I can only assume that he's claiming that the route itself is his intellectual property and that nobody is allowed to write about it.Authors aren't usually that dumb :)
...wanting me to sign the agreement before sending any specifics...
... I can only assume that he's claiming that the route itself is his intellectual property and that nobody is allowed to write about it...
Maybe it's actually HIM in breach of YOUR copyright, and he's trying it on....O0 Exactly my point. They've been doing this with music for a good few years now.
....The specifics of these alleged infringements have not been given to me despite me asking for them, and they are saying that will send me the details only AFTER I've signed the agreement to take all infringements down....
1 Fraud
(1) A person is guilty of fraud if he is in breach of any of the sections listed in subsection (2) (which provide for different ways of committing the offence).
(2) The sections are—
(a) section 2 (fraud by false representation),
(b) section 3 (fraud by failing to disclose information),
(c) section 4 (fraud by abuse of position).
The letter is from the board of trustees, the john merrill foundation.Google suggests that the foundation is basically the publisher of JNM's books. This is confirmed by the Companies House entry which gives its business as book publishing. The foundation was set up in March 2004 by a Mr Perseval as Director. He then resigned and JNM took over as Director in Apr 2004. The foundation appears to have one other member - Sally Ann Powers who is the Secretary. The foundation was set up to preserve the writings, photographs and work of John N Merrril as a Charitable Foundation.
Is that the same John Merrill? :-\It appears to be. The address is the same on both websites.
Is that the same John Merrill? :-\Into walking and writing books about walking. Both Rev'd. Could be a coincidence?
Surely a man of The Cloth wouldn't send aggressive emails to ultimately achieve financial gain :-\:2funny: :2funny: :2funny:
FLYMO TURBO wheeled gar¬ den - vac blows, collects, shreds, excellent condition, three months old. £45. 01992 762 776
Hi,A legal email? You mean a email unless it came from a legal firm.I used to send these to people who owed me money on a daily basis and they were very effective.In truth they had no basis in law and would probably have weakened my case if things went to court.Just have a exchange of emails with this author and go into minute detail of how you have infringed his copyright.Challenge everything he says.That should waste a few weeks of his time and eventually he will get bored and go onto the next person.Tip:I used to know John Merrill when he had his shop in Bakewell.Great walker but hardly the brain of Britain.If you do your homework properly you will run rings around him.
I'm just wondering if anyone who runs their own site has recently - say in the last week - received a threatening legal email from a rather well known guidebook writer, claiming copyright infringement.
This is pure BS
Tip:I used to know John Merrill when he had his shop in Bakewell.Great walker but hardly the brain of Britain.If you do your homework properly you will run rings around him.Looking at his website - would you get a badge and certificate? Run enough and you can even have a cup. Bargain badges and certificates at £6.00 a pop https://www.johnmerrillwalkguides.co.uk/BADGES---CERTIFICATES.html (https://www.johnmerrillwalkguides.co.uk/BADGES---CERTIFICATES.html). Cups up to £40 https://www.johnmerrillwalkguides.co.uk/CHALLENGE-WALK-CUPS.html (https://www.johnmerrillwalkguides.co.uk/CHALLENGE-WALK-CUPS.html)
Looking at his websiteI did. It appears to have been written by a terrible writer. :(
I'm rather concerned by the day packs he's selling. Not really suitable!
I'm rather concerned by the day packs he's selling. Not really suitable!
Please Note:
This is the only official and licensed website regarding the walks & works of John Merrill.
Harry, the only copyright is from the sources I linked to. Everything else is top of my head. By the way, did you know the link to hillexplorer.com in your footer is being hijacked to https://social.mass-trespass.uk/main/all (https://social.mass-trespass.uk/main/all) ? Doesn’t happen all the time but I have seen it twice today. Affects your blog link too.Thanks for letting me know. Think it was caused by my signature pointing to http rather than https. The redirection obviously isn't working correctly - I'll have a look at that later when I have time.
"John is acknowledged as Britain's most experienced hiker and the world's greatest marathon walker... He is author of more than 470 walk guides - all devised, created and authored by him. He is regularly copied but never equalled. Britain's forgotten champion of walking." - https://www.johnmerrillwalkguides.co.uk/default.html (https://www.johnmerrillwalkguides.co.uk/default.html) 1/9/19
I'm rather concerned by the day packs he's selling. Not really suitable!
As I have never heard of him before how can I forget him? So he's done a few walks, wow.Indeed. That was their bold.
It all does seem a bizarre box of tricks considering you don't appear to be attempting to sell anything or make money from your write ups so they can't even claim you are profiting from his workPossibly, they see similar walks being available free on a website taking more custom away from them than other paid books do.
...I have now edited this post and credited John with the walk along with a link back to his site. As I haven't read the guidebook in question, the route is the only thing taken from the LDWA website - replotted by myself as GPX files on the LDWA website are only downloadable to members.
I have also added an about page to my site at https://hillexplorer.com/about clarifying all my sources of information.
In all honesty, I wouldn't mind too much if I ended up having to take the whole post down...
Don't cave in! :)
And don't forget all those fantastic badges and certificates! ::)(https://media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MICKEY.jpg)
Well, after further insistence that ALL of my Peak District routes are copied, and still no specifics - I'm going to stop with the correspondance.Seems to be a bit of a joker and wind up merchant.This is the only video he has published of his walks.Perhaps it has a hidden message.
That would have been 10 mins I didn't get back. (Insulting remark deleted out of respect for forum rules).
I thought the ending was the best bit, in that it ended.
With the fast forward facility you can get the gist in about 15 seconds. Mind you it's still 15 seconds wasted.
Don't give in to bullies, Harry - stand firm.
The sad thing is that I have fond memories of the other guys’s books...I bought a reasonable number many years ago, when I first started walking parts of the Peak District.
The sad thing is that I have fond memories of the other guys’s books...I bought a reasonable number many years ago, when I first started walking parts of the Peak District.Same here.The Peakland Way was my first long distance walk in 1982 and I still have the guide book.
Are you sure these emails have actually come from John Merrill himself? I wonder if the Board of Trustees have decided to tighten things up and use aggressive tactics to increase revenue? It might be worth talking to him on the phone and getting to the bottom of this as he is doing serious damage to his reputation.John Merrill is the Director of the Foundation, as such, he is responsible
I had never heard of John Merrill either, April.
Now I know about him for all the wrong reasons.
I've never heard of him either, and now that I have; I certainly won't be buying any of his productsNot even the daysack?
Not even the daysack?
John Merrill is the Director of the Foundation, as such, he is responsibleBit of a grey area.
Of course.
As an afterthought... even if a route could be copyrighted, we're only talking about the visuals aren't we? After all, his maps tend to be hand drawn illustrations. So if I didn't display the map but instead simply offered a gps file for download - can that be comparible? A gpx file is, after all, simply a list of coordinates. It's something that many people use these days, and something that - so far as I know - he doesn't offer.
I had never heard of John Merrill either, April.
Now I know about him for all the wrong reasons.
Well I'm off down to Leicestershire tomorrow to do a new walk that I've devised. I'm going to call it 'Grantham Canal and Belvoir Castle'. Any similarities to other routes are purely coincidental - after all, there are only so many ways to walk down Grantham Canal. If I ever get forced to take my current one down, it's going to be instantly replaced with this one.
Thanks also for introducing Mr Merrill. I'd never heard of him and he seems to be quite a walker
Didnt he once sue a boot company for surnamemisspellagement...From what I remember he complained because he didn't endorse fabric or lightweight boots.They had to be heavy,have steel shanks and cause blisters for the first 500 miles.Even though the name of the company was different he was sure they were trying to trade on his name as he was the most famous walker in the world.In a way he was right as the name caught my eye and I associated it with him despite the spelling being different.Despite the hype surrounding him his name did sell products in the eighties,hence the reason he was sponsored by Blacks who were a respected brand in those days.
Now thats a word..
Dont tell him,i dont like e-mails :-X
.Well I think that has brought the discussion to a full stop.
What a clown.Oh, how brilliant.
I'm tempted to set up my own blog just so I can get in on the act.
If so, I'd refer him to the reply in the matter of Arkell vs Pressdram
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2013/08/arkell-v-pressdram.html (http://www.lettersofnote.com/2013/08/arkell-v-pressdram.html)
PS - I once walked a bit of the South Downs Way. If anyone else reading this has also done so, that'll be £20 please.