What follows is
a response from Marc J. Kopeikin, Esq., attorney for
the Paul Kopeikin Gallery, to me, in relation to an
invoice sent by me to the Paul Kopeikin Gallery for
the unauthorized use of two of my essays at this commercial
gallery's website.
My comments about
it follow the letter itself.
-- A. D. C.
February 16, 2003
Law Offices of
Marc J. Kopeikin
A Professional Corporation
9454 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 600
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Tel. 310-271-7675
Fax 310-271-7695
September 4, 2001
Alan [sic] D. Coleman
Image/World Syndication Service
Post Office Box 040078
Staten Island, New York 10304
Re:
Paul Kopeikin Gallery
Paul Kopeikin Gallery Website/www.paulkopeikingallery.com
Invoice No. 822 Dated August 14, 2001
Dear Mr. Coleman:
This office represents the Paul Kopeikin Gallery with
regards to the above-referenced invoice from Image/World
Syndication Service. It is requested that you direct
all future correspondence and communication in this
matter to the undersigned.
Mr. Kopeikin disputes
your invoice in its entirety, including the purported
imposition of penalties, collection costs, and late
fees. The invoice you have presented to Mr. Kopeikin
has no legal significance. Mr. Kopeikin owes you no
money and he will pay you nothing.
Please be advised
that allegedly disputed postings to the Paul Kopeikin
Gallery website, if any, were completely removed from
the website in July 2001.
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE
THAT Mr. Kopeikin reserves his rights to seek damages
against you for libel, slander, and intentional interference
with business relations if you do not immediately
cease and desist contacting Mr. Kopeikin's clients,
vendors, other photography dealers, and the Association
of International Photography Art Dealers, Inc., regarding
the website issue.
You are invited
to have your legal counsel contact me if you feel
this matter warrants further discussion. If not, I
presume this issue will be laid to rest.
Very truly yours,
/s/ Marc J. Kopeikin, Esq.
Usefully, you'll
note, this lawyer does provide certification that
my copyrighted material, "if any," was "completely
removed from the website in July 2001" -- which
means that it had to be put there illegally in the
first place. This proves most convenient to me from
an evidentiary standpoint, and I'm grateful to him
for that. In conjunction with Paul Kopeikin's own
repeated acknowledgement that the material to which
he helped himself so freely had in fact been both
posted and removed, it constitutes a de facto stipulation
to its presence on the website, which the court will
find instructive. (He provides a second such piece
of evidence in this regard in his letter to AIPAD;
see link above.)
I was, of course,
entirely within my rights in placing this matter before
the Association of International Photography Art Dealers
(AIPAD), the professional organization in which the
Paul Kopeikin Gallery advertises its membership, as
well as in bringing it to the attention of my fellow
writers and other colleagues in the field. I have
continued to do so -- Marc Kopeikin's threats notwithstanding.
-- A. D. C.
February 16, 2003