For the fourth time Pixsy chase payment without a claim letter for the past non-commercial use of one image on the Church and State website. We're still waiting for Peabody Trust's final decision letter for the Housing Ombudsman to investigate appalling new terms of tenancy
11/11/20
The more I look at this the more inclined I am to say ignore it and see what they do next. You stated your actions and your limited financial condition and if they want to pursue a likely not rich entity they may well decide not to.
If they do then we can seek help but small claims would seem to be not something they may want to pursue.
Ignore for now as these people are scammers in my view.
I have gotten so many great responses to my last op ed!!!!!!!!!!
Donald A. Collins, Sr., publishing colleague
Our Church and State website has no less than 59 Nobel Laureates on it despite the never-ending assault on our email; see paragraph 2 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar (updated today).
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms formulates what is the core of free speech. "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression." In an important interpretation of this article, the European Court of Human Rights in Handyside v. UK (1976) indicated that this "freedom of expression" should be construed as follows. It "is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received, or regarded as inoffensive, or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population". Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no "democratic society" (see Cliteur, 2010).
DJ Ruth Fine orders Declan to pay £1,850 in costs
The Central London County Court is based at the Royal Courts of Justice.
Heavey v St Mungo's (2020)
Application hearing for strike out held by conference call before the Central London County Court on 30 June 2020.
What the issue in these court proceedings boiled down to was whether the Court would decide that Declan and I should live in a destabilised tenancy that poses a threat to his life and inhibits our ability to exercise our rights, simply because the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's Tenancy Sustainment Team in North London (TST North) would not even take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of theirs. Declan argued that this was not proportionate and lawful. But District Judge Ruth Fine agreed with counsel for St Mungo's that TST North was not obliged to take such a phone call and ordered him to pay £1,850 in costs. Declan had asked the Judge to take into consideration that St Mungo's had clocked up exorbitant legal fees without mentioning this phone call in their application for strike out.[1] Less than a week later, TST North had agreed to take the phone call for us both. But our landlord Peabody Trust will not renew our tenancy like for like as twice before, thereby preventing us from engaging the Mayor's TST service due to the ongoing destabilisation of our tenancy (Housing Ombudsman ref: 202002510).
30 June: District Judge Ruth Fine orders Declan to pay £1,850 in costs. St Mungo's are under no obligation to even vouch over the phone that we are clients of the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's TST programme (WITH UPDATE 23/11/20)
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[1] On 23 June Batchelors Solicitors sent Declan a £3,407.50 bill of costs. St Mungo's counsel asked the Judge for this exact amount even though, at the time of submitting these costs to the court before the hearing for strike out, St Mungo's had never once mentioned the phone call that was the essence of Declan's claim against this taxpayer-funded charity. In 2017/18, St Mungo's turnover was £89.6 million. Declan's debt to them was cleared by a publishing colleague within 24 hours of my blog post above. Having averted bankruptcy, we now consider that to seek pro se (in person) access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us.
The Central London County Court is based at the Royal Courts of Justice.
Heavey v St Mungo's (2020)
Application hearing for strike out held by conference call before the Central London County Court on 30 June 2020.
What the issue in these court proceedings boiled down to was whether the Court would decide that Declan and I should live in a destabilised tenancy that poses a threat to his life and inhibits our ability to exercise our rights, simply because the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's Tenancy Sustainment Team in North London (TST North) would not even take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of theirs. Declan argued that this was not proportionate and lawful. But District Judge Ruth Fine agreed with counsel for St Mungo's that TST North was not obliged to take such a phone call and ordered him to pay £1,850 in costs. Declan had asked the Judge to take into consideration that St Mungo's had clocked up exorbitant legal fees without mentioning this phone call in their application for strike out.[1] Less than a week later, TST North had agreed to take the phone call for us both. But our landlord Peabody Trust will not renew our tenancy like for like as twice before, thereby preventing us from engaging the Mayor's TST service due to the ongoing destabilisation of our tenancy (Housing Ombudsman ref: 202002510).
30 June: District Judge Ruth Fine orders Declan to pay £1,850 in costs. St Mungo's are under no obligation to even vouch over the phone that we are clients of the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's TST programme (WITH UPDATE 23/11/20)
__________________________
[1] On 23 June Batchelors Solicitors sent Declan a £3,407.50 bill of costs. St Mungo's counsel asked the Judge for this exact amount even though, at the time of submitting these costs to the court before the hearing for strike out, St Mungo's had never once mentioned the phone call that was the essence of Declan's claim against this taxpayer-funded charity. In 2017/18, St Mungo's turnover was £89.6 million. Declan's debt to them was cleared by a publishing colleague within 24 hours of my blog post above. Having averted bankruptcy, we now consider that to seek pro se (in person) access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us.
This afternoon Declan received a fourth email from Pixsy. Once again they are chasing payment for the past non-commercial use of one image on the Church and State website. I found the image at https://www.bygonely.com/london-1976/, and didn't know it was copyright-protected and needed a license. I removed the image within minutes of Pixsy's first contact with us on 10 November. Declan has been advised by a top copyright lawyer here in London that if Pixsy are so aggressive that they actually take proceedings against us, then he should "dig in", contact the Law Society pro bono unit, and at the first opportunity have this case transferred to the small claims part of the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court to limit our liability. He has yet to speak with a pro bono lawyer. He has to wait for a claim letter from Pixsy to do that. This was his reply on 11 November to their second email in as many days:
James (no surname)
Case Management Team
Pixsy
120 High Road
London
N2 9ED
11 November 2020
Use of image by Klaus Hiltscher 002-110889
Dear James,
Thank you for your email.
I have discussed this matter with my wife and she is quite satisfied that she could not have possibly known that the image was copyright-protected and needed a license. I have stated our actions and our limited financial condition.
We do not understand why you would feel that you must receive a license fee from me even on a payment plan and we must state that any proceedings which you intend to issue will be strenuously defended.
Yours sincerely,
Declan Heavey
Managing Director
Network for Church Monitoring
11 November: Pixsy tell Declan this evening that he will pay £249 for the past non-commercial use of one image on the Church and State website and we dig in for their claim letter. Peabody Trust miss yet another deadline to respond to his complaint about appalling new terms of tenancy
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Headquarters in Gogarburn. The RBS owns National Westminster Bank (NatWest).
Declan has had RBS's NatWest before the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) since 25 February following the non-payment of his salary by standing order. The Financial Ombudsman has effectively found in a provisional decision that the Executive Case Manager at RBS wouldn't have been reasonably aware when she paid Declan compensation on 17 February - in recognition of issues he had experienced in setting up two replacement standing orders on the Network for Church Monitoring business account - that there had been some error previously made by NatWest in setting up the replacement standing order for the payment of his salary. Declan's complaint about the subsequent cancellation of the standing order without his knowledge or consent that resulted in the non-payment of his salary on 24 February was passed by the investigator to an ombudsman, who is the former Team Manager at FOS and has held roles at Alliance and Leicester (now Santander). His salary continues to be paid online by quick transfer from the business account to his personal account pending this ombudsman's final decision that will be published on their website. Below is a link to Declan's response to the ombudsman's provisional decision.
FOS investigator: "NatWest have said although the cancellation was processed on the 12th February 2020, it wasn't uploaded for processing until later – so it didn't actually cancel until the 19 February 2020."
24 November: NatWest Bank: Declan responds to the Financial Ombudsman's provisional decision for their website. Pixsy had just chased for the fourth time in two weeks payment for the past use of one image on the Church and State website (previous post)
Metropolitan Police Crime Reference No. 5330050/20. On 16 October, our flat door on the 2nd floor was vandalised by two thugs with a crowbar. Declan and I were in the flat at the time and fortunately our double locked door held firm. It's my opinion that they just wanted to break the door lock but didn't have enough time. The communal door lock downstairs wasn't broken. On 11 November, the communal door lock was changed and on that same day we were informed that a carpenter will complete the repair to our flat door on 1 December.
17 October: Part 1: Housing Ombudsman Service. Two days ago Declan complained to Lyn Brown MP about this statutory service. Yesterday our flat door was vandalised. And ISAF's letter to Facebook's COO last month has gotten no results
We have perfect reception on free view channels using our aerial, but seldom with our second BT YouView box. Today is no exception, and includes unwatchable subscription channels. The screenshot above was taken on 21 October and lasted six days despite a strong internet connection throughout the period. This month I have recorded the same wipeout on free view channels for two days in a row.
"I do not wish to have a fourth BT engineer in my flat. Nor do I believe that a third YouView box will make the slightest bit of difference. I have spent an extraordinary amount of time over the years dealing with BT on this issue and internet cuts."
- Extract from an email of Declan's to BT Executive Level Complaints on 28 September 2020
1 November: Day 2: Will we ever know a good BT TV service? We now pay the British telecom giant over £800 a year. The Police have closed their investigation into crime reference 5330050/20 for want of evidence
Facebook’s suppression tactics used against us
17 October: We have permission to publish this ISAF letter of 30 September to Facebook COO Sheryl Samberg. Facebook has so severely restricted our Page's distribution since 4 September that it's almost as good as an unpublished page
17 October: We have permission to publish this ISAF letter of 30 September to Facebook COO Sheryl Samberg. Facebook has so severely restricted our Page's distribution since 4 September that it's almost as good as an unpublished page
Update: 15 December 2020
15 December: Pixsy escalate rather than withdraw their outrageous threat to Church and State (day 35). Peabody Trust render our tenancy unsustainable, resulting in a threat to life. There is an almost impenetrable blockade on Church and State emails. And Facebook maintain their suppression tactics against us
Link updated daily.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan
15 December: Pixsy escalate rather than withdraw their outrageous threat to Church and State (day 35). Peabody Trust render our tenancy unsustainable, resulting in a threat to life. There is an almost impenetrable blockade on Church and State emails. And Facebook maintain their suppression tactics against us
Link updated daily.
Our list of 287 Honorary Associates includes 17 Nobel Prize laureates, 11 US National Medal of Science laureates and 12 knighted professors notwithstanding the excessive targeting of these three categories of emails in particular.
http://churchandstate.org.uk/honorary-associates/
"Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out." Edd Doerr (1930-2020), (then) President, Americans for Religious Liberty
