Legal actions & settlement

This was a disturbingly crazy and elaborate prank...

"OK we know we broke some of the April fools rules a bit... oops! This is actually far bigger than we ever intended and well we intended it to be pretty big. We hope we haven't upset anyone or caused anyone any bother, we certainly didn't intend that.

So just so you know Warner haven't issued any legal threats to us or other fansites! they've realised so much flack for this that i think you should all praise them for being that glorious corporation of media that they are.

Now we first want to thank all the fan sites for taking part, they are www.microcuts.net, www.muselive.com, www.musecast.co.uk, www.musewiki.org and www.musesyndrome.com and Crazy Bob who coordinated everything.

And second we really sincerely want to apologise to all the people who have offered us support, kind words, concern it was very sweet and we don't deserve it. Also to anyone we've worried, scared, annoyed etc again same.. sorry!

Hope there's no hard feelings and you got some enjoyment out of this."

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We received earlier today a legal document demanding the removal (within 7 days) of all copyrighted pictures, all our videos, video clips, mp3s etcetera... In short, that means we can keep our news and our forum which basically leave the website useless. Warner music have recently been filing lawsuits to protect their copyrights and trademarks and as you may already know they started to tackle youtube myspace and a few other large sites...

We will try to rich out Tom K. and the band to see if they are aware of the situation, in any case we will have to take a decision this week... but regarding the situation we probably won't have any choice but to close microcuts.net.

[EDIT] Message form Tom Kirk:

Hi there. Yeah bad news the email is legit Warner are really serious about cutting down on these copyright violations. Obviously the band really aren't happy about this and tried to get this to not happen but a contractual clause is that Warner have the copyrights to this stuff and we can't get around it. I know it's a pain to do all that editing so just do it when you guys have the time. Cheers. Tom K

Here is a copy of the document we received:

xxxx xxxxxxxxxxx,

It has been brought to the attention of Warner Music Inc. that the website microcuts.net - microcuts.org - microcuts.info with the IP addresses of 213.186.33.18 is conducting unauthorised activities which infringes certain copyrights and trademarks that are owned by Warner Music Inc.

Warner Music Inc. currently owns the trademark related to the term “Muse”. On the 3rd February 2007 this trademark was extended to include a number of additional classes. One of these is a Class 42 which protects the use of the term in relation to Internet Domain Names. To protect the integrity of the Muse brand we will now be actively pursuing legal actions to ensure that the use of these domain names are relinquished. Other Muse related terms also covered under this act are [...] “Micro Cuts”, “Muscle Museum” [...]

Warner Music Inc. also owns the international copyright to the following, but not limited to, Muse related forms of content: digital media; lyrics; tablature; visual likeness. These copyrights are being deliberately flouted on a large scale and are damaging the integrity of the intellectual property that we own and have invested in. Warner Music enforces its intellectual property rights very aggressively by using every legal option available.

In order to promote a cooperative and beneficial relationship with fans, Warner Music prefers to send out written requests such as this first, rather than institute litigation or request that your ISP disable your website.

We therefore, without limiting any right, remedy or defence available to us, must ask that you comply with the following requests:

1. Relinquish the use of the Internet Domain Name microcuts.net, .org, .info

2. Remove any digital media (such as mp3 files, video files, streamed or downloadable) from your server that are copyrighted works of Muse. This includes all live material, studio material, and non-musical material (such as interviews)

3. Remove any instances where the lyrics of Muse are reproduced without the express written permission of Warner Music.

4) Remove any interpretations of the music of Muse provided in the form of tablature, song scores or “MIDI” files.

5) Remove all photographic material of the members of the band Muse that have been published without the express written permission of Warner Music.

We ask that you advise us within a period of seven (7) days of the date of receiving this notice on whether you intend to comply with our request so that we can determine whether legal action will be required beyond this point.

Thank you for your cooperation on this matter. Please contact us with any further questions at xxxx@xxxx.com

Regards,

xxx xxxxxx
Warner Music xxxxxxxx,
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xxx-xxxxx-xxxx
xxx-xxxx-xxxx