
Addleshaw Goddard's staff could, it seems, be using the Rippers 0 browser to bypass web filtering software, in which case they are pretty much going against company rules, aren't they?
Memo to Addleshaw Goddard - you may wish to monitor your staff a little more closely unless of course you are downloading my content for legal reasons?
You may wish to note that web ripping programs are also used by hackers to look at ways to hack someone's site, or by scurrilous web developers who want to steal your work the easy way.
Interesting point here.
Jeremy Bryce has publicly posted that he has wrote to Addleshaw Goddard.
Now, it is unethical, I understand, for Addleshaw Goddard to contact me direct as I am part of a group action against their client, GlaxoSmithKline.
If they would like to correspond with the lawyers acting on my behalf and explain this 'ripping' then they may do so. I would like to know if you are stealing my content?
FIG 1
If anything, this incident could be added to my paperback, due out later this year.
Fid
ORDER THE PAPERBACK
'THE EVIDENCE, HOWEVER, IS CLEAR...THE SEROXAT SCANDAL' By Bob Fiddaman
SIGNED COPIES HERE OR UNSIGNED FROM CHIPMUNKA PUBLISHING
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