They would have to show that they (the Company) suffered harm to the reputation of the Company or its Officers in such a way as to deter others from doing business with them.

Frankly, the only thing that has had that effect in this little debacle is the action of whoever it was at WoK who decided to throw their toys out of the pram.

 

Besides any legal considerations, what annoyed me the most was the lack of any kind words, friendliness or appreciation. You may have different opinions on a watch, you may value it different ( profit driven vs. rational approach, easy to tell what belongs to which party in this case.) but WoK obviously using 101 as a resource for whatever should have a different attitude.
They get exposure and publicity among people who are willing to spend fortunes, which is great for their business, hence they should cope with their own shortcomings in curating first...before they threaten to sue someone because they fail to do their due dilligence ( a romantic word for that would be "honesty" ).

I will rather continue to overpay for something I want and that's worth it, to private collectors, no bad taste in my mouth, no feeling of "well, almost what they promised me..".

 

I don't think the pictures are clearly in the public domain at all. Just because they are posted online, does not make them public domain.

I think spacefruit took the prudent course of action. Even if he was 100% correct in what he was doing, if wok decided to take action it would become very costly. Litigation cost money and principle is a rich mans sport.

 

Infringement of copyright is one thing but defamation is another. Defamation in this context should be directly related to WOK's economic loss resultant to @Spacefruit's blog comments. From my perspective, a neutral party looking looking st this situation would understand that @Spacefruit is a collector with a vast number of watches in his collection. Holistically, he has a vested interest in promoting the sales of Speedmaster for the highest possible prices of listed honestly. He is not an auction house so he is not competed with them as a business. I think they would have a weak case if it ever got to that (which it won't). They seem to have defamed themselves enough on their own.

 

I am in Kensington & Chelsea next weekend. I may just sign up. Is it a simple process? Do they welcome casual punters? I think it would be interesting for a novice.

I'll wear a nice smart suit and my Dad's lovely old 1965 Speedmaster. Would they let me in?

 

From Wikipedia
"The term public domain has two senses of meaning. Anything published is out in the public domain in the sense that it is available to the public. Once published, news and information in books are in the public domain, although they may also be copyrighted. In the sense of intellectual property, works in the public domain are those whose exclusive intellectual property rights have expired, have been forfeited, have been expressly waived, or are inapplicable."

I meant the first sense, and if you link to the photo on their site you aren't copying it so I don't see that you could be infringing copyright.

I doubt they would be so stupid as to take the matter to court, the usual tactic is just to bully people into erring on the side of caution which is what they are trying here.

 

Almost had beer coming out my nose when I read this I was laughing so hard.

 

You could wear a tutu and flippers... as long as you have ID and follow their rules they'll let you in chap.

 

I almost coughed lasagna onto my laptop reading that!

 

Just to be clear I am not defending wok at all. All I was really saying is it is often best to just get bullied into compliance with their requests. It sucks but I have seen lots of people spend lots of money on "pride/principle" issues. Good lawyers in this field can be $550 an hour or more.

IMO spacefruit has the right idea. Let someone else take pictures and grant spacefruit fair use of them. Problem solved.

 

Jolly good Chris. I'll give it a go.

 

The pictures are absolutely not in the public domain. They are publicly available and you may be allowed to republish them under fair use (I don’t know), but they are under copyright.

 

In which case we'll need pictures of more than just the watch.

 

Yes indeed @davidswiss . It's only a short trip on the London Underground from where I'll be staying and I'm keen to experience the buzz of the auction in person. If I get the chance to take some photographs at WOK I will do so.

 

Agreed. From a business standpoint, it doesn't make sense to take this position unless you have something to hide. Spacefruit is giving them publicity, which means more potential bidders and more $$$$. I bet this thread tipped off quite a few lurkers to the upcoming auction.

 

See my clarification above.

 

Yes I understand your point and different people have different tolerances for risk. From my own point of view, I hate to see bullying, and I think the risk of them taking action beyond getting their lawyer to write a formal letter is pretty slim, so I'd tell them where to go. But I can completely understand if someone else takes a different approach.

They also 'kindly' asked him to refrain from commenting on their future auctions, and I would definitely tell them to go forth and multiply on that one!

 

William and I were talking about this on the phone last week... if they've nothing to worry about, why should they mind who comments about their auction lots?

I know from personal experience the effect of having your site linked to from Speedmaster101.com... and that's a bump in traffic... why wouldn't an auction house want that?

 

Yes agreed. I am specifically talking about the pictures. Once they start threatening spacefruit as to what he can and can't say as a matter of opinion all bet's are off. No one should let themselves be bullied for speaking their opinion or pointing out facts. Ever.

 

I wonder if WoK's response was the result of a complaint from one of the watch owners who didn't like William's comments and believed it would affect the sale. After all there is a lot of interest in 321 speedmasters and some buyers with a lot of cash are not that clued up and some sellers want to offload stuff that is ok but maybe not worth top money. An auction is a good place to generate over enthusiastic bids.