From: Sam Sloan ISHIPRESS COM> Date: 25 may 1998 Subject: Re: Sam Sloan et. al. At 07:57 PM 5/25/98 -0400, Bob wrote: >This is my first post to anything ... so please ignore if I offend :) I don't mean to. > .......... 30 years ago, Ishi Press was a fine outfit (from my experience) and they published a lot of books I was thankful for ... the only people I've ordered from recently is Kiseido and I was pleased with their service and thank to this discussion they are likely to remain my sole source for a long while to come (but they shouldn't get excited ... I don'tt spend much!). ................... > >Regards - Bob > I wish to explain that almost all of the people who were originally involved with Ishi Press are now with Kiseido. Only I have been left behind as the sole defender of the Ishi Press fort. I even have to be careful to not mention Kiseido in my postings because Hartland Snyder claims that I am actually an agent for Kiseido. He is trying to file lawsuits against Kiseido to stop them from publishing books. He also has tried to claim that all of the new recently books published by Kiseido and all future books not even written yet belong to him as well. It has therefore become necessary to try to create a "Chinese Wall" betwen me and Kiseido. Somebody sent me a private e-mail with the following question: "Hi, I am wondering why YOU don't publish limited versions of Shogi for Beginners and Shogi Master and distribute the royalties to the authors? Is it a matter of it not being profitable enough? Could you obtain author's permission?" The problem is not profitability. We have customers who are very anxious to buy these books. The problem is that there is a very active person out there named Hartland Snyder who claims that everything that is his is his everything that is ours is his too. If we reprint Shogi for Beginners, Hartland will claim that our stock of books belongs to him. His claim is entirely frivolous and utterly without legal basis. However, we do not have the resources to defend his lawsuits. Hartland is backed by a multi-millionaire who, according to several people who have spoken to this person, "is determined to destroy Richard Bozulich" the founder of Ishi Press and now the manager (only) of Kiseido. This is the reason why I suggested in this group several months ago that if Mr. Fairbairn wants "Shogi for Beginners" to be reprinted he would be advised to seek a new publisher in England. However, Mr. Fairbairn will also have the same problem. That new publisher, whomever he may be, will soon receive a letter from Hartland saying that he, Hartland, ownes the book. Meanwhile, Hartland is not willing to pay any royalties to Mr. Fairbairn. Hartland will claim that it is the obligation of Sam Sloan or Richard Bozulich to pay the royalties to Mr. Fairbairn. Bob also wrote: "15-20 years ago I happened across an ad and sent some money to some place called the American Shogi Foundation for a lifetime membership or subscription or something hoping that it would succeed. After a few issues of a newsletter I received a letter saying that there would be no others as some other shogi organization complained and I also would not receive my money back as it had been eaten up by legal fees and what not. Needless to say this left a very bad taste in my mouth for Shogi *people*." This problem had to do with a legal dispute between Reilly of the American Shogi Foundation in Seattle and George Hodges in England. Someody only today criticized me for saying something bad about George Hodges two years ago, and this makes me very reluctant to reveal what was behind this. However, essentially, Hodges, whose organization was called "The Shogi Association" as opposed to "The British Shogi Association" or "The UK Shogi Asssociation", claimed that he had the exclusive right and monopoly to organize shogi everywhere in the world outside of Japan. Essentially he claimed an international copyright or patent on the game of shogi. Therefore, when Reilly started the American Shogi Association and my friend Blummers started a shogi association in Holland, Hodges wrote them both threatening letters to cease and desist because they were organizing shogi in their respective countries without his permission or authorization. The claim by Hodges was legally frivolous just as the claim by Hartland Snyder now is. However, Rielly hired lawyers and the resulting legal fees put him out of business. All of this has caused a great loss to shogi. Sam Sloan