Dear Butcher Sam!I am the chief of the business in Austria to which you refer to at your webpage. You write correctly that my company has the world exclusive distribution rights to sell the LCA. This right encludes also Russia. Indeed we feel disturbed about the fact that you infringe our sole agency rights and also the trademark rights of us and of Lomo Amerika.
Your infringement is purposefully and you admit this in public. Maybe it is not the most fair and clever thing to put up a webpage and tell everybody about a company which has exclusive rights and you, an US guy living in St.P. who openly infringes the rights of different companies. Do you think it is heroic to take advantage of the work of other people? Did you every think that someone might hold you liable for what you are doing? Did you ever consider if the management, the workers and the city authorities of St. Petersburg like what you are doing?
You won t believe it but it is true that we already have invested a big amount of money to make a trademark and a photographic philosphy known. It is true that we negotiated with Mr. Vladimir Putin as a Vicemajor of St.P. in 1996. It is true that because of our engagement more than 100 workers at the Lomo factory had the chance to return to there jobs. It is true that meanwhile our friends Putin and Klebanov (ex director of Lomo) are the leading people in Russia and it is true that we and our Russian friends do not like our business to be disturbed. After consultation with our US lawyer, our Russian lawyer and the reponsible sales manager at Lomo PLC I want to ask you in a friendly way to stop selling LCA cameras within this week.
If the matter is not settled until sunday we will take action against you in Russia and in the US. We will claim damages, we will start investigation of fraudulent selling of stolen goods because we have evidence that the cameras are stolen in the production and we will claim all possible profits back.
I am looking forward to your response
Wolfgang Stranzinger
Wolfgang Stranzinger
WorldLomoPresidentStiftgasse
15-17/8A-1070 Vienna
www.lomo.com
stranzinger@lomo.com
#43-1-5248488"
Here is the response I sent (I haven't received anything more since I sent this):
Dear Sir:I'm not writing this letter to challenge you or to upset you further. I just have a few questions that I ask you please to answer.
If I buy a Lomo camera from a shop in St. Petersburg and then sell it through a personal transaction such as eBay or my web site am I breaking the law? If you can explain this to me I will gladly conform to the law.
I am not running a major business which competes with yours. People are sending me personal emails and asking me to buy them a camera in Russia. These are not Lomographic Society cameras with the booklet and club membership which they buy from you. These are the plain LC-As sold in St. Petersburg shops. Some people prefer these for some reason. If Americans shouldn't be buying LC-As in Russia and taking them home or sending them to acquaintances then the solution is simple: don't sell the camera in Russia. These cameras have all been sold in Russia and Lomo has received the price that is charged in the domestic market. What more did you expect from these cameras? You have made your money through your sale to me through your domestic distributers. If I want to send these to acquaintances in America what's the problem?
As far as I know the LC-As I'm buying are not stolen. I certainly don't want to sell stolen property. I have bought LC-As at Gostiny Dvor, Voyeny Knigy on Nevsky Prospekt and at various shops in the Yarky Mir line of photoshops among others. If you are telling me that they are selling stolen property then I will stop buying from these shops. I find this hard to believe though as I've even had one repaired under warranty when it turned out defective. Have you ever heard of a warranty for stolen property? I have had no contact with the factory except for a preliminary call where they explained that I could not place an order due to your contract. I have seen Lomos for sale on the internet which come "directly from the factory" and I tell people on my site that these are probably stolen. Take a look at www.andrius.net or www.russia2all.com for examples of these "direct sellers" if you're interested. I think these guys are a larger source of your trouble. Shouldn't you be happy that I warn people about this?
Please explain the trademark rights I've infringed on. Is it the use of your name or quotations on my site? I don't understand. If I buy a LC-A from your website at www.lomo.com or from a dealer in America such as Freestyle Photo and then resell it through a private transaction or my website, what have I done that's different from what I'm doing now?
You haven't explained to me why selling used cameras is a problem. Is it? The Russians who have these are more than happy to make some money and it helps them quite a bit to sell them. Your efforts have raised their value considerably from the time that they bought them and I pay a fair price. Also is the question of never purchased cameras that are sometimes found in far off Russian cities. I recently got some that were made in 1991 and were brought to St. Petersburg all the way from Rostov. Do you have rights to these?
If I have any information on my site that is incorrect or slanderous I will most happily change it. Please point out for me these areas and I will fix them. I want the site to be factual.
I realize that what I have said there irritates you. I don't mean to challenge you - those are just opinions. Do you think Bill Gates is worried about all the things that are said about Microsoft? Not really - he's probably just annoyed.
I want to cooperate fully. If it turns out these shops have sold me cameras they shouldn't then I'll stop buying. If I'm breaking the law selling old or used cameras then I'll stop selling. If I've said something on my site that I can't say then I'll fix it. Just let me know where the problems are and please try to speak to me logically.
Thank you,
J. Buxton
butchersam@mail.ru