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How
do WE spot a
counterfeit:
Two
ways. If we have an actual file to look at this is easy.
Though the finished images may look simple, the method we use to create
our
drawings and make sure they are compatible with all types of software,
hardware
and operating systems is unique and distinctive. Even if an image has
been
cropped, stretched, rotated re-sized or otherwise distorted, if it is
one of
ours we will be able to prove it.
If we just see an image
somewhere, maybe on a document, a
website, notice, poster or MSDS we can spot our work by the presence of
artistic features unique to ourselves. When you’ve had as many meetings
as we
have to discuss, for example, the shape of an eyebrow, or how many
teeth a
skull should have, you know your work pretty well.
If
you have a counterfeit
copy, what should you do?
You can do one or more of
the following:
You can destroy the
product completely. Shred the disc it
came on, erase any of the images you may have on hard drives or network
servers
or anywhere else, and destroy all the paper and electronic copies of
ANY
DOCUMENT, MANUAL, POSTER, SIGN, MSDS or any other thing that shows any
of our
images. Sorry, but these break our copyright too.
Or:
You can buy
a licence. You still need to destroy the
counterfeit disc, but your software will then be lawful. Other
advantages to
buying a licence are our product support and, (if you want),
notification of
when updated versions become available. We have found that most pirated
copies
are our Safety Officer’s Combo pack, Version 8 and sometimes 9. We are
on
Version 12 now, so you should think about upgrading anyway.
You can, of course carry
on and hope you don’t get caught.
If this is you, you need to think about why you’re in the compliance
business
at all.
What
do we do when we
spot a copyright infringement?
The first move is to try
to establish from our own records
whether the potential offender has a valid licence. Our products are
only
available from us. We don’t sell through any other dealer, and we have
a record
of every copy we have ever sold.
If we can’t establish
that the product is being used
lawfully, we get our legal people to write to the suspected infringing
person
or organisation. This means the managing director, chief executive, or
senior
executive officer, explaining the infringement and his, (yes his),
liability to
prosecution. MDs and Chief Execs. are never very pleased to get this
letter. What he
does then varies
with the
individual, as does our response. What would yours do? This sounds
tough, but
it is what we are legally required to do.
This kind of thing is not
what we would wish for in a
relationship with customers, but software fraud has now caused us
considerable
loss and we can not let it continue. We intend to pursue copyright
infringement
by any
means we can.
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