All-Japan Combined Show

[Brian]

Dr. Kah,

First of all, I've stolen nothing from you. Neither your bandwidth, nor "your" photos. I've not got the command of the German language necessary to go poking around websites looking for pictures in the first place. I was at this show taking photographs, and I also have rights to the professional shots taken by our partner Kinsai Shuppan, which will be released later on in the magazine. I assure you that I am not desparate for photographs given the fact that I am based here in Japan. This was a post made by a member of the Koi-Bito forum, and not by myself. The first photo in the post of the Showa is indeed copyrighted, and I have indeed obtained the rights to use and reproduce this photo. You can compare it with the first photo that I posted from an original film duplicate directly from the author of the photo.

Any reasonable person can look at this photo and deduce that it was very obviously reproduced from a magazine either by scanner or digital camera. Considering that you produce an online magazine, I'm a bit suprised that you didn't recognize that for yourself. While I commend you on checking the copyrights of the photos that are submitted to you site, surely you must have been at least somewhat suspicious of this professional show photo, again which is an obviously unauthorized copy.

Michelle has contacted me directly to clear things up, and I'm satisfied with her explanation. The photo was apparently posted elsewhere, and I can see that it is now gone having been replaced with one taken directly at the show. I'm satisfied that it's nothing more than a case of koi enthusiasm, and I'm content to leave it at that. However, to be called a thief by yourself given the fact that you have a photo that I can legitimately lay claim to posted on your website doesn't seem right to me. I don't feel that I should have to be the one on the defensive with regards to this matter. There's a world of difference between a forum member innocently linking to another site and a webmaster himself posting a copyrighted photo...not having sufficiently researched the copyright to said photo. I asked the poster where he had gotten these photos, both because I recognized the first one, and suspected that the others weren't alright to link to. I will remove the last two links, but I don't feel compelled to do anything with the first, since it is one that I have legitimate claim to, and if anyone has a right to make issue about it, that is me.

Anyway, I don't wish to make a big stink about the matter, as Michelle's explanation has satisfied me. I am a bit disappointed with your curt attitude regarding the matter, but I guess that you were more than likely as suprised as I was over the issue of this photo. It's not my aim to blame anyone here, I just hope that more care is taken in the future not to encroach upon copyrighted material. While it may seem innocent enough, photographs and articles are the lifeblood of a magazine. Unauthorized usage cheapens the value of both, and hurts the people who have invested time and money to produce them in the first place. I can only imagine that most people would cringe at the idea of someone else giving away their livlihood for free. If you as a Dr. authored a book and then put it up for sale, I doubt very highly that you would sit idly by and watch someone else sell unauthorized copies of your work without so much as a word.

It's not my style to try and cause trouble or discontent within the koi community, but it's also not my style to sit back quietly when I feel my rights have been infringed upon. There's no use in having a copyright if you're not willing to stand up and enforce it. I hope that you can understand my position and that there's no hard feelings. There's none on my part so far.

rgds,