Dear Board Members,
On 18 November 2002 I resigned from my position as Stanly Co., NCGenWeb
CC by notifying SC Hartshorn and his associates of my resignation. I also
removed all USGenWeb logos from my Stanly Co. website to clearly indicate
that my website was no longer affiliated with USGenWeb.
Today I discovered that someone in NCGenWeb, most likely SC Hartshorn,
has taken my copyrighted Stanly Co. website (dated 23 November 2002) and
placed it on Rootsweb as the official Stanly Co. USGenWeb website at
www.rootsweb.com/~ncstanly
My former USGenWeb and now independent Stanly Co. page is at
www.eskimo.com/~lcsims
Obviously someone went to
eskimo.com, where I have had my Stanly Co. site
for several years, and copied my website to Rootsweb. This transfer
clearly indicates intentional theft.
No one from NCGenWeb contacted me about using or placing my website on
Rootsweb and I never granted permission for such action. I did have a
personal correspondence with ASC Buckley concerning Mr. Hartshorn's rude
behavior, in which I told Mr. Buckley that my Stanly Co. website would
remain on the Internet and I would continue to help researchers,
independent of NCGenWeb. I never told Mr. Buckley that NCGenWeb could copy
or continue using my website nor did he ask for permission to take said
action.
Article X, Section 1, of the Bylaws clearly states that I am the sole
copyright owner of my website and NCGenWeb does not have the right to use
said website. I have added the sections from the relevant bylaws below.
I demand that:
1. NCGenWeb immediately stop using my website as part of NCGenWeb and
remove my website from Rootsweb.
2. That SC Hartshorn and any other involved NCGenWeb official be
sanctioned by the Board for violating the Bylaws, especially Article X,
Section 4.
If NCGenWeb does not remove my website from Rootsweb and Mr. Hartshorn and
his associates continue to violate my copyright by stealing any other
files, then I will be forced to take legal action against NCGenWeb and
USGenWeb for copyright infringement.
Thank you for your attention.
Leah C. Sims
lcsims(a)eskimo.com
Article X. Copyright
Section 1. In The USGenWeb Project, copyright of websites resides solely
with the creator of the web page(s). Their inclusion as part of The
USGenWeb Project does not give any irrevocable right, implied or
otherwise, to The USGenWeb Project to permanently use the material.
Section 4. All members of The USGenWeb Project shall be responsible for
adhering to The USGenWeb Project's Official Copyright Policy which may be
found, along with further information about copyright, at The USGenWeb
Project national website,
http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/copyright.html.