first of all i want to apologise for posting so much about iko but they just keep doing things that defy belief. so i got a formal complaint from iko saying i am infringing on iko copyright by advertising that students can go on to do their IKO instructors course after being trained to be an instructor at my club. THEY ARE UNHAPPY ABOUT ME ADVERTISING THEIR BUSINESS ON MY WEBSITE. ARE THEY SERIOUS?
see link below,
http://www.bluelagoonpattaya.com/lessons.html
note we no longer run the instructor training courses at my club and i need to get that changed. .they are now run at a friends club that is also in thailand.
anyway i got a professional to look into this and got this and got the response below.
QUOTE
Having carefully examined the site in question I am at a loss.
The article being complained about is a some text on the page “On completion you can go on to sit your level one International Kiteboarding Organisation instructors qualification. Learn more about becoming a kiteboarding instructor at www.ikorg.com.”
The website being complained about is a kiteboarding school.
They are making a reference that once a person has been trained they may go and sit an Exam with IKO (International Kiteboarding Organisation)
And linking to their website front page for people to obtain further information directly from IKO. Thus not taking any information from their website even.
As far as I can see and from my limited understanding of copyright law there is no infringement in linking to a website. I Do not believe that this link contravenes the Trademark Protection Act nor any other law that I can find.
The text contained causing the compliant is a factual statement.
All text is provided by the client.
And it is one of the websites where I could actually say the statement is correct !. I say this as my son trained with them (Blue lagoon kiteboarding school), then went to a International Kiteboarding Organisation approved examining centre and took their kiteboarding instructor exam and he himself is a IKO approved instructor. (not connected in any with Blue Lagoon)
This is much like a driving school linking to the agency that administrates the driving test
I will forward all information to my client immediately and request clarification by them. I would request the complainant contacts me to discuss this further.
This letter is written in response to your notification to me of a complaint received about my clients web page(s). The pages in question are:
(http://www.bluelagoonpattaya.com/lessons.html)
My response to this complaint is as follows:
Allegations of Copyright Violation / Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The claims of copyright violation should be rejected because:
> The material in question is not copyrighted, or the copyright has expired. It is therefore in the public domain and may be reproduced by anyone
> My clients use of the material is legally protected because it falls within the "fair use" provision of the copyright regulations, as defined in 17 USC 107. If the complainant disagrees that this is fair use, they are free to take up the matter with me directly, in the courts. You, the ISP, are under no obligation to settle this dispute, or to take any action to restrict my speech at the behest of this complainant. Furthermore, siding with the complainant in a manner that interferes with my lawful use of your facilities could constitute breach of contract on your part.
> No Copyrighted information is or has been used. The compliant refers to a link from a Kite Boarding school to a one of the Kite boarding examination boards stating that after training a trainee should sit an exam with them. If someone is making a website publicly available, others may freely link to it. That open linking is what makes the web a "web." http://www.chillingeffects.org/linking/faq.cgi#QID710
The Link is question is benefits from DMCA safe harbor in section 512(d), "information location tools."
This communication to you is a DMCA counter notification letter as defined in 17 USC 512(g)(3):
I declare, under penalty of perjury, that I have a good faith belief that the complaint of copyright violation is based on mistaken information, misidentification of the material in question, or deliberate misreading of the law.
END QUOTE
ontop of making a pointles complaint about something on my website they have BCCed alot of my friends in on the email to try to discredit me. i got an email from my sister asking me what was going on. they sent this to my sister and god knows who else.