Comments on: West Point Is Pissed

By: 5 Things I Learned From Being Sued by a Media Giant | itMilk

5 Things I Learned From Being Sued by a Media Giant | itMilk — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 19:32:32 +0000

[...] along with trying to succeed on the internet. Two issues in the past couple of months have been being threatened by the US Military at West Point for copyright infringement and receiving legal notices for collegiate trademark logos. Then yesterday I received a 7-page [...]

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:48:22 +0000

Just keep an eye on your traffic….Make note of the locations, IPs, and anything else you can find from your visitors. Also take careful note of the times the tough guy calls. Eventually you’ll be able to figure out as much about him as he has you. Then give the guy a taste of his own medicine.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:54:57 +0000

It looks like the Captain is pissed that a plebe (freshman) would have the audacity to claim to be an expert in ANYTHING, let alone the Military Academy.

And, as Rick said, the government does not own any intellectual property, and is not capable of owning any intellectual property. The threat of a lawsuit is empty, and if I were you, I would respond in kind. Knowing that the government has no IP rights, his threat is harassment, and criminal.

By: cpctc

cpctc — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 09:16:22 +0000

Reminds me of the tactics the RIAA uses. They make threatening calls to the people they intend on suing and reveal as little information as legally possible, leaving the defendant(s) in the dark about loop-holes in the law, inaccuracies in their proof–or even reasonable proof all together. Sometimes the RIAA even begins legal proceedings without any knowledge of whether the defendant has engaged in the infringement they are accused of.

By: Daehee

Daehee — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:59:12 +0000

@Kate: I have a pretty good idea that they took such an aggressive stance because they thought I was a current cadet at West Point (again, sigh of relief), because that’s the first thing Captain H asked when he called. Even then, I don’t know why a cadet would get in trouble for creating a site like Get Into Academy, and furthermore be forced to take down the entire website, which isn’t entirely about the USMA.

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:53:53 +0000

Whoever Captain H is, he cannot possibly have read your site. You’ve stated your intentions very clearly. If there were legitimate questions about your site and what you’re doing, why such a threatening approach? It’s really sad, Dave, that you have to waste your energy on this.

By: Update On Being Sued By West Point

Update On Being Sued By West Point — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:59:11 +0000

[...] Captain H of West Point called again at 4:28pm. [...]

By: Super Mike

Super Mike — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 03:54:37 +0000

And watch out for guys calling you up or emailing you, claiming they work for Reuters or something. I had one call me up, ask me a bunch of questions about my startup company, and I was flattered. Then I emailed Reuters Editorial Board to inquire about this and they wrote back that a man by that name not only does not work for them, but isn’t even on their freelancers list or their news leads list. They suggested I may have given information out to a phony, perhaps for identity theft purposes. So watch out — the id theft guys are all over the place.

By: Brent

Brent — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 01:23:26 +0000

It’s sounds like a legit caller to me, but I’d bet it’s some Captain who ran across your site and got pissed off at you for giving a peek inside the process. Military people don’t like other’s knowing anymore than they have to, whether it be the public or other servicemen.

Or it could be someone with the same idea as you? I wouldn’t worry too much ’til you get that letter.

By: Daehee

Daehee — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 00:03:52 +0000

@Gruszynski: At the footer of Get Into Academy, I say clearly that “This website is not officially affiliated with USMA, USAFA, USNA, USCGA, USMMA, or the United States Government. All views and information presented here are personal and independent of the aforementioned institutions.”

I agree with you that Captain H is a very bad public relations person, if that is even his job…