Man sued for not answering email he never received. (Gordon, please read this one!)

Hi Gordon & all!

I am posting this message in an attempt to let people know about a situation that I see day after day after day.

Recently, however, I've seen this situation magnified tenfold. I'll explain so this makes sense, okay?

A man that I know is currently being sued by a company that is claiming copyright infringement. No - this man did not "steal" their content or anything horrible like that.

It was a very innocent situation. The fellow is the manager of a very well knows sports organization (which is why no names are being used) He held a public event. The contract was signed sealed and looked over by the lawyers on both sides. At the event, they took photos. So far, nothing unusual.

Then, the man's website designer (no, I'm not the designer) made a few changes to one of the photos to make it look "cool".

The famous personality in the photo took exception to the changes. So... they emailed the owner of the organization and asked him to take down the "modified" photo. He did not reply.

They emailed again. Again- he did not reply.

So, they had their lawyer email. Yet again.. the site owner did not reply.

At that time, the lawyer contacted the hosting company and filed a copyright infringement complaint. The host took the "offending" content down.

Due to lack of response on the part of the site owner, the site owner is facing legal action for failing to respond to a copyright issue.

Know what the sad part is? The site owner, when he was finally made aware of the situation, had not received ONE of those letters. NOT ONE.

Would you like to know why?

The site owner uses an AOL email address.

Note this exerpt from an article written by Ken Fermoyle. (Ken Fermoyle has written some 2,500 articles for publications ranging from Playboy and Popular Science to MacWeek, Microtimes & PC Laptop.) ....

(quote)
My biggest gripe, however, is with an AOL problem I have not seen mentioned by any other writer in any publication to date. (Read on, and if you've seen something similar in print elsewhere, please let me know.) That problem is AOL's policy of closing its doors to "outside" e-mail when its system load gets very heavy. I don't know what is the load factor that triggers raising of the e-mail drawbridge, but I do know it occurs.
(end quote)

In addition, according to Realty Times Publication, realtors are now being asked not to use AOL for email. To quote...

(quote)
According to Russer and Hainge, the problem lies in the functionality of the email software. Russer has stated numerous times in training seminars across the country that AOL is not a business ISP. ..... Another problem is that some emails sent to AOL addresses aren't ever received.
(end quote)

If you'd like to read more information about the problem, you can do so here;
http://www.lindacaroll.com/articles/aol.html

I've seen this situation, with AOL mail, over and over and over. I have clients that use AOL mail that "test" their order page and "sometimes" receive their orders - and sometimes don't.

I've also heard a lot of people strongly defend AOL and insist that there "is" no problem. That's their call and I make no judgement either way. If they lose orders, that's the repercussion for their choice. If they don't, they are fortunate.

In a more specific light, Gordon, I've been emailing both you and Phyllis. It's very frustrating to send email after email and to receive a letter from Phyllis (like I just did tonight) asking why I am not answering her.

I receive her email just fine. She just does not seem to be receiving mine. It seems that you didn't receive the copy I sent you, either. (I sent it to the AOL address that you last emailed me from.)

Would you please let Phyllis know that I am trying to contact but she must not be getting my email? I waited and sent the last one in the wee hours in the hopes that it would make it through.

Also, if she has a web-based email (such as hotmail), would you please have her email me from that address, or email the address to me?

Thanks!
Linda Caroll




Here's that article again!