Proposed Legal Action

Over the years, we have all read stories about stupid court cases, where people sue each other, over very trivial matters, and we all laugh at how stupid they are.
Well guess what, Rangers are suing me for having a Rangers theme web site.

The Crime

Rangers, although it seems to be mainly it's "brand protection officer", Mr Steven Romeo, have decided that the bighun1.com website, is breaking the clubs copyright, by using the "Ready" crest and the R.F.C scroll, as part of the titles on this web site.
I know this seems a bit of a trivial offence, but the club, and Mr Romeo in particular, have decided that this is a very serious offence, and are now threatening me with legal action.
This threat of legal action, could have been sorted out long ago, as I have pointed put to Mr Romeo, that the bighun1 web site is a non commercial web site, built only for the pleasure of fellow Rangers fans.
I also pointed out to Mr Romeo, that the bighun1 website, clearly stated that it did not own or claim to own any of the Rangers logo's on it, and I asked for a meeting with him, or one of his staff, to see if we could come to some deal, which would be suitable to both parties.
This offer however was a complete waste of time, as his reply informed me, that unless I removed the R.F.C scroll and the Ready crest straight away, I would be facing legal action.

Money Grabbing Or Censorship

It is noticeable in his communications with me, that Mr Romeo has signed his E mails as
Mr Steven Romeo
Rangers Football Club and JJB Sports
This leaves open the question who is he actually working for. Is his threat of legal action coming from Rangers, or JJB Sports.
The fact that Rangers, or to be more precise Mr Romeo, has now decided that no web site in the world is allowed to use the clubs logo, with out their express permission, and no doubt the payment of a sizeable fee, clearly smells of attempted money grabbing by JJB Sports and the club.
It also worth noting at this point, that the tactic of claiming breach of copyright, has also been rumoured in the past, to have been used by other organisations, as a way of introducing a form of web censorship, IE print what we tell you, or we will see you in court.

More Than A Brand

Whether Mr Romeo likes it or not, Rangers Football Club, is not and never will be just a "brand", it is a football club, steeped in a history and a tradition, that people like Mr Romeo, will clearly never be able, to understand.
Far from protecting what Mr Romeo calls "the brand image", he and his like, are in fact helping destroy the club.
Rangers, the R.F.C scroll and the Ready crest, do not belong to anyone person, they belong to the clubs fans.
They are not the play things of Sir David Murray, the banks or even Mr Romeo, but are in fact the symbols, of our great club, that we have worn and displayed, with an unashamed pride and passion, for a great many years, and god willing, we will continue to wear and display them, for a great many years to come.
This dictatorial and dismissive attitude shown by Rangers, and Mr Romeo in particular, is clearly against everything, Rangers Football Club, has ever stood for.

My Defence

My defence, against the totally uncalled for over reaction by Mr Romeo is very simple, and is detailed below. Bighun1.com, has never claimed to own the R.F.C scroll, or the Ready crest, instead I clearly state that these are the property of Rangers Football Club, and are used under the widely regarded term of "Fair Dealing".
In the United Kingdom, the term "fair dealing", is a term used to describe some limited activities, that are allowed without infringing copyright.
One of the designated activities, allowed under "Free Dealing" is the field of research.
This states that copying parts of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or of a typographical arrangement of a published edition for the purpose of research, and is allowed under the following conditions:
The copy is made for the purposes of research or private study.
The copy is made for non-commercial purposes.
The source of the material is acknowledged
As the bighun1.com web site is basically a research project into the history of Rangers Football Club, the web site is clearly not commercial, and it is clearly stated, that Rangers are the copyright holders of the R.F.C scroll and the Ready Badge, you can clearly see that bighun1.com, has complied with the requirements for "fair dealing".
The next point of law relates to the duration of the copyright for the R.F.C scroll.
The 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act clearly states that the duration of copyright for a piece of art work is 70 years, from the end of the calendar year in which the last remaining author of the work dies.
As mentioned elsewhere on this site, it is widely believed that founding member and legendary club captain Tom Vallance, designed the Rangers R.F.C scroll.
The late great Tom Vallance, died in 1935, meaning that the 70 year rule has clearly been passed, and the use of the R.F.C scroll in a piece of non commercially art is allowed by law.
The next part of my defence is ownership of the image sources.
The 2 images in question, have been scanned into my computer from items of Rangers memorabilia which I have bought, and therefore they are my own property.
I do not see, how it is possible, for Mr Romeo to tell me, what I can and can not do, with my own personal property.
If I had stole the images from the Rangers web site, then he would have a clear case for telling me to remove the images, but I did not do this, instead as previously stated, I scanned in the images from my own personal possessions.

Possible Outcomes

Their are 4 possible outcomes from this dispute,
1) Mr Romeo stops his threat of legal action.
This is the most common sense approach that surly can be taken, as the case would be lauged out of court.
2) Negotiated settlement
This is the option I hoped that Mr Romeo would go for, but he clearly wants to take this to court.
3) The case go' to court, and I win the case through the use of the "Fair Trading" defence, and the fact that I own the source of the images.
This is the most likely outcome from the case.
4) The case go's to court, and Mr Romeo wins
It would be a bad day for everybody at Ibrox, if being a Rangers fan became a crime.

PR Nightmare

At a time when the club needs all the good will it can get from the fans, surely the last thing the club needs is all the bad press that this proposed legal action would generate.
Can you imagine the field day many of the newspapers would have if the found out that Rangers where trying to sue a lifelong fan, for publishing a no commercial web site, that is solely dedicated to recording the clubs great history.
Such a PR gaffe as the proposed legal action by Mr Romeo, would have the entire country laughing at Rangers.
You can just imagine the headlines "skint bears sue fan to pay wages".
Do we want this, of course not, but the uncalled for bullying tactics of Mr Romeo, and his unwillingness to even meet with me, leave this possibility, wide open.
This action, and Mr Romeo's attitude, not only threatens the future of bighun1.com, but also every other Rangers web site on the web. Unless the club see's common sense and stops this stupid over the top reaction, it will only be a matter of time, before they are threatening everybody else, who has a Rangers theme web site, with legal action.
The very real threat of legal action, not only put's my future liberty at risk,(as if I get a fine, I have no money to pay it, and will therefore be going to the slammer) it also shows how far removed, from the real Rangers fans, Mr Romeo and his fellow pen pushers at Ibrox, have now become.