Update 8:30PM 11/19/2008 - We removed the thumbnails from the posts and our server.

It’s never fun being involved in potential lawsuits, but we just got a letter from Charlottesville photographer Matt Rosenberg who works for the Daily Progress.  In this letter, Matt’s attorney alleges that we have:

not responded to Matthew Rosenberg’s facsimile letter of September 15, 2008, he has retained this firm to represent him in the matter of Spicy Bear Media’s infringement of his copyright.

We never received any facsimile letter from Matt or any other contact before this letter. 

The attorney didn’t even send a copy of this alleged “sent facsimile.”  Also, we didn’t post any “pictures;” as you can see they are low-resolution thumbnails.  Oh, and there is nothing in this letter about how using the thumbnails actually harmed you or caused damages.   Using thumbnails of pictures is “fair use.” Read about it here or here. 

Now his attorney is demanding $2,500 for use of the two little thumbnails we used in Garage posts (1 and 2).  I called Matt and he told me he couldn’t provide any confirmation that he actually sent us the facsimile letter.  Matt could have just contacted me via phone, email, in comments or on the contact form from the site and resolved this issue, but he didn’t and hired an attorney to threaten us.  Indeed, Matt has every opportunity to contact us about the thumbnail, but didn’t.

As far as I’m concerned this is a predatory practice and forces us to either (1) settle with him to avoid a potential lawsuit or (2) to spend a lot more than $2,500 defending ourselves in a lawsuit.  We’re still figuring out what to do.  In the past, we’ve always responded to photographers or other media holders about any issues, but it’s a little scary to think that these sort of predatory practices can work for websites.  Matt, maybe you should sue Google, too, because they have your big pictures cached?

Oh, the fun of being a Spicy Bear! A copy of the letter from Matt’s lawyer is after the break…

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Popularity: 32% [?]

WHAT THE F*CK, VIRGINIA.

I’m sorry, I never use four letter words in a post, but this guideline is absolutely ridiculous. You can’t wear Obainlinden promotional stuff near polls, according to Election Day officials.  The Daily Progress reports:

Election Day workers in Charlottesville and Albemarle County have been told to ask voters wearing political clothing or a button to either cover it up or remove it. The move is part of a newly clarified state guideline that bans all such exhibitions of campaign material at Virginia’s polling places.

Two Charlottesville-based groups along with the Virginia ACLU said Wednesday that they will sue over the policy, asserting that it is a violation of free speech.  If the voter does not agree to cover or remove the political apparel, the poll workers must file an incident report with the commonwealth attorney’s office for possible prosecution.  Even if a voter refuses to remove his campaign button or T-shirt, he will still have the opportunity to vote.   “No one will be refused the right to vote for violating this policy,” said Rick Sincere, chairman of Charlottesville’s Electoral Board.

So, what does the law actually say?  Specifically, Virginia § 24.2-604 explains:  »Read More

Popularity: 14% [?]

If you go one mile per hour over the speed limit on Old Lynchburg, JPA, Monticello and soon, Elliot, Brandywine and Franklin, you will pay a $268 dollar fine. In case you were wondering how that compares to Virginia, that’s nearly 300% more than what Virginia thinks is necessary.

Oh, and let’s not forget that Virginia is already insane. I don’t know if it’s because we have an inferiority problem of not being a State (we are, in fact, a Commonwealth) or what, but we impose excessive fines on drivers already. In case you don’t believe me, read the Virginia Driver Civil Remedial Fee Explanation. In it you will find the following facts:

• ONLY Virginia residents have to pay these fines. That means if you live out of State (*COUGH, many UVA STUDENTS*), you don’t have to pay.
• If you drive over 80MPH, you have to pay a minimum of $350 and your fines could be as high as $1,000.
• If you drive more than 20MPH over the speed limit, you have to pay a minimum of $350 and your fines could be as high as $1,000.

[UPDATE: Echo points out that these were repealed.  I missed this, but the point remains that $200 for minor speeding infractions is also excessive.  I will update the table in the morning (only the last data point should change).]
Seriously? I don’t know how the City of Charlottesville gets to add an additional $200 onto already high fines, but it’s too much money. I’ve been lucky to not get any sort of ticket in years, but $300 dollars is A LOT of money for someone to pay for driving 1MPH over the speed limit. I think Charlottesville needs to reconsider how ridiculous this is.

What do you think?

Want to know exactly how much you have to pay in Charlottesville if you get caught driving over the speed limits in these designated areas? A detailed table is after the break.

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Popularity: 40% [?]

I was inspired to go look through the Virginia laws the other day and I found some pretty surprising stuff. What do raccoons and oral sex have in common? Well, they are all part of the Virginia code in ways that you probably wouldn’t guess.

While searching, I also discovered that a lot of the weird laws we’d heard about actually weren’t true. Apparently, it is legal to have sex in positions other than “missionary” and you can drive a car while barefoot in Virginia.

But, what about those weird things that are still illegal in Virginia? You can find out after the break…

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Popularity: 27% [?]

Did anyone check out Antonin Scalia’s visit to the UVA Law school?

Considered a conservative justice, he said some pretty wild stuff to the Virginia Law School where he used to teach. The passage that caught my eye (from the Brian McNeill at the Daily Progress):

The judicial system, he argued, has too often gone overboard in its interpretation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which forbids any “law respecting an Establishment of Religion….”

For example, the court system has sought to bar students from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance because it contains the phrase “One nation, under God.”

Rulings that seek to totally separate religion and government, Scalia said, run counter to the Constitution’s meaning. If you want to enact a statute that says the president can never say ‘God bless America,’ then I have no problem with that,” he said. “Just don’t tell me that the Constitution prohibits it.”

So, what does the constitution say?

[via WSJ Law Blog]

Popularity: 24% [?]

In case anyone hasn’t seen Richmond Sunlight, you should check it out.

So, let’s take a recent C-Ville Weekly story about the upcoming banning of Salvia by Virginia legislatures. It’s a good read if you are into drugs (and I mean in a purely academic way). Salvia is a “drug” that for some reason, has passed under lawmakers eyes for the last century. You can still buy it online and the effects are supposed to be similar to LSD. If anyone gets it can you make sure to write us a testimony?

So, what is this bill? Enter Richmond Sunlight.

A quick search for Salvia reveals the HB21 bill. On this page you can find the status of the bill (salvia is no longer legal in Virginia and is classified as a Class 1 Hallucinogenic), the entire history of the bill, video records of the bill, RSS feeds to update you regarding bill changes, commentary, lists of those who approved it, and a lot more.

Our friend at cvillenews, Waldo, built the thing together with funding from the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. Anyway, you should absolutely use Richmond Sunlight if you need to see details about any bill in Virginia. This thing is really cool and I love how easy it is to find out who is accountable for things. I wonder if the politicians are a little nervous about the ease of these public records. Well done!

[more reading at UVA] [pic]

Popularity: 23% [?]

When they aren’t getting tazed, law students sure do know how to have a good party.

Check out the pictures at TJ’s Double Play.

I like the mud dude the best.

Popularity: 17% [?]