Pixsy in London tell Declan to pay £249 by 1 December or face court action for copyright infringement. We cannot dismiss District Judge Ruth Fine's costs order last June in his case against the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's
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).
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 inhibits our ability to exercise our rights and poses a threat to his life, 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 08/11/20)
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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.
Tonight Declan received an email from Pixsy in London charging him with copyright infringement. They have told him to pay £249 by 1 December or face court action for copyright infringement. He has informed two close colleagues in America that he is very willing to defend in court the Church and State website on the grounds of reasonableness. He has told Pixsy that we hope for good news from them and for all concerned about use of public information:
On Tue, 10 Nov 2020 at 23:36, Declan Heavey
Dear James,
Thank you for your email.
I have removed the image. My wife says that she didn't know the image was copyright-protected and needed a license. This is where she found the image:
https://www.bygonely.com/london-1976/
Church and State is a not-for-profit website. The material on the site is available for educational purposes as part of our efforts to advance understanding of human rights issues and other matters of political, cultural and humanitarian significance in a global perspective. The site does contain some copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorised by the copyright owner. However, my wife does try to avoid this as much as possible.
We are very sorry that in this instance she clearly got it wrong despite her source. We would respectfully ask that Mr. Hiltscher consider waiving the £249 license fee on the grounds that our tenancy is a flat, which falls under the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative. Our combined income comprises of no more than £140 a week and such a fee for the past use of the image on the Church and State website would put us under immense strain, even if the payment date was extended.
We hope for good news from you and for all concerned about use of public information.
Yours sincerely,
Declan Heavey
Managing Director
Network for Church Monitoring
Metropolitan Police Crime Reference No. 5330050/20. On 16 October, our flat door 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. This morning we were informed that tomorrow the communal door lock will be changed and our flat door repaired.
8 November: Part 1: Housing Ombudsman Service. Declan has complained to Lyn Brown MP about this statutory service. Our flat door has been vandalised (crime reference no. 5330050/20). And ISAF's letter to Facebook's COO in September has gotten no results
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan
The following is the full content of paragraph 4 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar.
4. This eviction matter previously came before District Judge Fine at the Central London County Court on 30 June, when both counsel for St. Mungo's (the charity in effective control of our tenancy) and Declan presented their positions. Declan lost the case and was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs. A publishing colleague in America cleared these costs within 24 hours of my blog post about this hearing for strike out on a related issue that was the essence of Declan's claim, i.e., that St Mungo's would take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of the Mayor of London's RSI programme. Within a week of the hearing, St. Mungo's had agreed to take this phone call for us both, the Court having ruled that they were not obliged to do so despite our circumstances. This time we escaped bankruptcy (counsel for St. Mungo's asked for £3,407.50 in costs), but consider that to seek pro se access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us.
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Headquarters in Gogarburn. The RBS owns National Westminster Bank (NatWest).
Declan has had NatWest (owned by RBS) before the Financial Ombudsman Service since last February following the non-payment of his salary by standing order. An investigator at FOS has found that the RBS Executive Case Manager wouldn't have been reasonably aware when she paid Declan compensation on 17 February that there had been some error previously made by NatWest in setting up a replacement standing order on the Network for Church Monitoring business account for the payment of his salary. His 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 has been passed to the Ombudsman. His salary continues to be paid online by quick transfer from the business account to his personal account pending an ombudsman's final decision that will be published on their website. He was informed by the investigator on 28 October that he will be updated every three months on the progress.
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."
14 October: NatWest Bank: Declan's complaint about the non-payment of his salary on 24 February has been passed to the Financial Ombudsman for a decision to be published on their website. The never-ending assault on our email continues unabated
Sidebar footnote 2 (from "Church and State", para. 5):
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
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