Wednesday, August 6, 2008

From: Alex ######@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 7:57 PM
To: msncompetitions
Subject: Copyright Infringement

I have recently realized that you are illegally using my photos in your competition. Attached is a screen shot of the infringing photos. These photos are clearly licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

These images must be taken down immediately.

---Alex

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http://MooreALX.com/

Photos:
http://flickr.MooreALX.com

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from J.K. Weston <######@microsoft.com>
to Alex <######@gmail.com>
date Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 10:18 AM
subject (Moore, Alex) ICONICBRITAIN.CO.UK -- RE: Copyright Infringement


Reply

Dear Mr. Moore,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft regarding http://www.iconicbritain.co.uk.

Over the past few days, we have heard from numerous photographers and/or copyright owners. We very much appreciate hearing about your concerns and the opportunity to respond to each of you directly.

The site and associated contest was intended to provide an opportunity, via common search practices, to showcase your work and to have users praise your work by voting it into the contest. In no way was it ever our intention to misappropriate your work, misrepresent its source, or to inappropriately trade on it in any way. Microsoft is a significant holder of intellectual property and we do understand the importance of intellectual property and the need to respect its integrity, whether ours or yours. We take that very seriously and we are genuinely sorry the search feature on the “iconic” site did not live up to our high standards. It was a mistake and we accept full responsibility. We never intended to disrespect you, your works and your rights. Please be assured that your works were never distributed or otherwise used commercially, and all of the images resulting from random searches have been removed from the site and are no longer available for display.

As you know, the voting phase of the contest has been closed . The final phase of the contest, which ends August 14, 2008, will contain only fully licensed images for our users to vote on. If you are interested in participating in this phase, we would appreciate the opportunity to engage in such discussions. Time is of the essence in this regard, so please let us know as soon as possible.

Again, we truly regret the outcome caused by the initial phase of this contest. We hope you will accept our sincere apology and allow us an opportunity to regain your trust.

Sincerely,
J.K. Weston

Legal and Corporate Affairs

Microsoft Corporation, USA

2 comments:

Lane said...

Hmm.... That's interesting.

Truett said...

suck it microsoft...