Third nastygram! Maybe the lawyer gets paid by the piece?

                                           October 11, 2005

BY E-MAIL: gecko@dustyfeet.com
AND FIRST CLASS MAIL
Stuart Frankel
141 East 3rd #8B
New York, NY 10009

Right out of my whois info, including my lazy habit of not putting in "Street."

        Re: Unauthorized Use of Intellectual Property

Boilerplate boilerpalte

Dear Mr. Frankel:

This time, they figured out my sex. I feel so much more secure. I don't feel the love, though.

    This firm is counsel to Lyons Partnership, L.P. ("Lyons Partnership"), the owners of the exclusive right to use the copyrighted children's dinosaur character Barney® as well as the federally registered and famous trademark and service mark Barney.

Samo, samo. Well, even Barney goes into reruns.

          It has come to the attention of Lyons Partnership that you are operating a web site found at URL: www.dustyfreet.com/evil/enemy.html. Your web site contains copyrighted Barney images.

It's not a site; it's a page, and they spelled it wrong. Little touches such as this give the letter a badly needed human touch.

        The materials you are using are the intellectual property of Lyons Partnership. It is unlawful (pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 501(a) and other laws) to use this property without the permission of Lyons Partnership. These materials must be immediately removed. Lyons Partnership would prefer not to have to pursue legal remedies or contact your Internet Service Provider ("ISP") and inform it of your unlawful use of copyrighted materials (which is presumably a violation of your ISP's terms of service). To avoid this, please provide us with written assurances by October 18, 2005, that these materials have been removed.  If we do not receive a response, we will be forced to take other measures to have the content removed.

Samo, samo. Well, even Barney goes into reruns. Did I say that already? Well, whatever the case, the message is: learn nothing and issue empty threats. And this, dear friends, is why our country is the greatest in the history of the world.

Please contact the undersigned if you require additional information.

Actually, it was illegal for the undersigned to contact me in the first place: see the legal analysis for details.

                    Sincerely,

                        GIBNEY, ANTHONY & FLAHERTY, LLP
                       
                   
                        By: ________________________________
                                Matthew W. Carlin
S:\Internet Group\01426-Lyons Group\Barney\c&d\Website Letters\dustyfeet.10.06.05.doc
 <<dustyfeet 10 06 05.pdf>>

To judge from the file name, the letter sat for 5 days before they e-mailed it. Must have been all the fact checking that they did. Now here comes the most interesting part. You needn't bother to read it.

IRS CIRCULAR 230 NOTICE: IRS CIRCULAR 230 REQUIRES THAT WE ADVISE YOU THAT ANY U.S. FEDERAL TAX ADVICE CONTAINED IN THIS COMMUNICATION OR IN ANY ATTACHMENT HERETO IS NOT INTENDED OR WRITTEN TO BE USED, AND CANNOT BE USED, FOR PURPOSE OF (I) AVOIDING PENALTIES UNDER THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OR (II) PROMOTING, MARKETING OR RECOMMENDING TO ANOTHER PARTY ANY TRANSACTION OR MATTER ADDRESSED HEREIN.

Poorly aimed boilerplace. Don't they pay any attention to what they're sending?

This message is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed, and may contain information that is privileged confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by telephone, and delete this message from your system. Thank you.

The usual crap. I assume that they're not serious about telephoning, since they didn't include their telephone number in the message. It's difficult to believe that they could be that incredibly stupid and careless. Well, actually, it's not.

on to another legal analysis
back to Barney