Accurate Showtimes Initiative
CANCELLED DUE TO MULTIPLE THREATS OF LEGAL ACTION
UPDATE - JULY 10th, 2003
Loyal CalgaryMovies.com Users,
It appears we have once again come under the crosshairs of the mighty
corporate giant Famous Players and its band of lawsuit-threatening
lawyers. We received yet another lovely email from them today, informing
us that not only have some of our users been emailing them to voice
their displeasure with Famous Players' stance in threatening to sue a
little web site that just wants to provide its visitors with accurate
showtimes (some of the emails were aparently even rude - ruder than
threatening to sue when we only had the best of intentions?). They
state that some of the emails may have contained viruses, but they
graciously concede that we may not be "directly responsible" for this,
but do go on to state that their previous email "... with the benefit of
hindsight should not have been published on your web site". Noted.
We've been threatened with further legal action - this time "costly
legal expenses" - should we continue to use their "trade mark" (sp) on
our site. So, because of their further flexing of their legal muscles, all reference to the name "Famous
Players" has now been exorcised from our web site, save for the
information contained on this page, which is online as a public service
to inform our users of the prickly situation we now find ourselves in.
Their latest email is
below - we continue to ask that our users do not interfere with their
web site operations and please do not send any nasty viruses to them. We
may get sued if you do.
Subject: Famous Players Trade Mark
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 15:15:30 -0400
From: "Michael Ostfield" MOstfield@famousplayers.ca
To: boxoffice@CalgaryMovies.com
Since we emailed you on May 13, 2003 we have received a number of emails from users of your site.
It is unfortunate that you chose to put our email of May 13, 2003 on your web site. Most of the emails we received were either insulting or rude. In the last few days we have also received emails that likely contain viruses.
We are not suggesting that you are directly responsible for this inappropriate email use. It appears that some of your users have taken it upon themselves to do this as some form of retaliation for our earlier email, which with the benefit of hindsight should not have been published on your web site.
Your web site still has Famous Players' trade mark prominently displayed. We respectfully request that our trade mark be removed immediately before this matter escalates to a point that could involve you in costly legal expenses. Further, we are sure you will agree that you do not want to be involved with individuals who may be sending viruses through the email system.
Your cooperation would be appreciated.
Michael Ostfield
Legal Counsel
Famous Players, a division of
Viacom Canada Inc.
146 Bloor Street West
Toronto ON M5S 1P3
May 13th, 2003
To Everyone Who Took The Time To Try & Help Us With Our Campaign To Provide You With the Most Accurate Showtime Information,
Thank-you very much for your admirable efforts, but we are forced to ask that our site users cease and desist in sending emails to Famous Players immediately in order to stop the "unwarranted interference in their website operations."
Apparently our campaign to provide you with accurate Famous Players showtimes caught the eye of their legal team, who sent us the following email:
Subject: Famous Players Trade Mark & Logo
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 16:17:45 -0400
From: "Michael Ostfield" MOstfield@famousplayers.ca
To: boxoffice@CalgaryMovies.com
Cc: "Guest Services" guestservices@famousplayers.ca,
"Andrew Sherbin" ASherbin@famousplayers.ca,
"Angela McGovern" AMcGovern@famousplayers.ca
To Whom It May Concern:
Your website has been brought to our attention.
It appears that you are using certain trade marks which are the exclusive property of my client without permission. Such use constitutes trade mark infringement and must cease immediately.
Further, we are aware that you have been advised by Famous Players as to the reasons why you are not being provided with our show times. Would you please advise you site users to cease and desist in sending emails to Famous Players immediately. Otherwise, we will proceed by all available legal means to stop your unwarranted interference in our website operations.
Your assistance and cooperation is requested.
Yours truly,
Michael L. Ostfield
Legal Counsel
Famous Players, a division of
Viacom Canada Inc.
146 Bloor Street West
Toronto ON M5S 1P3
Tel: (416) 969-6479
Fax: (416) 964-3924
It appears that our efforts to improve our site were not seen as a positive measure (instead we somehow "intefered with their website operations"), so we
are forced to now remove their logo from our site and cancel the
campaign to provide you with accurate showtimes for Famous Players theatres. As such, we are now
back to relying on 3rd-party sources to do so - if any errors appear in
our posted Famous Players showtimes, you now know why.
Sincerely,
CalgaryMovies.com
