From: [email protected]
In August, right in the middle of the summer holidays, EXGAE received
a certified fax from the lawyers of the Spanish royalties collection
society, Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE), demanding that
EXGAE disappear from the face of the earth within the next seven days.
If it fails to comply, it went on, SGAE will proceed, without any
further notice, to sue EXGAE for damages, unfair competition and
infringement of the “SGAE” brand.
The SGAE law firm, Lehmann and Caballeiro, allege unfair competition
in regards to the name EXGAE and the nature of the activities it
carries out, under the provisions of the Patents Law.
Civil society has already denounced the fact that culture industry
multinationals like the SGAE use copyright, patents and economic
coercion for censorship, to silence dissidence and to restrict freedom
of expression.
Citizens have made it clear that lawsuits and threats will not stop
the just development of the digital era.
We’re sorry, but it will no longer wash. The SGAE lawyers will have to
find some other business.
And what´s more we doubt that SGAE´s associates would want their
interests to be defended in this way.
EXGAE won’t disappear within seven days. EXGAE is here to stay.
Together, we are bringing down a monopoly and building a future that
is accessible, sustainable, and beneficial for everybody.
No! to the use of copyright for censorship purposes.
EXGAE is a non-profit platform. It emerged from the desire of a group
of associations and individuals to share – among themselves and with
anybody who many need them – the tools to defend themselves from the
abuses of the part of the cultural industries that tries by any means
possible to hinder the transition to the digital era, which is natural
and unavoidable. Through practice, EXGAE promotes the normalisation of
new modes of creating, understanding and producing. EXGAE dialogues
and works with everybody, and firmly believes that the old cultural
models must coexist with the new ones, without the first trying to
hamper the progress of the second. And it does so for the benefit of
artists, citizens and cultural entrepreneurs.
EXGAE works on six fronts:
• Offering legal advice through specialised lawyers;
• Reporting irregularities in the management of royalties collection
societies and cultural industries, when they go against the interests
of artists, and when they are detrimental to users and entrepreneurs;
• Analysing the social and political situation and designing
proposals for legislative intervention;
• Organising cultural events aimed at “normalizing” the new form of
cultural production, such as the oXcars;
• Amplifying the power of national and international networks,
promoting and harmonizing the capacities of each node;
• Creating viral campaigns.
In recent years, EXGAE has been one of the most active groups in the
struggle for civil rights in the digital environment, at the Spanish,
European and international level.
It has participated in the organization of important milestones for
freedoms on the Internet:
• The fight against the Spanish Law of Sustainable Economy (LES) and
the founding of RED SOSTENIBLE ;
• The creation of tools for legislative reforms such as the Charter
for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge ;
• The organization of major mobilisations in 2010, such as the (D’)
Evolution Summit, which reached more than 150,000 followers during the
European Summit of Ministers of Culture
• Internet will Not be another TV jointly with international consumer
defence organisations.
It provides information free of charge to over 1400 people each year
and its web site http://exgae.net/ is visited by around 10,000 people
per month.
* If you want to help us, use and spread the information and reference
material on our web. Follow us and participate on Facebook and
Twitter. Let’s multiply, share, and not let them intimidate us.
We will keep you informed.
http://twitter.com/EXGAE
http://twitter.com/EXGAEca
http://www.facebook.com/EXGAE.net
“(…) Times have changed. The Internet allows the horizontal exchange
of information and culture among everybody. We all consume and produce
culture at the same time. This is why the means of cultural production
must adapt to this new democracy, and not the other way around (…).”
EXGAE Manifesto “Greed Breaks the Sack,” July 2008
If you don’t know what EXGAE is link here:
http://exgae.net/que-es-exgae/what-is-exgae
Related Files (spanish):
The SGAE certified fax:
http://omploader.org/vNWhvYw/sgae-vs-exgae.pdf
Our responses:
http://exgae.net/respuestas-de-exgae-al-burofax-de-los-abogados-de-la-sgae
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