Sadia -
First of all – I Googled “Knowledge is Power” and came up with 1330 group references, none of which had anything at all to do with Machine Embroidery.
Secondly – I ran the words together and came up with two groups, one of which was a dating service and the other was a group inviting people to revel in the teachings of Mahmoud Hossein or something.

It’s time you got YOUR facts straight.

I deal in the world of musical copyright infringement daily. It’s not PRECISELY the same sphere of activity in which you posit yourself as an “expert”, but it’ll do for this discussion.

In my humble opinion:

Any “harm” which comes to an author of a copyrighted work is the loss of profit when that item is used for profit or sold (please note the word “sold”) by an unauthorized party.

In the case of the ESPC, they are trying to fleece the buyers of purportedly copyrighted designs by demanding a settlement of $300 from the BUYER.

This is akin to demanding $300 from you just because you unknowingly bought a copy of Barry Manilow’s Greatest hits from somebody who had burned the copy you have on his computer. YOU didn’t profit. The guy who burned the CD and sold it to you profitted.
It’s time to go after THAT guy.

Unfortunately, I fear the ESPC has found a flock of “fainting sheep” in the buyer base from which they are attempting to solicit their funds. Most folks just don’t want the hassle, so they dig deep and fork over the money to avoid the potential problems even though they are actually NOT at fault.

This irresponsible, specious litigational practice needs to be stopped!!

I understand that the US Postal service may be investigating the ESPC’s lawyer for mail fraud.

Certainly, anyone – INCLUDING YOU – who believes that the ESPC is operating within their rights is being misled or is just plain pusillanimous in the face of this puppet money-making scheme.

I believe that number of the ESPC’s original supporting members have put on their tap shoes and danced away after becoming aware of these
tactics. I fervently hope the rest will follow their lead.

Happy Ramadan.

Hello Mr. Jiggs Lee,
Thank you for your comments, I appreciate them. First of all, please do read specifically where I have said that the “Yahoo group’s” name is “Knowledge is Power”. Sorry that you spent so much time investigating. It is the group running the Yahoo group known as “Knowledge is Power” as is their name posted in all their PDF/Word documents. I have never posed as an expert rather as an advice board…meaning of blog is my online diary.

Fact that you are questioning: (btw….I realise that your lot is now recognizing ESPC as an entity doing business…some while back it was an illegal company!) ESPC’s ability to do business legally. A “Letter” by regular mail delivered to those who have infringed upon the copyrights of its clients does not constitute a threat rather it is a private letter and any demand is between them and the receiver. I suggest you look up the definition of the word fleecing. No one has held the receiver of the letter at gun point, there is no threat, just a demand. The receiver can take action or not, personal choice. That is why I ask to please look up the meaning of the word fleecing as there is no injustice done here, simply business.

It is simply more misinformation spread about by some whose involvement is pretty deep (on one hand these same individuals call out for justice against the illegal sellers but in actuality they support the very same illegal sellers??). There is no distancing of any member companies of the ESPC. ESPC is a branch of the HSA which is the parent company of many hundreds of organizations working for all the Sewing Industry giants. Someday I will write about the conglomeration and joint effort of HSA but not today.

You can believe all you want….postal services looking into fraud….LOL….even to the extent of misinformation/rumour that one of the buyers has received an email from the Vice President of the USA! Please excuse me if I question any and all these rumours as has been evidenced by the revealing of truth these past few months.

Thank you for your wishes for Ramazan, I appreciate it. HUGS, Sadia

Jigg Lee you are taking this too seriously. Where you have an opinion, others do too. Don’t shove it down my throat just because you think your way is the right way.

ATGS, apart from taking it personally, I think you have a good point, thank you. But actually the question is and always has been: Why so much commotion and attacks on a company which is trying to bring about changes in the Electronic world as far as ME is concerned? Obviously if we look deeper into the question, we find players who were the very people who lost their monthly illegal income from illegal sales. Look even deeper and what else will you find. Its all been discussed over and over, read the blogs. Desperation makes for desperate actions and that is all that is happening now. The subject matter has become quite famous and with that laws may yet be moved earlier than expected to benefit those who hold IPs in ME. What a pity that it had to come about this way, but then none of us has the magic ball.

For starters:

Main Entry: 2fleece
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): fleeced; fleec·ing
1 a : to strip of money or property by fraud or extortion b : to charge excessively for goods or services

and:

Main Entry: ex·tort
Pronunciation: ik-’stort
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Latin extortus, past participle of extorquEre to wrench out, extort, from ex- + torquEre to twist — more at TORTURE
: to obtain from a person by force, intimidation, or undue or illegal power

Now that we’ve got THAT out of the way (L bleeping O bleeping L),let’s move to the more pertinent issues……..

“your lot”? What do you mean by that?

To my understanding, the letters sent out by the ESPC’s legal “department” were tantamount to a summons in their wording.

In fact, the latest letters that have been sent out have “Important Legal Documents” stamped on the outside of the envelope in bright red lettering.

Ask yourself why any entity who stood to legitimately be awarded thousands of dollars would invite someone to “settle” for $300?? Hmmmm?

“HUGS” back atcha (insert insipid smiley-face here)

Jiggs, thank you for posting the meaning of the words “fleecing” and “extort”. Now that you have looked up the meaning, can you truly say that a letter is considered as an extortion tool. Precedents in this regard occur every day. Businesses mail letters to customers,and or to other businesses to the same effect when someone is invading their territory. It is a BUSINESS LETTER. How you decipher it to be an extortion letter is your interpretation. Since I can allow you to think such, then please allow me to also think it otherwise.
“You are hereby warned to cease and desist from using my personal webspace as a means of promoting your own personal agenda. Failure to comply will result in legal pursuance.” This is an example of a letter if I was to send it to you, does it tantamount to being an extortion letter or a letter of threat or a letter of what?
Uh, thanks for the insipid smiley face…did I see drool there? LOL. HUGS, Sadia

Sadia -

Please understand that I am 100% behind any efforts to punish anyone who causes financial damage to the holder of a copyright.
Also, please understand that I am 100% AGAINST efforts to bilk money from those who are innocent.
The burden of proof of damage belongs to the accuser.
Just the suspicion of damage is not sufficient.

If your quotated statement were to be sent out by the ESPC, it would be followed by something like “Send me $300 just for looking at my website and we’ll call it even”.

That’s not drool on my smiley-face. It’s my Copyright symbol.

Jiggs, if my quoted statement were to be sent by MYSELF, would you look at it as extortion? C’mon, be reasonable. You received a letter, take care of it. Suddenly it does not become everyone’s business. And it does not become a symbol of ridicule and harassment with misinformation, lies and defamation against the company. All because they sent out a letter asking for payment???? I totally agree with you on all accounts except when you give out misinformation what the public should believe something to be. Everything can be achieved by reasoning and respect not be calling names, digging into their private lives, spreading misinformation, etc…then one is forced to look at the reason why. If there is a problem with the letter, take it up with the proper authorities. My guess is that many have and have been dismissed for the very reasons that I have written here on this blog. If I was a betting person, I would put every penny I own on the presumption that the letter hindered the general public from purchasing on auction houses from fly by night sellers ($2 disks) and when the sellers realised the outcome they decided to launch a campaign against ESPC. Actually I’m not far off the mark, am I? Thanks, HUGS, Sadia

OK, point by point, then:

Jiggs, if my quoted statement were to be sent by MYSELF, would you look at it as extortion?

(No, I would consider it a DEMAND)

C’mon, be reasonable.

(I’m VERY reasonable. I’m even rational.)

You received a letter, take care of it.

(I have not received a letter. I don’t even sew. Take care of it? By paying out monies to somebody who can show no specific proof of any violation?)

Suddenly it does not become everyone’s business.

(It does when a lawyer is allowed to run wild and no one cares to confront the specious allegations)

And it does not become a symbol of ridicule and harassment with misinformation, lies and defamation against the company. All because they sent out a letter asking for payment????

(Asking for payment, no. Demanding payment with the spectre of legal action, yes.)

I totally agree with you on all accounts except when you give out misinformation what the public should believe something to be.

(No misinformation here. Just plain old experience with music copyrights.)

Everything can be achieved by reasoning and respect not be calling names, digging into their private lives, spreading misinformation, etc…then one is forced to look at the reason why.

(It was the ESPC’s lawyer who likened some people of actions that were similar to “Hitler’s march across Europe” and has dug into their personal lives. The pretense of those actions comes from spreading misinformation. Am I getting through, here?)

If there is a problem with the letter, take it up with the proper authorities.

(That is happening)

My guess is that many have and have been dismissed for the very reasons that I have written here on this blog.

(Guess again.)

If I was a betting person, I would put every penny I own on the presumption that the letter hindered the general public from purchasing on auction houses from fly by night sellers ($2 disks) and when the sellers realised the outcome they decided to launch a campaign against ESPC.

(It’s not the sellers that have launched the campaign, it’s the BUYERS. The BUYERS!!
I hope the sellers have crawled under a rock by now)

Actually I’m not far off the mark, am I?

(Unfortunately, you still are. And sadly, I have little hope of you ever finding the mark.)

Thanks, HUGS, Sadia

(Yeah…..HUGS. Go and read yesterday’s Wall Street Journal))

Jiggs,true, your wife being a purchaser has launched a campaign alongside those who were the SELLERS of these illegal cds. I have emails here that read specifically your wife partaking in name calling, ridicule and misinformation against not just ESPC but also anyone who happened to side with the company (this is before the brief from ESPC regarding the Hitler statement was ever read) and not to mention your own innuendos….so please lets leave that alone. (I do want to let you know however, that as this is a public blog, any and all comments etc can be subpeonaed by the courts in certain cases that are pending.) As time has shown in the last couple of months, all my writings here to be 100% factual. The hue and cry was that ESPC is not a real company…ESPC does not legally represent any of the companies whose designs were sold…..ESPC letter of demand is not a legal letter…..and the list goes on and one. My simple advice would be “Move on”. As for the WSJ, please do read the article on my blog. It further goes to showcase everything that I have said here on the blog as being factual. I wish you well. Thanks, HUGS, Sadia

I didn’t understand what the big deal was until I looked at the properties of the document and then I saw what you meant. But the documents now say something different.