Richard,

I'm not going to beat this horse to death (this will be my last post on the subject), but I'm going to break it down for you very specifically so you understand. Follow me closely...

The thread on e-budo where our pictures were posted by you (without our permission) was originally posted on 1/14/03, NOT by you. Your FIRST POST to that particular thread was the posting of the pictures. That took place on 8/16/2003 at 6:15PM. On e-budo you claim that the pictures were given to you by a friend, and that you had no idea where the information came from.

On 8/16/2003 at 5:25PM (note: almost one hour BEFORE your post on e-budo) you posted your question here on Kutaki, and YOU DO quote your source, that being our book. You claim that you didn't know the source of the pictures at the time you posted them, yet you post on here an hour earlier and post the source of the book. I originally thought you posted the pictures first, but that's not the case. That makes it even worse.

I posted my response on e-budo to make it very clear to everyone that it is illegal to use copyrighted information (pictures or otherwise) without the expressed, written consent of the author or publisher. In the few years we've been in business we have never prevented people from using our information in the discussion of martial arts, PROVIDED THAT they quote the source of the material. Rather than do this you decided to come up with a bunch of excuses and lies to cover your tracks.

You can roll your eyes and sigh all you want; you can play the victim to the big, bad, publishing company all day long. It doesn't change any of the facts. LEGALLY we don't have to ask you anything. It's not our responsibility to find out your motivations. You posted copyrighted pictures from our book on a public forum and didn't mention the source. You then lied about your knowledge of the pictures' source, when in fact you knew the source at least ONE HOUR prior to posting on e-budo.

Unless this friend of yours handed you a purchased copy of the book to look at, and you then posted the information, I can only assume that someone illegally copied the book for you. I'm willing to accept the fact that I have no way of proving whether or not this is true, but even if that is wrong it doesn't change any of the other facts.

In short, you get no apology. If anything, you get a public berating in lieu of a Cease and Decist order from our lawyers. If anything, you owe US an apology. Other members of this and other forums have the common sense and most of all the RESPECT to credit us as the source of the information when discussing these topics. Instead of backtracking when called on the carpet, take it like a man and own it. Isn't that part of what being a Warrior is all about?

I also see that on e-budo your signature lists your dojo as the Bujinkan Buyu Club. Did you ask permission to use this name as well, or did a friend give it to you?

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Richard,

When I asked you on e-budo to please not post pictures from our book without consent, you told me that you didn't know where the Ueno pictures you used came from. Yet, here we are on kutaki with this post being made one hour after the post you made on e-budo, and you quote our book directly.

I find it very interesting that you claim you didn't know where the pictures came from, yet you turn around one hour later and directly quote our book on here. Furthermore, I don't see any record in our sales database of you actually purchasing our book from us (or any other book for that matter), which leads me to believe that you somehow managed to not only infringe on our copyright, but also possibly made illegal copies of our book.

I would appreciate it if you didn't insult my intelligence. There is a reason why copyright messages are placed in books. The material (pictures or otherwise) is considered to be the intellectual property of the author, and legally enforceacble by the publisher (in this case, us). Up until this point we have not had a problem with people quoting our material to further the discussion on the Internet. After all, it helps to sell books. That is PROVIDED that they quote the source of the material. You didn't do this with the pictures, and instead of taking the high road, you chose to make excuses.

I'm sorry to bring down the flow of the discussion folks, but I'm sure anyone else in our position (Ben Cole would most likely agree here) would do the same. There is a reason why Ben requests that you ask permission to use quotes from his book before using them, and we do the same. The livelihood of our business is dependant on people buying our products. Although we have not minded people using our materials as references, if we allowed people to "give away the farm" by posting information and copyrighted pictures at will, no one would need to buy our products, would they?

Jouji,

I did remove the .abuse, and I tried it again. It seems to have taken the second time. I guess some route along the way was down.

Thanks for your help.

Does anyone have a current email address for Ben Jones? We spoke at the Taikai, and he told me to email him, but the email address I have for him bounced back.

Thanks in advance.

Hey everyone,

Jack has asked me to compile a collection of pictures of Hatsumi-sensei to be used during the Taikai in a few weeks. What we're looking for are "interesting" pictures - pictures that if we showed them to Sensei, he would have a remark about them. Old pictures are especially welcome.

If you have any that you may be able to share, please email me at jsager@shinobi.org.

Thanks!

Diamondjoe is correct. The NTSC format really only applies to VHS tapes, not DVD. Japan and the US both use NTSC format for VHS, whereas Europe and pretty much every place else uses PAL.

I'm curious as to why they wouldn't release the Takamatsu DVD as region-free. Their other releases for Hatsumi-sensei are region-free, so I don't see why this one would be any different.

We most certainly will!

6-19-03. Well it happened...all of our allotted rooms at the Ocean Place have been filled. Participants are still welcome, however, you must find your own accommodations and pay the training-only fee (3 day fee of $510 or day rate of $190).

For your convenience, we have spoken to the Sheraton Eatontown about providing a possible alternative place for you to stay. They can be reached at 800-325-3535; ask for "Tai Kai" Rooms at $149 double/single per night).

Remember! For security reasons, you can not just show up at the door. Please make a reservation by contacting us immediately! Thanks!!

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First and foremost, who is able to post to the forum without any login name or other information showing up? Unless it's Shawn himself, something is amiss with this account.

Secondly and most importantly, I can absolutely guarantee (contrary to what the quote mentions above) that Buyubooks has nothing to do with any illegal copying/reproduction/pirating of any of Hatsumi-Sensei's products, or any other products for that matter. I have no idea what the anonymous poster meant to say by his post, but I want to make it quite clear that Buyubooks ONLY sells the official, licensed DVDs.Quote:

This was just given to me by Jack, concerning the NJ Taikai in August:

----

Hi Everyone:

Sensei called me last night. The TaiKai is on! However, we must change the dates to August 8, 9, &10. He also said that NJ is the last TaiKai. I would appreciate it if you passed this word with the widest dissemination at your earliest convenience. We hope that this does not cause any problems for anyone. A full refund is available for anyone who has paid and just cannot make the new dates. Refunds for this reason must be requested by May 1, 2003.

Lastly, he cautioned that no one knows how the world situation may change and to be mindful. There is no such thing as surprise for a Ninja!

Thanks!

Jack