Piraci maja swoja strone "Ishi Press" w Internecie.
Raczej nie zamawiajcie tam ksiazek bo stracicie tylko pieniadze.
Wojtek


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 11:24:48 -0400
From: Sam Sloan 
To: computer-go@hsc.fr
Subject: The Fake "Ishi Press" web site

Fraudulent "Ishi Press" web site

I have just discovered a fake "Ishi Press" web site. There is no indication
of who is running it. No names of people are provided.

I assume that Hartland Snyder has something to do with this web site, as he
has been involved in numerous criminal activities of this nature in the
past, although he must have had help, as Hartland Snyder is computer
illiterate.

I wish to advise everyone to be careful in dealing with these people. They
do not pay their debts. The Hartland Snyder group sold hundreds of
thousands of dollars worth of go books. None of the authors of those books
have ever been paid a dime. I am owed $5,000 by those people. I have been
to court hearings six times on this case. Each time I have won. Yet, I have
never been paid. They also owe several hundred thousand dollars to printers
and other vendors who have never been paid. They have also never filed US
Income tax returns.

They sold life subscriptions to "Go World" magazine, without authorization
from Go World and without ever forwarding any of the proceeds to Go World.
They just stole the money.

On their web site, they show advertisements for every book ever published
by Ishi Press (Japan) over the last 30 years, including even "The 1971
Honinbo Tournament (G7)" by Kaoro Iwamoto, 9 dan, which did not sell well
and was never reprinted after 1971. Ishi Press (California) has never had
the right to publish or reprint any of those books. In addition, almost all
of those books have been out of print for years.

In 1995, Ishi Press was forced to cease publishing and reprinting go books
because Hartland Snyder was stealing and pirating them, claiming the rights
to those books, yet refusing to pay the authors anything. Since then, all
of the authors of those books have transferred publication rights to other
publishers. Because of this, even Ishi Press (Japan) no longer has the
right to publish those books, and Ishi Press (California), which was simply
a North American distribution agent for Ishi Press (Japan), never had the
right to publish those books at all.

I suspect that they do not have the books. Knowing them, they just plan to
steal the people's money and run.

If they do have the books, they are pirated editions. For example, they are
advertising two books written by Richard Bozulich. I am sure that Mr.
Bozulich has never given them his permission to reprint his works. There
are also books by John Power, Jim Davies and Cho Chikun listed. I am in
contact with John Power and Jim Davies and with the brother of Cho Chikun
and they have not given Hartland Snyder or any of his associates permission
to publish or reprint their books. Power, Davies and Cho Chikun have also
not been paid anything for the books sold by the Hartland Snyder group in
the past.

They also include an ad for Shogi For Beginners (S1) by John Fairbairn.
This book went out of print several years ago because of the pirating
problem. Although I am not in contact with Mr. Fairbairn, I am well aware
of the fact that Mr. Fairbairn prefers to be paid for his work and does not
take kindly to having his work stolen from him.

The only book which they have not listed is my book, "Chinese Chess for
Beginners". This is no doubt because I have sued them and won several court
decisions over their failure to pay me royalties on my book. Ironically,
that is the only book which Ishi Press (California) ever published, except
for a mahjong book, and the author of the mahjong book has written me to
inform me that he has never been paid his royalties either.

The mahjong book, which mahjong players say is the worst book ever written
on mahjong, was published entirely by Ishi Press (California). Ishi Press
(Japan) never had anything to do with that book. I was asked to write that
book, but I refused on the ground that I am a weak mahjong player. They
went out and found somebody who is even weaker than me at mahjong to write
the book. He is entitled to be paid his royalties.

They have not paid Mark Boon of Amsterdam the royalties he is owed for the
sales of his computer go program.

The only reason all the authors did not file suit is that almost all of
them live in Japan and they were unable to bear the time and expense to fly
repeatedly to America to pursue court cases. I went to court near San Jose,
California over a dozen times on this case, won each time, and still have
not been paid.

We are talking about federal and international crimes of pirating books.
This is a serious matter. Jail time is involved.

I am not going to provide the address of this fraudulent web site so as not
to encourage others to patronize it. It is an AOL members web site.

Sam Sloan

P.S. More information is available at the following addresses:

http://www.ishius.com/ishi-law.htm      Ishi Press International litigation
http://www.ishius.com/summary.htm       Ishi Press International - Motion for
Summary Judgment
http://www.ishius.com/flaherty.htm              Letter to Judge Flaherty
http://www.ishius.com/flahert2.htm              Second Letter to Judge Flaherty
http://www.ishius.com/hartland.htm      Hartland Snyder's Letter to Judge Flaherty
http://www.ishius.com/me-pres.htm               How I Became the President of Ishi Press
http://www.ishius.com/nodismis.htm      Reply Declaration in Ishi Press Litigation
http://www.ishius.com/berk-dep.htm      Deposition of Nathaniel Berkowitz
http://www.ishius.com/berlek-c.htm              The Elwyn Berlekamp Controversy
http://www.ishius.com/fakeishi.htm              The Fake Ishi Press Web Site

The following are legitimate sources for books and equipment on the game of
go:

http://www.labnet.or.jp/~kiseido         Largest selection of GO books and GO
equipment
http://www.webwind.com/go                Yutopian Enterprises offers books and equipment
http://www.xs4all.nl/~paard      Schaak en Gowinkel het Paard for GO materials
in Europe
http://www.samarkand.net/Pages/books.html                Good Move Press
Sam Sloan

Ishius@ishius.com