Martin
50% of my degree was law and I also did Law at A-Level BUT unfortunately this was 20+ years ago so I am writing this from memory. Please do NOT take it as gospel.
A couple of main points:
- The document you wrote has a copyright date of 2008-2009 at the bottom.
- Mr Khan reistered his website on 24-Aug-2007. Did he use this article before 01/01/08? If he did then the vailidity of your copyright date may come into question (i.e. was it on your document when he used it first?)
- Has Mr Khan asked permission to use your article? If not Mr Khan in reproducing your document has ignored your copyright (providing it is valid - see above) and has a legal responsibility to remove the article if you have requested that he do so (in fact you could sue him if he does not remove it). If you have given him permission in the past you can withdraw that permission at anytime as it is copyrighted material and he must do as you request.
- As KillerWatt has previously said in a previous post, provided you have stuck to the truth, and not embellished your story in anyway, then you have absolutely nothing to worry about. The ultimate defense for libel is the truth.
- Comments made by the installer that Lizzie linked to is also close to libel (especially the part about Mr Khan falsifying records to give to the court). If the installers defense is also that they are telling the truth (and can prove it) then Mr Khan could be criminally prosecuted for perjury. The tone of the installer's statement makes me think that they are trying to get Mr Khan back into court so this could be raised.
However you may have a problem you have not thought about. The email you have received states:
I will allow 10 working days from the date of this email for you
to completely remove all and any reference to myself or **** from the entire internet, including Khans' site,
any other site and any other media.
By starting this thread you have actually just further promoted the situation which could cause you (and the Administrators on this site) a problem should you lose any court action that may take place (i.e. you lose the truth test).
Personally I would recommend the following:
1. Take this thread down and hope the installer never saw it!
2. Write to Mr Khan requesting the removal of your article from his website stating EITHER (a) you previously gave permission to use your article but that permission is now withdrawn as you didn't realise how Mr Khan intended to use it OR (b) you never gave permission for your article to be used and it should be removed immediately.
3. Write to the installer stating that you have requested that Mr Khan removes your article (send them a copy of your letter to Mr Khan).
4. At the same time request from the installer that they remove your conversion from their website. Unless their Terms and Conditions clearly states that that they can use your details, photographs of your car and details of your conversion on their website for marketing purposes then they have no legal right to do so. Interesting that there are no T&C's on their website!
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My parents live between Fernhill Heath and Claines - just around the corner from the installer. I will hold my tongue
about what I have heard about them but I am not surprised too much that this problem exists.
As stated at the top of this novel, its been 20+ years since I studied Law. If in any doubt get proper legal advice and now is the time to show some humility just in case it does end up in court - regardless of what you REALLY think about them!
Humility can go a long way at times.
Good luck - feel free to pm or email me if you would like a hand with wording any letters you might want to write.
Regards
Gareth