I have just been notified by the Madrid Police that a guy who liked Madrid Insider and all of the services offered so much that he created a copycat website, registered it as a Spanish SL (Sociedad Limitada) and is now suing me for insulting him and calling him an idea theif on-line.
First of all this fellow called me a few years ago to do some spying and find out how Madrid Insider works. Next when Madrid Insider spoke with this fellow in order to see if they could work out some collaboration where this new guy would do accommodation finding while Madrid Insider was ready to abandon accommodation finding in order to concentrate on baggage storage and airport pick ups this same fellow dissappears and then re-emerges offering two new services: Baggage Storage and Pick ups.
Not only did this fellow take the ideas, but not being able to write or speak English coherently he cut the explanations from Madrid Insider and paste them on his copycat website. In some cases such as the Euronets Classifieds he even publishes the same exact ad and just changes the web address and contact info.
Anyway, I would just like to know if there are any Spanish lawyers out there or anyone who knows any Spanish lawyers who can advise me or would be interested in helping me file a counter suit.
Issue one would be competencia desleal.
Issue two would be liable/slander and defamation of character as I am an actor and this person in a childish attempt to attack me has placed countless ads in the seach engines so that when you enter my name in the most popular search engines it comes up as if I were wanted by the police and that I am a fugitive from the law.
I originally thaought that this whole thing was silly and made nothing of it until the new Spanish cyberpolice took me in for questioning.
So any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Is this a joke???

No. This is not one of Jer's April fools jokes. It is real.
At first I could not believe it myself, but I actually had to go to the police station on two separate ocassions to explain what I know about all of this.
The current claim from the cyberpolice is that:
1. Fake ads with offers too good to be true were placed in the Segundamano newspaper in order to get people to call this fellow and tie up his lines.
2. The name of this fellow and his copycat website address and a few insulting words were found on another website registered under my name.

I was taken to the police station and then detained until a court appointed lawyer showed up to hear my answer to these two accusations. Next I met with the lawyer to show her all of the proof that everything was actually the other way around and to open a countersuit, but she told me that she could not present both cases, so I had to go find someone else who may be interested in representing me on the counter suit.
I have all of the evidence against this fellow. I just need to find a Spanish lawyer who is willing to take a chance and work for free up front and then sue for as much money as they can and then keep all of the money in exchange for the legal services provided. I just want to clear my name and justice to be done.
They say that cheaters never prosper, well I just need a lawyer to help me bring this cheater down.

sorry, I was typing this reply & getting ready to post it just as you put up your reply to Laidback.<br />but I'll post it anyway, eventhough I have just read your reply to Laidback.<br /><br />Well, if its not a joke, I think it could very likely get very expensive to pursue, and although you might likely get much free legal advice from the citizens advice bureau or however it is called in Madrid, or the Policia, cyber or otherwise, you certainly would not get any free representation if it goes to a civil court, and then starts to get dirty, long & drawn out..<br /><br />Why don�t the police investigate the whole thing, and determine if there has been any laws broken, copyright theft, or theft of Intellectual property, or plagiarism, liable, defamation, slander etc?<br /><br />What kind of advice have the so-called Cyber-Police given you on the matter? Did they suggest that the whole thing is just going to be a civil matter, or do they think that there might have been any criminal offences committed?<br /><br />Don�t even think about going to pursue a civil action against someone, unless you have got absolutely bomb proof cast Iron and indisputable evidence of wrong doing, because alleging someone has done something to you, or taken something from you, Intellectual or otherwise, and proving it in a court is by no means simple or easy, and will as in most cases cost a lot of money, and potentially take many months to establish the absolute truth, before a judgment can or will be made against one party or another.<br /><br />The only advise I can give you, is if this is for real, then be very careful how you proceed, or it could cost you more than you want to know.<br /><br />Try speaking to the police about it all again, and see if they think you have a case that is worth pursuing. You might also try seeking expert advice through the town council (el Ayuntamiento de Madrid) it cant do any harm to shoot a few e-mails of enquiry at a few various departments, and see what kind of responses you get back from them.<br /><br />But remember what I said, alleging something is one thing and proving it in a court is another, and can backfire on either of you, and you could both end up being charged with something if you are not careful.<br /><br />Food for thought eh!!<br /><br />Un saludo y suerte<br /><br /

Just hire a hitman and get it all over with instead of posting about it on every Spain message board.

Iberian. Thanks for the positive advice. It is certainly something to think about.

Like I said before, it is the Police who keep reminding me of this by coming to see me every two or three months with an invitation to come in and talk about it.
I thought that the whole thing was childish and not even worth thinking about. I had actually put the whole thing behind me at the end of last year and did not want to see or hear anything about it at all in the new year, but unfortunately things like this move slowly and then when you least expect it someone comes out of nowhere to stir it up again.
If it were possible for me to go to court and just defend myself by saying, "The only thing I ever said was the truth and sometimes the truth hurts" and not have to pay anything then I would and I would never say or mention anything about this whole stupid thing again. I would just let life sort this fellow out by itself.
I know that you only get back what you put out and what goes around comes around, so I know that this fellow will get his in the end.
Believe me, Shiloh I am not the one instigating this on all of the message boards at all. I am just being dragged in by others. I even have eye witnesses who know the entire story and can attest to the whole thing including, but not limited to the moderator of this board.

That is right wacky and a bit unbelievable until you actually see it. I did a little looking, perchance is it a site with a very very similar domain name, that site? Very similar looking but not the same and with different email contacts but ever so slightly... and with a different whois lookup completely.

Any court will side with you, just show them you were the first one and your ideas were stolen, dates for everything. As for lawyers, the lawyers' association might be a good start?

Rocco --

sorry to hear about this lousy situation. Perhaps if you go in and talk to the police they can point you in the right direction in terms of legal advice...or at least your rights as a Spanish resident.

If you are interested, I�ll pass along the name of my lawyer, but she won�t handle the case for free... heck, my own case is costing me! There must be some sort of equivalent of the Spanish Bar assn....

quote:

originally posted by Chica:
[qb]There must be some sort of equivalent of the Spanish Bar assn.... [/qb]

There is. It is called the colegio de abogados.
The only problem is that you need all kinds of paperwork that I could never come up with since I have not ever gotten involved with Hacienda, Empadronamiento, INEM or any of the other things that a person living in Spain for a long, long, time might have gotten involved with.
All of this specific documentation/paperwork is required for them to assign you a lawyer.

What I think I am going to do is just take a chance and only defend myself at first and then if I get stuck with having to pay something I will find out if this fellow is 'solvente' or not and if he definately has money I will prepare the counter suit with not only a Spanish Lawyer for the 'competencia desleal' but I will get a US lawyer through the Screen Actor's Guild, which I have been a member of for over 10 years. This idiot actually signed up on a few message boards pretending to be me and used some nasty language while naming some well known celebrities and some violent/sexual acts I was going to supposedly do.

First. I do not intend to do anything and hope it all just resolves itself and goes away, but if the Spanish courts actually take this nonsense seriously and it goes too far, I will be forced to take action that will be both faster and harsher than what this guy ever imagined possible when choosing people to steal text/ideas from and insult.

Rocco --

I was looking in the www.elchollo.es a free newspaper they hand out in my barrio. I noticed an ad for an abogado sin provision de fondos... their ad says:

==
Abogado sin provision de fondos. Adem�s cr�ditos y pr�stamos urgentes. Contestaci�n en el acto. Cobramos cuando su situaci�n haya sido resuelta. Previa cita.... Principe de Vegara, 93. English spoken. 915903859.
==

Might be worth a call...

good luck!

Chica.

I have contacted the chollo number you mentioned above, but they only do contract negotiations and other disputes.

I just received a fax saying that I have to go make a statement in front of a judge on Wednesday March 10th at 9:30AM at Plaza Castilla. Again I will do my part to explain myself and put an end to this even though it seems to just keep going and going.

Man. Somebody robs you. You call them a thief and a few other choice words in a fit of anger. Then that person who stole from you reports your angry reaction to the cops and you never hear then end of it.
What ever happened to right to speak freely or freedom or press?

Rocco,

I have been pondering this thread and I have decided to chime in.

quote:

You call them a thief and a few other choice words in a fit of anger. Then that person who stole from you reports your angry reaction to the cops and you never hear then end of it.

Learn to calm down and not raise your voice. Do not let your anger speak for you.

If you have all of the information and present it with calm, dignity and poise, THE TRUTH will take over from there.

You told me that you were going to stop being a negative person this NEW YEAR. NEGATIVITY will only bring you down and alienate you from others.

Think positive. It's not as hard as you think.

I will say a prayer for you in this case and I know that all will turn out as it should be. Everything that happens to us really does work for our own good.

Shawn

Insider:
I'll light the candle for you too. I'm a great believer in justice, and identity theft is SUCH a low-down crime.

Just take some deep breaths and show the judge by your dignity that your identity is something proud and professional and way too worthwhile to be tossed around.

And with prayers going for you, Badda Boom!

Rebekah

Okay. Again, just when I had totally gotten over it and forgotten about this for the umpteenth time, I got a phone call the pther day from a lady claiming that they have been trying to reach me and asking when I going to go to Instruccion 8 and pay the 385 euros for wasting the courts time with all of this.

I got furious and called my court appointed defense representative who said that she did not get any notification.

Now that I have to pay something I want to get my money back and clear my name of the slander, liable, and defamation of character that this imbicile stooped to on-line.

The defense rep claims that she can not help me anymore as she is only there for the defense and nothing else, but she said she could recommend a few lawyers who would take on my case. The problem is they charge like a 2000 euro retainer just to get started.

Now, the goal is to find any lawyer at all who anyone here could recommend that would be willing to represent me in a defemation of character suit against this fellow. The lawyer would get to keep all of the money above and beyond my expenses. I just want to clear my name. I have all of the chronologies, witnesses, photocopies, and other proof necessary documenting my claims. It should be pretty cut and dried. It will just get resolved in its own time.
Please contact me at Tel. 91 521 7934 or Tel. 669-804-530 or roccosalata@yahoo.com with the names and numbers of any lawyers you think might be interested.

just pay it and bury it!!!

do not sue anyone.

from what i know about the situation (which is a lot), you will not be able to lay the slander/defamation of character on him as you can not possibly prove that it was him who wrote all that about you online.

he can simply deny it all.

saludos,
jer...