Author Topic: Cease and Desist Notice (FTAO those who run their own outdoors websites)  (Read 9965 times)

tonyk

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 Considering he has created 165 walks in the Peak District alone he must surely realise that it is inevitable that other people will use the same paths when creating routes? All he can do is trademark the name of the route he has created but he cannot claim ownership of the route as all the walks are on public rights of way.He has written another book called "Walking the Streets of London".Surely he won't be writing to other guide book authors claiming he owns the rights to the streets of London? His argument is bordering on absurd and should be ignored.
 
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I'm rather concerned by the day packs he's selling. Not really suitable!

Best range of specialist outdoor wear - shorts, T shirts & wind jackets - The Work Out Range, Primark.Winner of the 2018 JMF award.  :o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLPF8oXFLC8
 
 
 

harry_keogh

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Well I've just drafted my final email to them - just need to get it checked over with a lawyer friend of a friend.
Just wanted to check with ninthace... am I allowed to use your earlier points, or are they copyrighted? ;)

vghikers

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Steady on a minute!. All the arguments above are obviously correct, but it shouldn't be personal until we know differently. It may well be that John himself isn't behind all this, indeed he may not even be aware of it. It's usually the team behind the business side that resorts to these tactics.

As I mentioned in my previous reply, my latest backpack last month was based on a little known route of his and I visited his website at the time. Interestingly, I've just looked at it again and, though I can't be certain, I could swear a bold paragraph has since been added to his guides page stating:-

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Please Note:
This is the only official and licensed website regarding the walks & works of John Merrill.


ninthace

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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 ? Doesn’t happen all the time but I have seen it twice today. Affects your blog link too.


Vghikers, according to companies house the Foundation only has two active officials and JNM is the Director.  The books are published in house by the Foundation. If he does not know he should, as Director.
Solvitur Ambulando

ninthace

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Duplicate post deleted
Solvitur Ambulando

Mel

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VGhikers - I don't think anyone has confirmed who Harry has received the email/s from.  All I can see is a lot of folks on a forum speculating ;)



Harry - good luck with your final email.... and don't sign any agreements!  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 work  :-\






harry_keogh

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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 ? 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.

The other website is mine too - just a decentralized social network I've been experimenting with as I am trying to remove my personal life from the likes of google and facebook, and instead self-host everything. I currently have my own chat server, mail server, social network, blog, and cloud storage system complete with a cloud version of LibreOffice.

Pitboot

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"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 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.

archaeoroutes

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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.
I've never heard of him until now, either. I have no idea about his intentions or faculties. I do slightly wonder if he is not entirely with it and being manipulated/used by someone else to try to make money out of his work.


I was more interested in the 'regularly copied' bit in the context of this thread. It sounds like they actually believe that they genuinely believe that have exclusive right to describe walks.
Walking routes visiting ancient sites in Britain's uplands: http://www.archaeoroutes.co.uk

archaeoroutes

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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 work
Possibly, they see similar walks being available free on a website taking more custom away from them than other paid books do.
Walking routes visiting ancient sites in Britain's uplands: http://www.archaeoroutes.co.uk

harry_keogh

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The only walk on the site from a John Merrill guidebook is the Belvoir Witches Challenge walk. I originally credited the LDWA on my site as that's where I obtained the walk from. As it appears that all of John Merrills walks have now been removed from the LDWA website, 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. In all honesty, I wouldn't mind too much if I ended up having to take the whole post down as it was a fairly dull walk :)
I have also added an about page to my site at https://hillexplorer.com/about clarifying all my sources of information.


vghikers

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...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.

Exactly the same process here: I linked back to the JM site for my Salter's Way backpack, a perfectly fair credit for its source. I also made a couple of very minor modifcations on the walk and plotted it myself to GPX.

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I have also added an about page to my site at https://hillexplorer.com/about clarifying all my sources of information.

A wise addition. Also a general disclaimer is a good idea to mitigate future hassle, there is always some idiot who will claim that every word constitutes 'advice'.

vghikers

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In all honesty, I wouldn't mind too much if I ended up having to take the whole post down...

Don't cave in!  :)

Mel

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Yes, don't cave in - as has been said above, they're trying it on using bully-boy tactics and it's all BS on their part  O0

tonyk

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 I have to agree with the above two posters.Its always best to challenge bullies and call their bluff.He isn't anything special,just another bloke who has done a few walks and self published a lot of books.

 

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