Sunny Sportsbook stole from Bet2Gamble.com by taking copyrighted material from our site, without our permission and without providing us any compensation, and used that material in a full page ad in the September 2002 and the January 2003 editions of Casino Times News (Please note that Bet2Gamble.com does not hold Casino Times News responsible for this at all). Here is the ad they used in the September 2002 edition on page 58 and the January 2003 edition on page 40 of CTN. Sunny took the Details page** we had of their's listed in our site at the time and used it in both full page ads in CTN magazine, and they didn't even bother to give us credit on that page either.
** Here is an example of a Details page in our directory: (NOTE: The reason I'm not using Sunny Sportsbook's Details page is because we removed their site along with all of Sunny's casinos from our directory at the time we found out about this.)
So how do we know Sunny stole from us? Lots of reasons including email correspondence between Sunny and myself that admits what they did. The layout, format, category names in the green fields, and information in their ad makes it clear and without a doubt that they took the material from our site.
Below is the email correspondence with Nicole and myself and Anand and myself where they admit to taking our property without our permission or without giving us any credit in the ads they used it for. This is the first time I have ever released private correspondence publicly, but I think this situation warranted it since it shows that Sunny was aware of what they did.
Here is the email correspondence between Nicole Green, than Sunny’s public & media relations manager, and myself.
-----Original Message-----
From: C.M. Booth [mailto:gbooth@bet2gamble.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2002 9:16 AM
To: nicole@sunnygrp.com
Subject: Re: CASINO FORTUNE V2 THREAT TO SLOT MACHINE MANUFACTURERS?
Hi Nicole,
The press release is up here:
http://www.bet2gamble.com/PlayerResources/News/Press_Releases/Casino_Fortune
.php
Also, I need you to find out something for me. Sunny advertises with Casino
Times News, and I had a question about the current issue of Casino Times
News. Please look at page 58. Did Sunny give Casino Times News permission
to reprint Sunny Sportsbooks Details Page from the Bet2Gamble.com site? If
not, do you know how that got into their magazine? If you can't answer
these questions, please forward this to someone who can. Thanks.
Sincerely,
C.M.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nicole Greene" <nicole@sunnygrp.com>
To: "'C.M. Booth'" <gbooth@bet2gamble.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2002 2:50 PM
Subject: ANSWERS
Hi C.M.
The link is not working and I went to the website, however I could not
locate the press release.
Seems as though we made a faux pas! The sportsbook manager and myself
sent this information for to Mr. Cole at Casino Times News.
I honestly didn't think this would pose a problem and I'm very sorry. I
hope I can be forgiven
Regards,
Nicole Greene
Public & Media Relations Manager
Sunny Group of Companies
http://www.sunnygrp.com
http://www.casinofortune.com/
Tel: 868-623-4048
Fax: 868-624-1156
-----Original Message-----
From: C.M. Booth [mailto:gbooth@bet2gamble.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2002 7:19 PM
To: nicole@sunnygrp.com
Subject: Re: ANSWERS
Hi Nicole,
Sunny didn't give us any credit for that at all!!!!!!!!! Sunny didn't even
mention that it was our work that went into that page. That is very
frustrating Nicole!!!!!!!
We need to be compensated for that because we did not give Sunny permission
to use that material, and it is copyrighted material.
Sincerely,
C.M.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nicole Greene" <nicole@sunnygrp.com>
To: "'C.M. Booth'" <gbooth@bet2gamble.com>
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 5:29 AM
Subject: RE: ANSWERS
Hi C.M.
I'm really sorry about this and I realize you are extremely upset. Now
I don't know what to do. My manager will be extremely upset with me. Is
there anyway you can let this pass? I assure you it will never happen
again.
Regards,
Nicole Greene
Public & Media Relations Manager
Sunny Group of Companies
http://www.sunnygrp.com
http://www.casinofortune.com/
Tel: 868-623-4048
Fax: 868-624-1156
----- Original Message -----
From: "C.M. Booth" <gbooth@bet2gamble.com>
To: <nicole@sunnygrp.com>
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 12:09 PM
Subject: Re: ANSWERS
Hi Nicole,
I don't want to get you into trouble at all, but our lawyer has advised us
to get compensation otherwise people will start to reprint our copyrighted
material without our permission. How about this. How about Sunny
purchases advertising with us, and at US$500 a month, I know Sunny can afford it
because Sunny advertises everywhere, and I won't mention this to anyone at
all. The last thing I want to do is to give you undue stress when you are
so close to giving birth.
Sincerely,
C.M.
Here is my correspondence with Anand, Sunny’s marketing manager at the time.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anand" <anand@sunnygrp.com>
To: "C.M. Booth" <gbooth@bet2gamble.com>
Cc: "Hugh Marshall" <hcm@hcmlaw.com>; <nicole@sunnygrp.com>
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 12:47 PM
Subject: ANSWERS
Hello C.M.
Nicole just brought this to my attention and I am really shocked at what
happened. Sunny Group is a truly upstanding company and we would not deliberately do
something like this.
I mean at this point Nicole stands to lose her job as a result.
Anyway as you say , you have spoken to your lawyers and as I am not
familiar with advertising law , I feel it is best your lawyer contact our lawyer,
Hugh Marshall, whom I have copied on this email.
I am sure they can work something out.
Once again I apologise for what has happened.
Regrads
Anand
Marketing Manager
----- Original Message -----
From: "C.M. Booth" <gbooth@bet2gamble.com>
To: "Anand" <anand@sunnygrp.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2002 6:45 AM
Subject: Re: ANSWERS
Hi Anand,
Lets speak by phone today. Leave me your number, or call me at
702-260-9680.
Sincerely,
C.M.
I talked to Anand shortly thereafter on the phone, and he proceeded to offer a settlement that was completely unacceptable. It was for about 15 US$30 free accounts per month that we could hand out to our players. We declined, and said that we would feel compensated if they advertised with us for 1 month, which at the time cost US$500. Anand declined, and that was the last I spoke with him about this matter.
We than sent Sunny’s lawyer, Hugh Marshall, an official letter from our lawyer stating our demands and the compensation we wanted. Hugh Marshall never responded.
We than contacted another webmaster in December, and asked if he could mediate, but that didn’t work out.
Finally, we contacted John Abbott of GoneGambling.com. We did this because Sunny has been advertising with GoneGambling.com for four years and a half years, and figured he would have the best chance to mediate a resolution. Needless to say, that didn’t work out despite John Abbott’s best efforts. John Abbott’s detailed and full account of GoneGambling’s involvement in the matter can be read here. including his decision to drop Sunny Group as an advertiser after they refused his mediation attempts. We would like to thank him for taking a principled stand against Sunny, one that cost him advertising money we might add. Furthermore, Bet2Gamble.com is not an associate of GoneGambling.com in anyway, shape, or form. In fact, we are rivals, but rivals that respect and trust one another enough to do the right thing in difficult situations as GoneGambling has done. After this last mediation attempt, we felt that we have no choice but to go public with this after almost a year of private mediation attempts that didn’t bring about a resolution.
So what was our relationship with Sunny? We wrote a two-part home page feature about them over a year ago and in turn got 10 monthly US$30 free accounts, which we could hand out to players. There was no contract or I/O as it was a purely informal agreement. We were also an affiliate of theirs, but that was the extent of our relationship. It should be noted that they have continued to pay us as an affiliate during all of this, but we never told them that they could use our copyrighted material for anything, and they never asked more importantly. I want to disclose our relationship with Sunny because we have nothing to hide at all in our dealings with them.
So what does Booth Entertainment (Bet2Gamble.com) want from Sunny for using our copyrighted material without permission? Originally we were willing to settle just if they advertised with us for a month at our rate than of US$500 because we had a good relationship with them up until that point, but now we want a fee of US$5,000. That includes the money they saved from using our copyrighted material as their ad copy (ad copy for a full page ad can be anywhere from US$500-$1,500) in two issues of CTN and an unauthorized licensing fee to use our material. We also want an official statement from them acknowledging that they:
1) Used our copyrighted material without our permission
2) Will not use our copyrighted material again without our permission
At this point, we realize that we will see a pink moon before Sunny will pay us and do the right thing, but we felt that the public should be made aware of what kind of people run Sunny Sportsbook. They are also the same people who own these online casinos including Mapau Casino, Casino Fortune, Goldgate Casino, and Miami Beach Casino.
Going public with something like this is the last thing we wanted to do for a lot of reasons, but after trying to mediate this privately with a number of different people for almost a year, we felt that we had no choice but to go public.
** Here is an example of a Details page in our directory: (NOTE: The reason I'm not using Sunny Sportsbook's Details page is because we removed their site along with all of Sunny's casinos from our directory at the time we found out about this.)
So how do we know Sunny stole from us? Lots of reasons including email correspondence between Sunny and myself that admits what they did. The layout, format, category names in the green fields, and information in their ad makes it clear and without a doubt that they took the material from our site.
Below is the email correspondence with Nicole and myself and Anand and myself where they admit to taking our property without our permission or without giving us any credit in the ads they used it for. This is the first time I have ever released private correspondence publicly, but I think this situation warranted it since it shows that Sunny was aware of what they did.
Here is the email correspondence between Nicole Green, than Sunny’s public & media relations manager, and myself.
-----Original Message-----
From: C.M. Booth [mailto:gbooth@bet2gamble.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2002 9:16 AM
To: nicole@sunnygrp.com
Subject: Re: CASINO FORTUNE V2 THREAT TO SLOT MACHINE MANUFACTURERS?
Hi Nicole,
The press release is up here:
http://www.bet2gamble.com/PlayerResources/News/Press_Releases/Casino_Fortune
.php
Also, I need you to find out something for me. Sunny advertises with Casino
Times News, and I had a question about the current issue of Casino Times
News. Please look at page 58. Did Sunny give Casino Times News permission
to reprint Sunny Sportsbooks Details Page from the Bet2Gamble.com site? If
not, do you know how that got into their magazine? If you can't answer
these questions, please forward this to someone who can. Thanks.
Sincerely,
C.M.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nicole Greene" <nicole@sunnygrp.com>
To: "'C.M. Booth'" <gbooth@bet2gamble.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2002 2:50 PM
Subject: ANSWERS
Hi C.M.
The link is not working and I went to the website, however I could not
locate the press release.
Seems as though we made a faux pas! The sportsbook manager and myself
sent this information for to Mr. Cole at Casino Times News.
I honestly didn't think this would pose a problem and I'm very sorry. I
hope I can be forgiven
Regards,
Nicole Greene
Public & Media Relations Manager
Sunny Group of Companies
http://www.sunnygrp.com
http://www.casinofortune.com/
Tel: 868-623-4048
Fax: 868-624-1156
-----Original Message-----
From: C.M. Booth [mailto:gbooth@bet2gamble.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2002 7:19 PM
To: nicole@sunnygrp.com
Subject: Re: ANSWERS
Hi Nicole,
Sunny didn't give us any credit for that at all!!!!!!!!! Sunny didn't even
mention that it was our work that went into that page. That is very
frustrating Nicole!!!!!!!
We need to be compensated for that because we did not give Sunny permission
to use that material, and it is copyrighted material.
Sincerely,
C.M.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nicole Greene" <nicole@sunnygrp.com>
To: "'C.M. Booth'" <gbooth@bet2gamble.com>
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 5:29 AM
Subject: RE: ANSWERS
Hi C.M.
I'm really sorry about this and I realize you are extremely upset. Now
I don't know what to do. My manager will be extremely upset with me. Is
there anyway you can let this pass? I assure you it will never happen
again.
Regards,
Nicole Greene
Public & Media Relations Manager
Sunny Group of Companies
http://www.sunnygrp.com
http://www.casinofortune.com/
Tel: 868-623-4048
Fax: 868-624-1156
----- Original Message -----
From: "C.M. Booth" <gbooth@bet2gamble.com>
To: <nicole@sunnygrp.com>
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 12:09 PM
Subject: Re: ANSWERS
Hi Nicole,
I don't want to get you into trouble at all, but our lawyer has advised us
to get compensation otherwise people will start to reprint our copyrighted
material without our permission. How about this. How about Sunny
purchases advertising with us, and at US$500 a month, I know Sunny can afford it
because Sunny advertises everywhere, and I won't mention this to anyone at
all. The last thing I want to do is to give you undue stress when you are
so close to giving birth.
Sincerely,
C.M.
Here is my correspondence with Anand, Sunny’s marketing manager at the time.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anand" <anand@sunnygrp.com>
To: "C.M. Booth" <gbooth@bet2gamble.com>
Cc: "Hugh Marshall" <hcm@hcmlaw.com>; <nicole@sunnygrp.com>
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 12:47 PM
Subject: ANSWERS
Hello C.M.
Nicole just brought this to my attention and I am really shocked at what
happened. Sunny Group is a truly upstanding company and we would not deliberately do
something like this.
I mean at this point Nicole stands to lose her job as a result.
Anyway as you say , you have spoken to your lawyers and as I am not
familiar with advertising law , I feel it is best your lawyer contact our lawyer,
Hugh Marshall, whom I have copied on this email.
I am sure they can work something out.
Once again I apologise for what has happened.
Regrads
Anand
Marketing Manager
----- Original Message -----
From: "C.M. Booth" <gbooth@bet2gamble.com>
To: "Anand" <anand@sunnygrp.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2002 6:45 AM
Subject: Re: ANSWERS
Hi Anand,
Lets speak by phone today. Leave me your number, or call me at
702-260-9680.
Sincerely,
C.M.
I talked to Anand shortly thereafter on the phone, and he proceeded to offer a settlement that was completely unacceptable. It was for about 15 US$30 free accounts per month that we could hand out to our players. We declined, and said that we would feel compensated if they advertised with us for 1 month, which at the time cost US$500. Anand declined, and that was the last I spoke with him about this matter.
We than sent Sunny’s lawyer, Hugh Marshall, an official letter from our lawyer stating our demands and the compensation we wanted. Hugh Marshall never responded.
We than contacted another webmaster in December, and asked if he could mediate, but that didn’t work out.
Finally, we contacted John Abbott of GoneGambling.com. We did this because Sunny has been advertising with GoneGambling.com for four years and a half years, and figured he would have the best chance to mediate a resolution. Needless to say, that didn’t work out despite John Abbott’s best efforts. John Abbott’s detailed and full account of GoneGambling’s involvement in the matter can be read here. including his decision to drop Sunny Group as an advertiser after they refused his mediation attempts. We would like to thank him for taking a principled stand against Sunny, one that cost him advertising money we might add. Furthermore, Bet2Gamble.com is not an associate of GoneGambling.com in anyway, shape, or form. In fact, we are rivals, but rivals that respect and trust one another enough to do the right thing in difficult situations as GoneGambling has done. After this last mediation attempt, we felt that we have no choice but to go public with this after almost a year of private mediation attempts that didn’t bring about a resolution.
So what was our relationship with Sunny? We wrote a two-part home page feature about them over a year ago and in turn got 10 monthly US$30 free accounts, which we could hand out to players. There was no contract or I/O as it was a purely informal agreement. We were also an affiliate of theirs, but that was the extent of our relationship. It should be noted that they have continued to pay us as an affiliate during all of this, but we never told them that they could use our copyrighted material for anything, and they never asked more importantly. I want to disclose our relationship with Sunny because we have nothing to hide at all in our dealings with them.
So what does Booth Entertainment (Bet2Gamble.com) want from Sunny for using our copyrighted material without permission? Originally we were willing to settle just if they advertised with us for a month at our rate than of US$500 because we had a good relationship with them up until that point, but now we want a fee of US$5,000. That includes the money they saved from using our copyrighted material as their ad copy (ad copy for a full page ad can be anywhere from US$500-$1,500) in two issues of CTN and an unauthorized licensing fee to use our material. We also want an official statement from them acknowledging that they:
1) Used our copyrighted material without our permission
2) Will not use our copyrighted material again without our permission
At this point, we realize that we will see a pink moon before Sunny will pay us and do the right thing, but we felt that the public should be made aware of what kind of people run Sunny Sportsbook. They are also the same people who own these online casinos including Mapau Casino, Casino Fortune, Goldgate Casino, and Miami Beach Casino.
Going public with something like this is the last thing we wanted to do for a lot of reasons, but after trying to mediate this privately with a number of different people for almost a year, we felt that we had no choice but to go public.
