Problems & Solutions

Please accompany your questions with a self-addressed stamped envelope if you wish an immediate reply. Alternatively, you can e-mail me at: bhurter@rfpublishing.com.

From: 007@colormagicstudios.com
I would like to use Robert Cavalli for some of my printing, but I am unable to locate any contact info. Could you help me out? Thanks!

Here is Robert’s info: Robert Cavalli, 357 So. Robertson Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211; (323) 664-0702, stillmovingpictures@yahoo.com/.

From: Austin Cawlishaw
Photos By Austin
Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada
In October 2002, I decided to take legal action against Yellow Pages Group (YPG) for the illegal [unauthorized] use of one of my photographs in the Yellow Pages of the local Thunder Bay [Ontario] phonebook.

Knowing that I was taking on one of the corporate giants, I decided it was time to make a stand no matter what the outcome. My fight was hopefully going to be supported by the Canadian Copyright Laws, which I found to have some teeth, more so than some other countries.
Initially the suit was for an amount that was slightly inflated; however, this was simply an opening figure to “start dealing.” Much like playing poker or bartering for an “acceptable” price, YPG kept coming back with counter offers that would give me a great deal of “advertising” in the phonebook with a lesser sum of cash coming to me to pay the legal fees. To make a long story short, we haggled back and forth for over a year for a final settlement to cover the legal fees and compensate me for my work.

In Canada, it is stated that one cannot reap financial gain by way of a criminal act; however, copyright infringement is an illegal act, not a criminal act. Therein lies a problem. The key is to negotiate and settle out of court, otherwise a court case would cost approximately (Small Claims Court with a $10,000 ceiling):
• $100 to register for court,
• $750 for a lawyer to prepare for the court appearance (1.5 days), and
• $500 for a lawyer to present the case and hopefully get what was asked for (1 day).
• Failure to win the case would incur added court costs.
So, although the final settlement was more or less eaten away by legal fees, I feel better having made the stand.

I am glad this has finally become resolved. I know that you spent a lot of time agonizing over whether to do anything at all. The laws exist, not only in Canada, but here in the U.S., to fight copyright infringement and unauthorized use of photographs, but it takes considerable time and effort to fight that fight. So, congratulations on your efforts. (Austin began these legal proceedings several years ago: See “Problems and Solutions” in the November 2002 Rangefinder.)

From: Bill Mollenhauer
Bmolle@aol.com
In reference to Joe Combs’ question in the August Rangefinder, just yesterday I had the same problem. When getting an old Pentax Spotmatic ready to give to my niece, I found out the battery was dead. Radio Shack did not have the battery but would order a replacement, and the salesman gave me the battery specs. Since I did not have time to wait for the new battery, I asked if I could substitute something from the rack. He said he wasn’t sure. The substitute was a silver oxide button battery of 1.5 volts. The old battery was probably not silver oxide and might have been mercury battery. I could have researched what it was, but that is not important. The old battery had a plastic slip-on spacer to fit it into the battery compartment to prevent it from moving around. I looked at the batteries on the rack until I found one of the same dimensions and polarity (plus and minus on the correct sides). As I thought, the camera doesn't know the difference between type of battery or size. All it wants is the correct voltage of 1.5 volts. I took it home and put it in, and the meter works fine. 

The only problem I had was that I could not use the the plastic spacer because it was stopping the battery from making contact with the camera. This means the battery is loose in the compartment, but when I screwed down the cover, the meter worked OK. If I was going to replace the battery now, I would get a bigger battery so there would be less slop in the battery compartment. 

Thanks for passing the information along.