On December 29, 2003, Cheng Yanyan wrote:

RE: Violation of Copyrights and Libel

Hi,

I am referring to a thread in delphiforums:

http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/mb/message.asp?
webtag=sammyboymod&msg=38907.1

This thread has violated my copyrights as certain parts of my writing
has been copied.

Also, there is an outright libel in the thread as posted by some of
the members.

Examples are:

"Just checked out her bloggie and I can confirmed she's a blarddy
bitch who's bitching around for attention."

"Airhead or not, she sounds pretty horny and seems to have big tits.
Is there a pic on her website?"

Some males also threatened to shove their genitals into my mouth.

All these threads makes delphiforums liable for both libel and
violation of copyrights, since it is the publishing party, whether it is
knowing or unknowing of all these happening.

I do not wish to involve a lawsuit in this.

I demand:

(a) An apology and clarification from Delphiforum for having ruined
my reputation;
(b) A severe warning to the offending members who posted so
insensitively;
(c) Removal of any posts which contains libel or violates my
copyrights.

Yours truly,
Wendy

The reply:

Wendy, we are sorry you had a bad experience on Delphi Forums. The
message you cite was deleted before we could see it, perhaps by the Forum
host.

If you give us a specific link to any remaining copyright violations
and show us what copyrighted material was copied, we will take care of
them. We can only take action if we know what they are. United States law
does not hold us liable for these violations as long as we take prompt
action when informed by the copyright holder of the specific
violations.

We closed several accounts and removed several messages posted in this
thread for obvious reasons.


Walt Howe
Delphi Forums Staff

On December 29, 2003, Cheng Yanyan wrote:

Thank you for your helpful reply, I somehow expected delphiforums to
side its members on this issue.

The first thread was a simple link to my site, and thus leading to
the rest of the discussion, in which the "she" and "her" are generally
referring to me.

Thus, the whole thread consists of a "personal attack" to me, which
is really unfair considering that its mainly untrue and malicious.

The reply:

The thread is gone, and the accounts of the worst posters are closed
and annotated with what they did.


Walt Howe
Delphi Forums Staff

*****

Closed their bloody accounts! =D

More? You bet.

*****
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2003 5:55 PM
To: forums@hardwarezone.com
Subject: Violation of copyrights and Libel


To Whom It May Concern,

I am mentioned in a thread in Eat-Drink-Man-Woman, called WAH THIS CHARBOR.

The thread consists of numerous pictures of myself, and I am sure you know that pictures have copyrights, and they belong to the subject in the picture, which is me.

I am writing this email with the purpose of avoiding a lawsuit, which could be avoided by both parties by some moderation of the forum threads.

If the pictures are not taken down, hardwareforums would be liable for violation of copyrights as it is the party which published the pictures without permission from its owner.

The whole thread also suggests of libel in its most serious form.

To succeed in an action of defamation (libel), the plaintiff must show that:

(a) There was a statement referring (whether indirectly or directly) to the plaintiff;
(b) Which was published by the defendent (both hardware forums and the members) to a third party;
(c) Which tends to lower the plaintiff in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally or tends to cause him to be shunned or avoided.

All three criteria are fulfilled in this case and I will most definitely succeed in a case for libel.

On a further note,
The Defamation Act removes the requirement to prove special damages in a few types of slander inculding slander which:

(a) Imputes unchasity or adultery to any woman or girl;
(b) Is calculated to disparage the plaintiff in any office, profession, calling, trade or business held or carried on by him.

Criteria (a) is fulfilled as well.

As a third party publishing the offending statements and pictures, Hardware Forums will be held liable for the violation of copyrights and libel.

I demand:

(a) An apology from Hardwareforums in the forum thread itself for publishing such malicious contents despite knowing that it is against the law;
(b) And removal of all statements in the thread which is a violation of my rights and causes libel.

If the above two requests are fulfilled, there will be no law-suit involved.

Yours truly,
Wendy.

The reply:

Hi Wendy,

We've deleted the thread of concern.
We've issued an official warning statement to the starter of the thread.

However, do note that we do have under clause 11 of our Terms of Service (http://www.hardwarezone.com/corp/tos.shtml) that clearly states that we will not be held responsible for any offending content published by our community

Extract:
11. LIABILITY DISCLAIMER

(Blah blah)

We understand that this may have cause unnecessary inconvenience to you and we offer our sincere apologies.
We hope by removing the thread, we would be able to stop all disturbances to you as an individual.

Thank you for your kind understanding.

Regards,
Administrator @ www.hardwarezone.com

Hardware Zone Pte. Ltd.,
Blk 20, #09-04/05/10, Technopreneur Centre,
Ayer Rajah Crescent, Singapore 139964.
Tel: +65-6872-2725
Fax: +65-6872-2724

*****

Wahahahaha!

Idiotic ah bengs.

Someone said my photos do not have copyrights because I am not a celebrity, not the real sort anyway.

Firstly, what the *toot!* is a REAL celebrity??

And secondly, everyone has copyrights, celebrity or not. What an idiot.

-Special thanks to Miss Phillis Peter-