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
DAY 180 IN A WEEKLY PERIODIC TENANCY
SUBJECT TO A 'NO FAULT' SECTION 21 NOTICE
MAYOR OF LONDON RSI PROPERTY
14/04/20
With the background as provided above, the Heaveys now are facing an eviction notice from their landlord, Peabody Trust housing association. The tenancy is a flat, which falls under the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative. Pardoning my intrusion into English law, but in fairness there does not appear to be any reason for the eviction, relying apparently entirely on the discretion of the landlord.
Joseph R. Carvalko, Esq., American lawyer (full letter here)
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).
Declan received an email from Pixsy this evening. They are again insistent that one way or another he will pay £249 for the past non-commercial use of one image on the Church and State website. He had already been advised by a top copyright lawyer here in London that if they 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. We were well prepared to dig ourselves in fast this evening. This was Declan's reply to Pixsy's latest insistent email:
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
10 November: 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
In my previous post this afternoon, I wrote that we were waiting for a final response from Peabody Trust to Declan's complaint about appalling new terms of tenancy. He was assured that he would receive this response today. That hasn't happened. All he did receive tonight was confirmation that under just one new clause we could be held liable for damage done to worn-out carpets by the previous tenant(s) and more besides. According to the clause, this liability could result in us having to pay rent and service charges until the end of the two-year fixed term should we ever want or need to end the tenancy before the fixed term has expired. You just couldn't make something like that up.
Previous post: Declan 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 in London that we hope for good news from them and for all concerned about use of public information. Peabody Trust is another matter!
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 the communal door lock was changed and we were told a carpenter will complete the repair to our flat door on 1 December.
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
From My Pick's:
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)
The Central London County Court is based at the Royal Courts of Justice.
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 amounting to £3,407.50 without mentioning this phone call in their application for strike out. Less than a week later, St Mungo's TST North had agreed to take the phone call for us both that was the essence of Declan's claim. But still our landlord, Peabody Trust housing association, will not renew our tenancy like for like as twice before (Housing Ombudsman Service Case ID 202002510). Declan's debt to St Mungo's 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.
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
