Greetings fellow Pinsiders.
Before I get to the point of the topic title, allow me to introduce ourselves to the community and explain a little about who we are and what we do.
Retro Refurbs is a small family run pinball business based in the North East part of England, United Kingdom. For over 10 years we have been been fixing, servicing and restoring pinball machines for both our own interests and for clients. A lot of restorations we do are on the high end scale and cater to collectors, but we also do outcalls in our local area when someone needs help with their game.
We showcase all of our work online and share our knowledge openly in order to help people who are fixing or restoring their own games. We help people and regularly donate to forums/sites/good causes where we can participate. Pinball is our passion, and we love the great community that surrounds us in this hobby. It's full of likeminded people who are often happy to help each other and keep this these wonderful pieces of gaming history alive for future generations to enjoy.
However, there are of course the odd bad egg in this hobby and that brings me to the topic title.
Earlier today the Retro Refurbs Facebook page - facebook.com/RetroRefurbsUK - was hit with a fraudulent copyright claim by Rick, and as result we had content removed. Here is a screen shot of the claim:
What's most interesting is that none of our posts or images in question contained material which Rick or PPS own the rights to. Here is one such image:
As you can see, the content of this image has no relation to Rick or PPS whatsoever. It should also be noted that nothing is available for sale from our Facebook page. Needless to say a counter claim has been submitted and Facebook have been made aware of this fradulent activity. It should be noted that under section 512(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), copyright owners are liable for “any damages” stemming from knowingly false accusations of infringement that result in removal of the accused online material.
These actions are that of an extremely jealous and greedy individual who's only interest is in that of helping himself, not others. Rick could well land himself some jail time if he's not careful and continues to make fraudulent claims about his organization.
Usually such matters like this would be handled privately, but we feel in this case that such dirty tactics should be made aware to everyone in this hobby, and the individual in question named and shamed.
We cannot ask anyone here to boycott PPS, but you have the information to make your own mind up about who you do any business with.
Wishing everyone a great weekend!
Kind regards,
Pete
Service & Repairs Technician
Retro Refurbs