Times Mirror
Times Mirror
September 21, 1999 Two Park Avenue
New York, NY 10016
William Thomas Tel: 212 448-2990
Proposition One Committee Fax: 212 448-2992
P.O. Box 27217 E-mail james.imbriaco@tm.com
Washington, D.C. 20038
James Imbriaco
Deputy General Counsel and
Assistant Secretary
Dear Mr. Thomas:
I am counsel for The Baltimore Sun Company, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of The Times Mirror Company and the publisher of THE
SUN (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "Publisher"
or the "Company). The Company is the sole and exclusive owner
of all rights, including the copyright, in the news stories and
other materials it publishes in THE SUN.
It has come to my attention that you are reproducing and
distributing, or causing to be reproduced and distributed on the
website www.propl.org (the "Site") two news stories
originally published in THE SUN, one on January 18, 1989 by Sun
reporter Susan Bayer with the headline, THE INAUGURATION: A GRAND
OLD PARTY, and the other, on January 13, 1993, by Sun reporter
Robert Ruby under the headline ON THIS STATUTE FLECKED PATCH,
HOMELESS AND PROTESTORS MAY REST THEIR HEADS BUT NOT SLEEP (the
"Stories"). All of this has been done without the written
permission or authorization of the Publisher. Your actions infringe
upon, and violate the copyright of the Company in its news stories
and, therefore, constitute a violation of, among other things,
the United States Copyright Act of 1976, as amended, 17 U.S.C.
Section 101 et seq.
You should be aware that the Company views very seriously
any infringement of its rights, well as any attempt to appropriate
for one's own benefit the proprietary assets of the Publisher.
The Publisher cannot, nor will it, tolerate the activities in
which you have engaged, or in which others have engaged on your
behalf, whatever their motivation.
On behalf of the Publisher, I hereby demand that you immediately
cease and desist from, and immediately cause all others acting
on your behalf to cease and desist from, any actions infringing
upon or violating the Company's copyright. I further demand on
behalf of the Publisher that you immediately remove the Stories
from the Site and cease and desist from distributing or causing
to be distributed copies of the Stories and any other news stories
from THE SUN for which you have not obtained the express prior
written authorization or consent of the Publisher.
To the extent you may believe your wholesale appropriation
of the Stories for your organization's own purposes and benefit
constitutes a fair use of the
Publisher's copyrighted
William Thomas
September 21, 1999
Page 2
property under 17 U.S.C. § 107, your belief is seriously
misplaced, if not completely misguided. No court has ever held
that actions such as yours constitute fair use, nor is it likely
any court ever will. The fair use defense was never intended to
protect the conduct in which you and your organization have engaged.
And, finally, let me assure you THE SUN was not required
to pay you money or obtain your written consent to publish photographs
of you and others acting in concert with you in connection with
events described in news stories published in THE SUN, as you
appear to suggest in your letter of September 8, 1999 to Robin
Milligan of SunSource. The First Amendment simply would not tolerate
it.
Please confirm your compliance with the demands set forth
within five (5) days of the date of this letter by return mail.
THIS LETTER IS NOT INTENDED TO BE, NOR SHOULD IT BE CONSTRUED
AS A COMPLETE STATEMENT OF THE FACTS AND CLAIMS RELEVANT TO THE
MATTERS SET FORTH HEREIN, OR OF THE PUBLISHER'S POSITION WITH
RESPECT TO SUCH MATTERS.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THIS LETTER CONSTITUTES A WAIVER OF
ANY RIGHTS OR REMEDIES OF THE COMPANY, WHETHER AT LAW OR IN EQUITY,
AGAINST YOU OR PROPOSITION ONE COMMITTEE AND THE MEMBERS THEREOF
OR ANY OTHER INDIVIDUALS OR ENTITIES ENGAGED IN ACTIVITIES INFRINGING
UPON OR VIOLATING ANY OF THE RIGHTS OF THE COMPANY, ALL OF WHICH
ARE EXPRESSLY RESERVED.
Very truly yours,
(signed) James Imbriaco
James Imbriaco
/pb
cc: Michael E. Waller
Robin Milligan
Deborah L. Golumbeck