I finally found out why I’m in trouble!
By Stefan Constantinescu on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 2:43 PM PST In Blog Updates
After contacting Darby & Darby numerous times to try and find out what I did wrong I simply gave up and contacted "Domains By Proxy."
They were kind enough to forward me the complaint that Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has filed against me. Yes you read that right, Nokia has filed a complaint against me.
You can read the PDF here: Download ltr. Unauthorized use of Nokia’s Proprietary Trade Secrets (01104452).PDF
In summary: I made a blog post on April 02, 2007 that contained pictures of the supposed Nokia 8600. That device was stolen from a Nokia building in Arizona! They [Nokia] think I had something to do with the theft!
I’m just about as shocked as you are. Seriously, that is some heavy shit.
Right now I have no idea what to feel. I still admire Nokia and all the products they produce. I enjoy the time I’ve spent with the many employees I met in Vegas, NYC, Madrid and I can’t wait to see Phil and Ganesh again in Chicago (is Mikko coming?) next month. I’m a little … heart broken that they want my site shut down, but right now there is nothing I can do but wait for Darby & Darby to return my phone call.
817 808 9258, just say the word and I’ll delete that blog post faster than you can say "Holy Lawsuit Batman!" The post has been removed!
Edit: What really bugs me is the fact that I clearly labeled my source, HowardForums, on the bottom of that post. Why do I get the short end of the stick?
Edit: I deleted the blog post that started this mess. Thanks for the advice Greg!
Interesting that you would get a vague letter like that while I received a very clear and overall stern but friendly email for my N81 and N82 pics. Also interesting that they want your entire site shutdown while I was merely requested to remove the pics.
Good luck on that.
Man thats wierd! Somehow the job offer u get from intomobile and this from nokia don’t really go down too well wid me.. What can nokia have to do wid that website i can’t fathom.. But the timing sure seems to suggest something!
Anyway, nokia can’t pin u for anything. Just pressure tactics.. But why is the question in my mind!
They couldnt be sure who the culprit was so the take everyone as suspicious….”guilty until proven innocent”. They had legitimate right to it since the item was stolen and suddenly appears on some websites. At least you reacted rationally and settled well.
Careful, these companies are now wising up to this internet and their starting to crack down.
actually, if they looked into your photos good enough, they will find that all of the nokia 8600 pictures’ filenames are all beginning with DSCxxxx.jpg…which means that this picture is taken by a sony digital camera. and you simply ahve a canon a10 powershot…
a geek’s gotta know his gadgets
actually, if they looked into your photos good enough, they will find that all of the nokia 8600 pictures’ filenames are all beginning with DSCxxxx.jpg…which means that this picture is taken by a sony digital camera. and you simply ahve a canon a10 powershot…which i believe all their filenames begin with Imagexxx.jpg
am i right, guys?
Wow, dude I’m freakin’ shocked right now. This is _absolute_ bullshit.
a.) You labeled where you got the photos from
b.) Instead of contacting you to ASK where you got them, they simply start filing injunctions?
c.) Even if they DID have reason to suspect that you were involved with the theft, what reason do they have to try to take your site itself down?
d.) What moron that’s asleep at the wheel is actually stupid enough to think someone would steal a prototype from a Nokia lab and then PASTE THE PHOTOS FROM IT ON THEIR TRAFFIC HEAVY WEBSITE!!!!!!
Nokia needs to seriously reconsider their legal staff… any idiot 3rd year law intern should have the capability of handling this better than they have.
_Absolute_ bullshit, I repeat.
-olly
Lifting Shoulders and Nodding ….
I agree with olly… though I couldn’t find better words
Honestly, this seems crappy enough that the worst would be getting excuses from some executive at Nokia… IMHO…
And the guy who filed it would be gratified becoming the Coffee-Machine guy…
(Good Night from here
)
This is just ridiculous. If Nokia thinks you were involved with stealing the phone it should go to the police and make a formal accusation. It needs to put up or shut up – which it seems unlikely to do because it must realise how foolish it would look – especially when the police found no evidence.
I don’t know why the letter talks about confidentially agreements with its employees. Totally irrelevant to you.
I would get a lawyer and counter-sue them for their wrongful accusations. I cannot actually believe that they are accusing you of being involved with theft; that is outrageous!
I would have thought that once those images were in the public domain there’s not much Nokia can do about it, other than threatening to sue the 100+ sites that must have run them… Which would make them ever so popular! The only site potentially liable is the source, I would have thought. Have you spoken with the Howard Forums people, to see whether they’ve been contacted?
And as for the lack of thinking behind starting the total PR disaster that can only come from threatening one of the Nokia online communities most popular bloggers… one can only sit back and wonder! I don’t blame you for feeling heart-broken – but remember that this is a lawyer trying to prove the value of his doubtless massive monthly retainer, not the techno wizards who’ve been making the great handsets and software that you love.
You should definitely ask these muppets to clarify exactly which ‘Arizona state law’ you’re in breach of, and exactly how. It sounds a bit vague to me at the moment.
Good luck & keep us updated,
Caspar
You did claim that you had exclusive pictures of the 8600. Could that be the stolen example?
Caspar and Olly are absolutely right in their comments! I´m a law student here in Brazil and would consider their opinions seriously.
Nokia´s trying to intimidate you, but if these things get serious you could and should sue them for bad faith or wrongful accusations.
But I can´t believe that this episode will finish like that… I hope.
“that is outrageous”!, absolutely! as Casper says.
–Marco
I don’t understand why your site is threatened for republishing photos from HowardForums, yet the original article + photos is still available on HowardForums! Here’s the direct link http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?p=8979385#post8979385
Note also that your original blog entry is still available via Google cache – yay for Google cache!
I think you’ve got a good case for slander against Nokia to be honest – at the very least you deserve an apology from Nokia.
I can understand the part about the stolen phone and even to some degree that they don’t like to see pictures of it published, but this is definitely the wrong way to act. Nokia should have contacted Stefan directly and explained the situation, not send some bullshit lawyers after his whole site.
Nokia screwed up big time – Nokia mokasi isosti!
The way i see it there are multiple forces at work here:
- I agree with you that Howardforums should also be subject to the same litigation, but it might mean nokia sees your blog as more ‘important’, ie. having more visibility
- Nokia Legal is cracking down on this because of similar incidents in the past and serious copycats in countries like china ripping off their designs
- Just because someone else distributes pics from a stolen design, it doesnt give you the legal right to do it.
- It ain’t over till the fat lady sings; lets see how this plays out; my guess is that if Nokia reads your blog they might have the same sentiments as you do.
Typically legal people are not the biggest geeks in the world…
> – Just because someone else distributes pics from a stolen design, it doesnt give you the legal right to do it.
It’s not obvious from the Howard Forums post that the phone is stolen. Should bloggers assume that all leaked photos are of stolen phones? Then there will be no pictures posted anywhere.
For Nokia to assume that Stefan stole the phone himself simply because he posted a picture that he correctly attributed to a third party is insane. In fact, it’s more than insane – it’s fcking stupid and lazy on the part of whichever Nokian who gave instructions to the legal attack dogs. S/he should be made to apologise forthwith or settle it in court, Stefan.