Craig Murray Injunction threat as text, rather than pdf
For those of you looking for a non pdf copy of the letter Craig Murray received threatening a High Court injuction over the documents he published online in support of his book, Lenin has organised a text version, reproduced below:
It is also been pointed out that we should be doing more to push the copy of the documents concerned that is being distributed as a bittorrent file, as once enough people start sharing that, the genie becomes pretty much impossible to put back in the bottle...
.torrent File
Edonkey File
Magnet link for the Bittorent share
There is also a .torrent of the documents on mininova
The documents and story are appearing in blogland, but the mainstream media apear to be slow to catch on...
For a copy of the text we distributed last night via email - click here.
INFRINGEMENT OF CROWN COPYRIGHT
The Treasury Solicitor acts for the Foreign Secretary in this matter. This letter should be treated as a letter before claim in accordance with the Civil Procedure Rules 1998.
It has come to our attention that, on 4 July 2006, you placed 15 documents on your website (www.craiqmurray.co.uk) which you describe as "supporting documents" relating to your book 'Murder in Samarkand'. We have reviewed the documents and it is clear that in each case (save for document 12 and the majority of document 13) the copyright in the documents subsists with the Crown. I refer you to section 163(1) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 which states:
"163(1) Where a work is made by Her Majesty or by an officer or servant of the Crown in the course of his duties - (a) the work qualifies for copyright protection notwithstanding section 153(1) (ordinary requirement as to qualification for copyright protection), and (b) Her Majesty is the first owner of any copyright in the work".
We take the position that all of the documents (save for 12 and the majority of 13) were produced by an officer or servant of the Crown in the course of their duties. As you do not have permission or a licence to reproduce the documents we consider that Crown copyright has been infringed. In particular, you should note that the statement on your website that "Net posting is not breaching copyright because there is no charge to access the documents" is wrong as a matter of law. Whether or not a charge is made is wholly irrelevant to the issue of copyright infringement. Further, even if a document is released under the Data Protection Act or Freedom of Information Act that does not entitle you to make further reproductions of that document by, for example, putting them on your website or making further copies to be provided to third parties. The copyright remains enforceable.
As you are infringing Crown copyright, you are required to remove the documents from your website immediately and to provide an undertaking that you will not further infringe Crown copyright by reproducing these documents, or any other document or documents in which Crown copyright subsists and which relate to Foreign and Commonwealth Office matters, without permission or licence. If you do not do this by 4pm on Monday 10 July 2006 my client will issue a claim in the High Court for an injunction requiring you to remove the documents. The claim will be issued without further notice to you. An application for an interim injunction will also be made.
If my client is forced by your actions to issue proceedings, she will seek to recover from you the legal costs incurred as a result. Such costs are likely to be substantial. You are strongly advised to seek legal advice.
We are copying this letter to your publishers Mainstream Publishing. We consider this to be necessary as you state on your website that 'Murder in Samarkand' will be an "interactive book' containing URL links to the Crown documents. In the circumstances we consider that your publishers should be aware of my client's proposed course of action in view of your infringement of the Crown's rights.
I look forward to receiving your response.
Yours sincerely
Gareth Buttrill
For the Treasury Solicitor
Cc. Mainstream Publishing
I'm having some issues
I'm having some issues putting the images of the letter up at mine but I'll keep trying, the genie must be let of the bottle on a massive scale and as quickly as possible!
thank you!
thank you!
So, it is Brenda then . . .
So, it is Brenda then . . .
Blairwatch quotes:
If my client is forced by your actions to issue proceedings, *she* will seek to recover from you . . etc.
Or is 'she', Cherie?
The 'She' in question that
The 'She' in question that time serving Blairite loyalist and our brand new Foreign Secretary, Mrs Margaret Beckett - fresh from her gross irresponsibility for farming and rural affairs - straight into something similar with Iraq and our 'global war on terror'. It would be like something out of Fawlty Towers if weren't so damned serious.
The Foreign Secretary speaks
The Foreign Secretary speaks with forked tongue. In her 7 July commemoration statement found here:
she says, inter alia,
"...This interdependence propels us all to a greater union of co-operation. But this must be a union based around true common values. Not just stopping terrorists and their evil ideology, but also fighting poverty, the abuse of human rights and the injustices felt throughout our world that create the breeding ground exploited so ruthlessly by today’s extremists."
and
"...One year on has anything changed? Yes, our commitment to the values that matter most to us – liberty, tolerance and justice – has grown even stronger and deeper..."
This does not square with the government's hounding of Craig in his fight against the abuse of human rights and his committment to justice. But then, I suppose, who would expect it to?
Incidentally, the FCO has a public forum at
http://www.fco.gov.uk/fco/communities/forums
This forum has been in existence since August 2003 and in that time no one has apparently even looked at the introduction and rules, let alone attempt to start any discussion. Maybe this is a good topic on which to begin the first discussion.
One does wonder what the Online Consultation Team has been doing for the last 3 years!
I may be a stupid old
I may be a stupid old codger, but I spent rather a few seconds staring at the FCO's Forum page searching in vain for a button marked 'Add Comment', 'Start a new Thread' or some such. ('Make Seditious Utterance'?)
What a waste of public money
What a waste of public money that forum is - probably cost a couple of hundred grand ;)
Tell theses guys its kack - forum.moderators@fco.gov.uk
Whoever heard of a forum where you can't post a message?
Your forum has been yoinked
Your forum has been yoinked by the looks of it!
"Due to essential systems maintenance work, we regret that parts of this website are temporarily unavailable. We are working to ensure that the disruption to our service is kept to a minimum."