Somebody nicked some of our intellectual property - we discovered at work today. Obviously I can't go into the details, but it's a hassle I don't really need.
But instead I'll tell you about how the Vol-in-Law and I recently were sent a cease and desist letter along with a demand for a bunch of money.
It's nothing we did. But for some time a guy (who uses a variety of pseudonyms - but let's call him Ed in this post) has been using our address to have things posted to relating to his "psychic fair" business. Mostly we get copies of the local rags where his psychic fairs are advertised, or we get copies of invoices for bills Ed's already paid in cash. One time Ed prepaid for some collectible coins, and accidentally had them sent to our address. Naturally we pocketed the roughly five pounds (maybe around 9 dollars).
This time though it was a letter from the lawyers of a well known British tv psychic/hypnotist who claimed that Ed's website was infringing on his trademark or business model or some such. The Vol-in-Law, who happens to teach this kind of stuff, said that the case was reasonably weak which was why they were only asking for one thousand pounds in compensation rather than much more.
Normally, getting threatening letters from prestigious firms of solicitors is hardly a cause for joy. This time though it had several benefits.
The ViL happened to be teaching a lecture the very next week on that subject and here he had a real life, amusing, but cogent example to share with his students. Plus through discovery of Ed's website we were able to find a phone number and the Vol-in-Law left a message telling him to stop using our address. I listened and asked "weren't you going to tell him about the legal action?". Nah. "I'm going to let that be a surprise.".
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