?What are my legal obligations in (the UK, Ireland, Australia, or the US) regarding web accessibility?? This or some variation of it is one of the most common questions heard in this business. If positive publicity and increased business together make ?the carrot?, as it were, questions of legal responsibility or vulnerability to litigation make up ?the stick?.

It would be nice if companies would make their web presence as accessible as possible to those with handicaps just because modern technology makes it possible or because they feel it?s the right thing to do but that just isn?t the world we find ourselves in. The carrot and the stick guide most of our decisions.

So what does the law say? Well, in most of the English speaking world as well as the EU a company or organization providing information, a service or selling something must make ?a reasonable effort? to make their sites accessible. But this reasonable effort is the stickler. It?s something which defies easy or absolute definition. One could interpret it to mean that just about any nod toward website accessibility could suffice, but that attitude could prove dangerous. As web owners and developers become more educated about this issue it seems more likely the bar defining ?reasonable? will rise.

It is becoming common knowledge that accessibility need not compromise a site?s visual style nor need it increase the cost of development or maintenance much. It therefore becomes harder to defend a low minimum accessibility standard ? in the boardroom and in the courtroom.

Think o

We are now in a time when companies, governments, and the general public are becoming aware of website accessibility issues ? some faster, some slower. It is a time when technology, for the first time in human history, is making information available to people with a broad range disabilities. For instance the blind can now ?read? the daily newspaper online without assistance, they can research vacation packages, comparison shop for good and services, and hold jobs which only a couple years ago would have been inaccessible. The laws and attitudes concerning what is necessary to help those people access that information are certain to evolve and as with gender issues a few decades ago ? the companies who accept and even embrace these new developments the fastest will reap the most benefits. And, I suspect, there will be plenty of firms which refuse to understand either the necessities or the opportunities presented in these changing and exciting times. The ones who today stay fixated by questions of law and obligation are really asking about minimums. And they will have to continually asking that question instead it looking for how best to profit from new opportunities.

Web accessibility testing and design obviously helps people who might otherwise find a task difficult or impossible. But it also helps make a website easier for everyone by forcing designers to be more thoughtful and present information and functionality as clearly as possible. But more importantly by embracing the idea of web accessibility for all it helps one be more creative, to think ?outside the box?. And that is where we will find the greatest rewards. It?s a mistake to dwell on the minimum effort required to stay on the good side of the law or to avoid litigation. It?s far more fruitful to meditate on how best to capitalize on opportunities presented by web accessibility.

Nik Page has been working in website and user interface testing for over 10 years.

In 2005 he launched Page Accessibility Labs (PAL) in order to broaden the world of possibility for handicapped web users. PAL utilizes the unique skills and experiences of visually impaired test specialists to ensure complete test coverage.

PAL specializes in Accessibility Testing and Target Audience Usability Testing Solutions.

View their website at: http://www.pageaccessibilitylabs.com/

Nik Page

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Since the beginning of its introduction in 2005, the disputable satellite tv for pc continues to be one of the most sought after software among its peers. Perhaps that has something to do with its hi-tech TV player or remarkable marketing campaign. But in this case, it could be both.

The officials at SatelliteSoft certainly have made some bold and dashing statements that have dazzled many people while creating skepticism in others. Which brings us to these questions. Does it deliver on the merchant’s promise and turns a Windows-based computer into a super TV, including providing safe, legal access to internet tv? Does it provide a scam-free risk-free environment when downloading, installing, and using the software TV player? Don’t be too surprise if the answer ‘Yes’ applies to all.

As the TV for PC software continues its journey to remain as a top seller, there comes plenty of hype and misleading content particularly when using the term “Satellite TV.” Since Satellite and Cable TV networks convert signals from the air which provides the TV entertainment we enjoy, these internet tv players (software) do the exact opposite.

The satellite tv for pc, also called proprietary software, can be defined as a specially designed hi-tech Internet media tool or TV player programmed to access, retrieve, and stream 1000s of clips, text, audio and video media files from the Public Domain and World Wide Web. Or go to www.scripts-to-sell.com The streaming affect makes the TV player intriguing as it steams the channel (med

This streaming process allows the viewer to watch a TV show immediately on his/her browser or TV player. In other words, viewers don’t have to wait for the entire downloading process to finish in order to watch a particular channel. Also the user owns the proprietary software, in this case, the TV for PC, and can install the software on as many computers as s/he likes. However, the merchant’s Copyrights policy must be adhered to.

In most cases, these products do work. I downloaded and tested the Elite edition as well as other top internet tv software. But the Pro, Elite and Titanium Editions will only work with Windows-based computers. Furthermore, the software relies on other software to work so its not a standalone TV player. As for the majority of Satellite Internet TV software on the Net today including the TV for PC, they rely on the free Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, and Microsoft .Net Frameswork.

You can single out any top-of-the-line software, download and install it on a compatible computer, and in most cases it will work. However, in some rare cases, the TV player may not work initially once installed. Does this mean a SCAM? No! Lets say the user followed the downloading and installation instructions correctly, then installed all the necessary free software according to the user’s operating system but the TV for PC software didn’t work. In rare cases, a software-to-computer compatibility problem could occur.

Generally speaking, when something like this happens the computer’s firewall (anti-virus) can keep the satellite tv for pc (TV player) from working. In this situation, the user must give his/her firewall permission to accept the TV for PC software so it can work. Could other problems cause the software not to work? Yes! The free Windows Media Player and/or RealPlayer may need some minor adjustments.

Make no mistake, there have been some negative remarks made about the Satellite TV for PC Pro, Elite and Titanium Editions, including similar products more or less. Such as no video, TV player didn’t work, poor selection of channels, won’t give refund back, too many religious and foreign channels, and the list goes on. However when looking at the old 2006 and 2007 versions, the merchant’s new 2008 version seems to have addressed and resolved many of these pass issues.

The Satellite TV for PC 2008 Editions now has a new sleeker look with better channel selections, including additional features such as “Record” and “Favorites.” You can visit www.pure-profit-software.com No crappy or broken channels, the user get a better video/audio quality, faster loading and playback time, and an user-friendly interface.

Since no one computer will be alike once used, even with the same make and model, the only sure way of knowing if the Pro, Elite or Titanium will work will be to download it. Pay the small one-time downloading fee to test it. The user can always request a refund within the 60-day money back guarantee from Clickbank. I had the pleasure of doing business with this company for years and consider them to be a very trustworthy e-commerce sales/refund processor. I consider these guys my security blanket when all fails, and find them to be very competent when handling these types of transactions.

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gurujithree

Author Bio

The Authhor based in chandigarh

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A reputable designer should have a set of standard terms and you should check they are fair and contain some basic provisions:

Check that you are getting a fixed-price fee deal unless you want to be signing an opened ended cheque;

If you have a fixed price contract with a specification of what you will get for your money, also make sure you agree how the designer will charge for extras. Agreeing a specification sets boundaries and makes sure that you do not pay too much and yet the designer can fairly get paid for extra work not agreed at the outset;

A specification of what will be done for you should be agreed in simple lay terms (e.g. “the ecommerce facility will operate so that it rejects orders when the goods are out of stock”). A specification in technical jargon or involving a complex site should otherwise be reviewed by someone with the technical knowledge to be able to check the resultant site will appear and function in the way it should. With larger projects it is sensible to have the specification prepared for you by a suitably qualified and experienced IT consultant;

Agree what service standards you should reasonably expect – how often you will get updates, when the project milestones will each be completed, whether time really is of the essence (leaving you entitled to withdraw if milestones are not achieved (not to be used unless it is absolutely necessary and if used, build in reasonable time margins to be fair to the designer)), etc.;

You may well also want to agree on-going support and ma

The designer should warrant that the site will function on the main browsers (e.g. Microsoft Explorer Version 4.0 upwards and Netscape Version 4.0 upwards) although you have to accept that designers cannot guarantee “functionality” on all browsers nor things like visual appearance being consistent on all systems;

Bearing in mind that unless you agree to the contrary copyright in all material produced by the designer will remain his/her copyright and that you might want to be free to upgrade the site (either yourself or using another company in future), you should consider agreeing that you will get copyright. Expect to pay a little more for this (not a lot) but it is well worth it. Get the designer to waive his/her moral rights (the right to be credited with the work and not to have it subjected to derogatory treatment). Ideally, agree that copyright and all relevant intellectual property rights will pass to you automatically as the work is created. The designer may say that it will only pass when all money due under the contract has been paid. Whilst that is a sensible thing from a designer’s point of view and may appear fair, too often you and the designer may fall out leaving you unhappy and wanting to withhold a little money to cover genuine losses and if you do so, no matter how fairly, you never acquire copyright;

For substantial projects where it is likely that you will be paying in instalments by reference to milestones, make sure that all rights in material produced up to the relevant milestone pass to your company when the invoice for that particular instalment has been paid. This way, if you later fall out on subsequent problems over the web site, you can at least salvage a significant part of the site and have someone else work on it if necessary.

Also get a warranty that the designer own the copyright in all material he/she produces and that you will have a perpetual royalty-free licence to use any material which may not be own by the designer and that all material may be used by you for any purpose whatsoever. The warranty should also confirm that the material is free of all third party intellectual property rights. It is not unheard of for a disreputable designer to simply copy element of other sites or even the entire look and feel of a site including software. Again, for substantial projects, specify what third party software will be used, when it will be included in the development (within particular milestones) so that the licence applies effective from payment of the invoice for the particular milestone.

Another desired warranty is that the site will function in accordance with the specification (subject to agreed qualifications regarding different “platforms” used);

All warranties should all be backed up by an indemnity in your favour (stated to be “on a full indemnity basis”) against any costs claims and liabilities arising from any breach of warranty;

Make sure the designer has to supply you with written consent from any company to which he/she creates a link before linking to another site.

Last but not least, you need to weigh up the ability of the designer to compensate you for breaches of contract. As a general rule, you should insist on insurance, for substantial projects, you should inspect the insurance to make sure it covers what you need it to cover to protect your interests in the event of a problem occurring.

Most designers are decent people trying to earn a living but it is important that both parties understand what is expected of them. Each case differs and there may be good reason why some of these terms cannot be agreed by the designer but you should take advice at that stage. As this article is general by its nature it should not be taken as advice and is not an exhaustive list of issues to consider, so you must not rely on it without taking independent advice.

http://www.kaltons.co.uk

pete arkwright

Author Bio

Kaltons Solicitors

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By: Tomer Treves
ebsites Earn More

As most new online advertising methods pave their way in their early days, so did in text advertising started as a monetization solution for smaller websites and blogs. But with time, more and more big and reputable websites added in text ads to their monetizing plans and we get this question quite often – do in text ads work well for the big guys? And the answer is yes, big time. In text ads serve as an AdSense supplement and adding 30% to 60% on top of your AdSense earnings is a big incentive to giving in text ads a chance.

I’ve recently had the opportunity and privilege to work closely with several large websites, including Squidoo.com and Britannica.com, and following are a few insights into how to best integrate in text ads into such big websites.

Big Websites Need Robust Solutions

The major or perhaps even the only characteristic that all big websites share is the volume of traffic they get. In fact, this is probably the definition of a big website: a website that gets lots of visitors. Accordingly, the first concern a publisher of a big website should consider is the robustness of the solution selected for monetization.

There are over twenty in text ads providers, and with the expansion of in text penetration, this number keeps growing. However, many of these providers are making their first steps in this field, and such new systems may not always be able to support large volumes of visitors. The limitations can be in the automatic realm – is the IT infrastructure capable of withholding millions of queries and clicks every hour? The established in text providers have proven that yes, it’s more than possible. So just make sure you’re working with one of those.

Another type of limitations is in the manual aspects of the integration. Some of the in text providers require manual involvement in the choice of highlighted terms and the matching of ads to text. For a website with a high volume of content or with dynamic content, manual involvement in the process can prove to be inefficient, so you need to check this with the potential provider as well.

Lots of Content and Ajax

Some of the larger websites also tend to have a lot of content in each page. The in text algorithm needs to analyze the text in real time without delaying the loading time. Some in text providers solve this by caching the content and doing the analysis offline, but since the online advertising market is rapidly changing, you may lose monetization potential with offline analysis. Therefore, a big publisher should make sure that the content analysis is done online with each page’s loading, but with no delays to the website’s behavior.

If each web page has a large volume of content, like with an encyclopedia or with long articles, the publisher may consider using Ajax for loading the content only when users scroll down. In such cases, the in text algorithm needs to run again and again with each scroll, or otherwise – the monetization will be limited to the first few paragraphs only. Britannica uses Ajax with in text ads perfectly. If you have a large volume of content, you should make sure the in text ads provider can manage it professionally and maximize your potential earnings.

Multiple Level Reporting

Big websites also tend to cover different content or different types of content. For example, Squidoo has both regular articles and a specialized section for books; or a website can have an articles area and a forum; or a portal may have both local news and sports news. If you take your website monetization seriously, you would probably want to monitor the results of each section separately, like with Google AdSense channels. In text ads are no different and you should ask your in text ads provider to provide you with multiple level reporting.

The larger in text advertising networks work with website networks as well and should be able to provide both aggregated reports and separate reports for each site. Such reporting systems can easily be used for monitoring different sections of a big website.

Niche Content and Advertisers

When matching advertisers with online content, the more focused the content, the higher the revenues can be. You can imagine that it’s easier to sell ads for a website focused on new family car models than for general web portal. However, bigger websites often have many categories of content and varied demographics. This means that the in text ads provider should also be able to match wide category advertisers or multiple niche advertisers. Some in text ads providers focus on specific areas and as such will have difficulties matching ads for big websites with a wide variety of content. If you have such a site, make sure you get the service that you need for it.

Big Websites and Monetizing International Traffic

The Internet is open for all, and don’t we just love it this way? Sure. But it brings a challenge to monetization, especially for bigger websites. Most websites today have at least twenty percent of visitors which come from outside of their main market. Some have much larger parts of their audience come from other countries. For big websites, these foreign visitors can accumulate to vast numbers and there’s no reason they won’t be treated as customers as well.

Clearly, since the online advertising arena can be different in each country, serving in text ads in many markets can be difficult, but it is possible. In fact, visitors from surprising countries often prove to have higher click through rate. This calls for further research, but the explanation probably comes from different surfing culture and perhaps less offline advertising attacks. When you integrate in text ads into a big website, you should ask about international traffic – your provider should be able to monetize it as well.

Contract Changes and Higher Revenue Share

When joining online services, in text advertising included, you are required to accept the standard terms and conditions. For big publishers, entering into legal contracts usually involves going through the legal department, who always want to contribute its wisdom to the contract. While this will surely slow down the process, it makes sense, so don’t forget this step in the integration process. You can sign up online and then negotiate an addendum to the agreement with such changes.

One major change you should consider does not require legal involvement. A big website can leverage the large online ads inventory to request a higher revenue share. From my experience, this can go up to very high numbers… but don’t push your provider too much. You want the provider to be happy to, or the incentive to get you higher revenues will be diminished. You can read more about this in Online Siesta, my professional blog about website monetization and in text ads.

Your Very own Customized Bubble

In text ads are placed with a bubble that opens upon a mouse hover. Each in text ads provider utilizes its own design for the bubble, but this appearance can be customized. Since this does take some work, integrating a customized bubble is mostly relevant to big websites. If you’re lucky to be included in this group, you should consider asking for your very own bubble, matching it better to your site’s overall look and feel and perhaps promoting your brand as you go.

Testing and a Trial Period with In Text Ads

So, you are now seriously considering adding thousands of dollars when monetizing your mega website, and you’ve checked all the relevant issues to make sure you found the right solution for you… but wait, just before you execute a 12-months exclusivity contract and commit yourself to the adventure – why won’t you test it first? Yes, a trial period is the right thing to do. Integrating in text ads into a website takes very little technical effort – you simply paste a line of code in the right place – so performing some testing shouldn’t be too difficult. Starting with a one-month trial period sounds like a step in the right direction, especially for a big website. My guess is that after some optimization and successful testing, you will stay for the ride.

Tomer Treves works as VP at Infolinks and writes the professional blog Online Siesta, about online marketing, digital advertising, website monetization and in text advertising.

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It?s amazing how many business owners make each of the mistakes listed below. Making these mistakes could cost a company thousands of dollars initially, and take away from tens of thousands of potential dollars they should be earning monthly from their website.

1. Get their website done too early.

2. Pay way too much or too little for their website.

3. Focus on making it too pretty and flashy.

4. Do not get any traffic to their website.

5. Never make any money off their website.

The biggest mistake most businesses owners make is getting their website done too early. A smart business owner will first research their target audience in their specific Internet market, and only then build their website around their research.

A business owner needs to get training on how to find a target web audience in a specific niche market. They need to determine which keywords their website needs to be designed around, in order to bring in customers from search engines and other sources. A huge mistake made by business owners is they get their website formed around very broad keywords which have too much competition.

Rushing web design without proper planning could also very well hurt your wallet. Most web development companies quote very high prices on web and graphic design, and most business owners make the mistake of going with those companies. They charge for flashy features that will never bring in traffic and will never make the website any money.

You may also get a very low quote from an offshore company, b

The key, is to find a web design company that doesn?t spend too much or any money on advertising. This way, they can keep their costs down because they don?t have one of the biggest expenses in the industry. A web design company can be extremely successful just through word of mouth. Now they may be hard to find because they don?t actually advertise, but if you ask your friends and co-workers they may have someone great they can refer.

Once you?ve done your keyword and market research, and found the right design company, you have to know what to ask for. One of the biggest mistakes a business owner makes is they ask and pay for a website that is all looks and no sales, no marketing. They spend thousands of dollars on a ‘pretty’ website full of flashy effects which brings in $0 in revenue. You have to ask yourself, what good is a flashy website when no one comes to it?

Sure major companies spend a lot of money on making their website extravagant, flashy, and interactive, but they already have traffic because of their name, that?s called branding. The last thing a smart business owner would do is copy the idea of having an expensive flashy website like those of Fortune 500 companies. A smart business owner understands that for a website to sell it’s main focus needs to be copywriting and marketing, and will put design second. You will rarely find a design company that tells you to put content, copywriting, and marketing AHEAD of the look, layout, and design. You must understand that for a company to be successful on the Internet, that company must direct their focus on marketing their website and worry about how it looks last.

By avoiding the 5 mistakes discussed above, a business owner may actually be very successful on the web. If one does not follow all the rules it could not only hurt their wallet, but their potential to succeed. If you want to be successful in the online game, you have to play your cards right. With proper research, planning, and copywriting, a business owner will be able to dominate their niche market and grow their online business which has unlimited potential.

Ilya Pozin -

Author Bio

Ilya Pozin has been studying Internet marketing for over 7 years. He has taken many businesses into the successful arena of the online world. He currently runs a web design, development and marketing company that specializes in building websites that sell.

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JAPAN’S TRADEMARK LAW- A CUT ABOVE THE REST

-Shantanu Jugtawat*

‘Trademarks have significance not only for private consumers but for corporations that sell goods and furnish services as well. Long ago, in an economy of face-to-face trade and of craftsmen and women, merchants considered credibility (or reputation) to be a vital asset. The more credible the merchant was, the more goodwill he or she acquired. At one point, merchants use the word “goodwill” as a mark to indicate consumer satisfaction, on other occasions the word was used to indicate a quality business organization. Marks are more unique in today’s highly developed distribution economy, but trademarks still play a role of immeasurable importance in facilitating economic activities.

Trademarks play a vital role in day-to-day choices made by the consuming public. Consider the effect of trademarks on those who purchase goods and receive services, consumers. Consumers rely on trademarks; for example, to more easily facilitate repeat purchases of goods or services based on a previous pleasurable experience or a manufacturer’s reputation for quality. Trademarks enable consumers to make repeated purchases without extensive research’*.

A trademark registration system was also implemented that, over time, encouraged the emergence of “trademark as property.” As the economy developed further, trademarks became recognized as important intellectual property. As a result of the evolving intellectual property perspective, a number of revis

Section 1. Functions of Marks

Trademarks are signs that are associated with the exchange of goods and services. A “sign” is a mark; its function is identification. A trade “sign” is a representation enabling an article to be identified and distinguished from others on the basis of its origin.

Under the Trademark Law of Japan, marks are defined as “characters, figures, symbols, three-dimensional shapes or any combination thereof, or any combination thereof with colors.” (Article 2, Paragraph 1)

Japan’s Trademark Law protects trademarks and service marks. As is the case with patent applications, a resident agent (usually a lawyer or patent agent) must prosecute the trademark application and as with the processing of patent applications, Japan’s trademark registration process can be slow. Any company planning on doing business in Japan should file for trademark registration as early as practicable .

Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets:

The only protection available for a trademark in Japan prior to registration is under the Japanese Unfair Competition Prevention Law. Under this law, the owner of the mark must demonstrate that the mark is well known in Japan and that consumers will be confused by the use of an identical or similar mark by the unauthorized user. In 1990, Japan enacted amendments to the law that provided some protection from theft of trade secrets, such as know-how, customer lists, sales manuals, and experimental data. The law, which was amended completely in 1993, also provides for injunctions against wrongful use, acquisition, or disclosure of a trade secret by any person who knew or should have known that the information in question was misappropriated. The judicial process, however, makes the enforcement of rights without loss of trade secrets difficult.

Effectiveness of Trademarks

The trademark in Japan is valid only when it is registered for a certain category of goods. Thus it is possible to have the same trademark for different categories of products, without problem. The registration is with the Patent Agency.

However, to use the same trademark, or a similar one, for the same category of goods would violate the trademark. The trademark rights holder would then be able to seek an injunction and compensatory damages. There is also a possiblity of criminal penalties of five years imprisonment and 5 million yen in fines. This is obviously taken quite seriously, so it is advisable that adequate trademark research be carried out before using one. Nevertheless, even if another party had registered a trademark before you, if you have been using it from before, and it is well known among users, you may continue to use it. It is still advisable to make due research and timely registration in order to avoid conflict. Another exception is that if even a party registers a trademark first, if they do not use it for 3 years without suitable reason, another party can file an application for the cancellation of the trade mark in question.

Requirements for Registering a Trademark. -

Trademark registrations are made with the Patent Agency. The first to file gets the rights. The rights arise from the moment the moment it registered . As much as possible the symbol of the trademark should have characteristics such that as much as possible it can be distinguished from the products of services of other companies . There are two times when similarity becomes a problem. At the time of application and at the time of infringement. There are three aspects that are looked at in determining similarity.There is similarity in external appearance. Here if the trademark is looked at externally, and the lettering, drawings and markings look similar. Secondly is similarity in impression. If two trademarks have similar meanings there could be a similarity in impression. Finally, there is similarity in name, if they have similarity in sound. Thus Sony and Somy may fall in this category. In reality even experts often disagree in this area and there is a great Probaility existence of involving in litigation on these issues.

Obtaining Protection of Trademarks: Time priority in seeking registration is the major factor which enables one to exclude other potential users of a trademark in Japan. In terms of the time frame for obtaining registration, an application will typically be approved in two to three years from the date of filing if it is not contested. Electronic filing procedures have been created to streamline the application process. Neither current use nor the intention to make future use of a mark in commerce is a requirement for obtaining registration.

The following (among other) information must be included in an application for registration of a trademark in Japan:

(a) The applicant’s name (and, for companies, the representative’s name), address and place of incorporation;

(b) The specific “International Class(es)” in which registration of the trademark is desired. Also, the subclasses of goods and/or services in relation to which use is to be registered must be designated, including any desired limitation to specific goods and/or services contained in a subclass.

Invalidation Trial of Trademark Registration

(1) In the following cases, an interested person or an examiner may demand a trial to invalidate the registration of a trademark or the supplementary registration of designated goods. In such a case, if two or more designated goods are covered by the trademark registration, a demand for an invalidation trial may be made for each of the designated goods:

(i) the registration has been effected contrary to proviso of Article 3, Articles 6 to 8, Article 12(2) (second sentence), (5), and (7) to (9) of this Law or contrary to Article 25 of the Patent Law applied under Article 5 of the Law; ¡Amended on Aug. 22, 1997¡•

(ii) The registration has been affected in violation of a treaty;

(iii) The registration has been affected on the basis of an application filed by a person who is not a successor in title to the right deriving from the trademark application;

(iv) After the registration, the owner of the trademark right is no longer capable of enjoying such right under Article 25 of the Patent Law applied under Article 5 of this Law, or the registration no longer complies with a treaty.

(2) A trial for invalidation under paragraph (1) may be requested even after the extinguishment of a trademark right.

(3) Where a trial decision invalidating a trademark registration has become final and conclusive, the trademark right shall be deemed never to have existed; however, where a trial decision invalidating a trademark right has existed; however, where a trial decision invalidating a trademark right has become final and conclusive under paragraph (1)(iv), the trademark right shall be deemed not to have existed from the time when the trademark registration first fell under the said paragraph.

(4) Where a trial under paragraph (1) has been request the presiding trial examiner shall notify the contents of the demand to the exclusive licensee of the trademark right and to other persons who have any registered right relating to the trademark.

Article 72. Invalidation Trial of Registration of Renewal of Term of Trademark Right

(1) In the following cases, an interested person or an examiner may request a trial to invalidate the registration of the renewal of the term of a trademark right. In such a case, if two or more designated goods are covered by the registration of the renewal of the term of the trademark right, a demand for an invalidation trial may be made for each of the designated goods:

(i) ¡Deleted on Aug. 22, 1997¡•

(ii) The registration of the renewal has been affected contrary to Article 43(2);

(iii) The registration of the renewal has been applied for by a person who is not the owner of the trademark right concerned.

(2) A trial for invalidation under paragraph (1) may be requested even after the extinguishment of a trademark right.

(3) Where a trial decision invalidating the registration of the renewal of the term of a trademark right has become final and conclusive, the registration of the renewal of the term shall be deemed never to have existed.

(4) Article 71(4) shall apply mutatis mutandis to the request for an invalidation trial under paragraph (1).

Article 73. Trial for Cancellation of Trademark Registration

(1) A trial may be demanded for the cancellation of the registration of a trademark if the registered trademark falls under any one of the following subparagraphs:

(i) ¡Deleted on Aug. 22, 1997¡•

(ii) The owner of the trademark right intentionally uses a trademark similar to the registered mark on the designated goods or uses the registered trademark, or a trademark similar thereto, on goods similar to the designated goods in a manner that may be misleading as to the quality of the goods or which is liable to cause confusion with goods connected with another person’s business;

(iii) Neither the owner of the trademark right nor the exclusive or non-exclusive licensee has been continuously using the registered trademark for more than three years on the designated goods in the Republic of Korea without any justifiable reason before the date of the trial for cancellation;

(iv) The owner of the trademark right comes under the terms of Article 54(1) (second sentence), (5), or (7) to (9); ¡Amended on Aug. 22, 1997¡•

(v) The member of the association causes another person to use its collective mark contrary to the provisions of the statutes of the association;

(vi) A collective mark has become likely to mislead as to the quality of goods, or cause confusion among consumers with goods connected with another person’s business by a change of the statutes of the association under Article 9(3);

(vii) A trademark falling under the principal sentence of Article 23(1)(iv) has been registered and the owner of the original trademark requests a trial for cancellation within five years from the date of registration of the trademark;

(viii) The exclusive or non-exclusive licensee uses the registered trademark, or a similar trademark, on the designated goods, or goods similar thereto, in a manner that is liable to mislead consumers as to the quality of the goods or to cause confusion among consumers with goods connected with another person’s business; however, this provision shall not apply where the owner of the trademark right has taken appropriate care; or

(ix) Similar registered trademarks are owned by different owners of the trademark right resulting from a transfer of trademark right and one owner thereof uses his registered trademark for the purposes of unfair competition in respect of goods identical with, or similar to, the designated goods of his own registered trademark, causing consumers mislead as to the quality of that goods or have a confusion between his goods and the goods in relation with the other owners. ¡Added on Aug. 22, 1997¡•

(2) ¡Deleted on Aug. 22, 1997¡•

(3) Where a trial for cancellation is demanded for reasons referred to in paragraph (1)(iii), a trial for cancellation may be demanded for a part of the designated goods if the designated goods covered by the trademark registration arc two or more.

(4) Where a trial for cancellation is demanded for a reason referred to in paragraph (1)(iii), if the defendant cannot prove that the registered trademark has been used in the Republic of Korea within three years prior to the date of the demand for the trial on one or more of the designated goods to which the demand relates, the owner of the trademark right may not avoid the cancellation of the registration of the trademark for the designated goods; however, this provision shall not apply where the defendant can prove a justifiable reason for the failure to use the registered trademark. ¡Amended on Aug. 22, 1997¡•

(5) The reasons for cancellation shall not be affected when the facts giving rise to a demand for a cancellation trial no longer exist after the demand for trial is made for reasons referred to in paragraph (1)(ii), (iii), (v), (vi), (viii) or (ix).¡Amended on Aug. 22, 1997¡•

(6) A trial for cancellation under paragraph (1) may be demanded only by an interested person, except that a trial demanded for reasons referred to in paragraph (1)(ii), (vi), (viii) or (ix) may be demanded by any person. ¡Amended on Aug. 22, 1997¡•

(7) Where a trial decision ordering the cancellation of a trademark registration has become final and conclusive, the trademark right shall become extinguished as from that moment.

DefensiveMeasures:

A party may oppose the registration of a trademark (in relation to some or all of the designated goods and/or services) within two months of its publication in the Patent Office’s Official Gazette .

Trademarks are published subsequent to being approved for registration. As stated above, grounds for successfully opposing a trademark’s registration are essentially the same as those available to the Patent Office for denying it registration.

The criteria which prohibit registration include non-distinctiveness (however, distinctiveness may be acquired through use similarity to governmental or other official symbols, similarity to a pre-existing widely known mark, similarity to a previously registered mark, likelihood of misleading or confusion, unregistrability for other technical reasons ,

Process time consuming and costly

Obtaining and protecting patent and trademark rights in Japan can be time-consuming and costly. While the process to safeguard such rights might seem prohibitive, lack of protection would permit competitors in Japan to copy your product or production process, even if you have a US patent or trademark. Even when intellectual property rights have been acquired, pirating of technology and designs can occur in Japan, as it could in almost any country. Each company in a trading or licensing agreement should understand clearly what its rights and obligations are with respect to the intellectual property rights owned, acquired or subsequently developed by the other .

Japan’s Trademark Law protects trademarks and service marks. As is the case with patent applications, a resident agent (usually a lawyer or patent agent) must prosecute the trademark application. As with the processing of patent applications, Japan’s trademark registration process is slow, although processing times have been improving recently. It takes an average of 2.8 years to process a trademark registration in Japan, compared with an average of 13 months in the United States. Any company planning on doing business in Japan should file for trademark registration as early as practical.

The only protection available for a trademark in Japan prior to registration is under the Japanese Unfair Competition Law. Under this law, the owner of the mark must demonstrate that the mark is well-known in Japan and that consumers will be confused by the use of an identical or similar mark by the unauthorized user. Copying of American trademarks, particularly in the fields of sporting goods and clothing, occurs frequently and some smaller unscrupulous companies will file trademark registration applications for a US brand trademark, which they believe, will become popular in Japan.

Japan enacted amendments to the Unfair Competition Law in 1990, which provide some measure of protection from theft of trade secrets such as know-how, customer lists, sales manuals and experimental data. The law, which was amended completely in 1993, provides for injunctions against wrongful use, acquisition, or disclosure of a trade secret by any person who knew or should have known that the information in question was misappropriated. A problem with judicial procedure remains despite a 1996 amendment, and makes civil enforcement of rights without the loss of the trade secret difficult.

5.4.2 Cancellation of proxy registration

Japan’s trademark system protects the right of duly authorized trademark owners. For instance, where overseas-based goods or services are provided in Japan, and where the overseas company involved has entered into an agency agreement with a Japanese company, if that local agent applies for registration of the overseas company’s trademark without due cause, the duly authorized trademark owner may file a petition for the cancellation of the Japanese registration, and can thereby regain their trademark rights .

Application and registration fees

Naturally, applying for and being granted registration of a design incurs fees. The fees for this process in Japan are as follows.

1. Application fees

a. 16,000 yen per design

b. Note that the above amount is the official fee only, and does not include patent attorney’s fees, fees for design drawings, etc.

2. Registration fees

A registration fee is required when registering a design, however these fees differ from those of trademarks. The design registration fee for the first year is 8,500 yen and an annuity must be paid each year in order to maintain the validity of the design rights. The annuities are as follows.

Years 1 through 3: 8,500 yen per year

Years 4 through 10: 16,900 yen per year

Years 11 through 15: 33,800 yen per year

Similar designs: 8,500 yen (flat rate)

Remember that, if you engaged a patent attorney, you will be charged fees in addition to the above registration fees; these may include fees for the work involved in paying the official fees.

5.8.2 from application to registration

If the examination process goes smoothly, a design can be registered in as little as three months from the time of application. Generally, however, the examination takes approximately six months, and the registration takes another one or two months. Allow about eight months after application to complete the process.

Trademark Law

The 2005 revision of the Japanese Trademark Law introduces the regionally-based collective mark. The revision is intended to promote the credit of business, enhance industrial competitiveness and vitalize local economies.

Prior to the revision, a mark, which is the combination of the name of a region and goods or services, could not be registered as a word mark unless it acquired nationwide recognition or was combined with other designs or letters with a distinctive character. The problem was that an applicant could not exclude a third party’s free-ride use of such word marks until the mark gained a nationwide recognition, which usually requires huge investments and a long period of marketing efforts. Another pitfall is that the registrant of a trademark which comprised certain words and figures could not prevent a third party’s use of the words themselves or the mark which comprised the same words and other figures.

The official outlines of the bill gives key points of the revision:

1. Requirements for registration of regionally-based collective marks

ü Cooperative business associations and other associations established under the special laws with the status of legal entities and foreign legal entities corresponding thereto shall be entitled to obtain a regionally-based collective mark.

ü A trademark registration of a regionally-based collective mark may be obtained where, as a result of the use of the trademark, it has become widely known among consumers as an indication of the applicant’s or its members’ products or services.

ü Trademarks which may be registered as regionally-based collective marks are comprised of the name of the production area of the goods where the applicant or its members have been using the trademark prior to the filing, the place where the services are provided, or other corresponding areas which are recognized as having a close relationshipto the goods or services.

2. Opposition to the registration of regionally-based collective mark; Invalidation of the trademark registration

a. Any person may file an opposition to the registration of a regionally-based collective mark which has been made in violation of the requirements for registration.

b. When a registration has been made in violation of the requirements for registration of a regionally-based collective mark, an invalidation procedure of the registration may be demanded. In addition, when a registered regionally-based collective mark becomes not to meet the requirements for registration, an invalidation procedure of the registration may be demanded.

Thus, the revised law allows a business group, such as a cooperative business association to register a trademark, which is a combination of the name of a region and its goods or services, earlier than acquiring nationwide recognition of the trademark. This protects local businesses against a free-ride of their marks. The revision of the Japanese Trademark Law, adding regionally-based collective marks, will become effective on April 1, 2006.

The revision on the Japanese Unfair Competition Law and other related laws came into force on November 1, 2005

ELABORATE PROCEDURE FOR OBTAINING TRADEMARK

(1) Application

In order to obtain a trademark right, an applicant must fill out the forms prescribed in the relevant ordinances and submit them to the Japan Patent Office.

(2) Publication of Unexamined Application

The JPO will publish the content of an application in the Official Gazette after filing.

(3) Formality Examination

An application document submitted to the JPO will be checked to see whether it fulfills the necessary procedural and formal requirements. An invitation to correct will be made where necessary documents are missing or required sections have not been filled in.

(4) Substantive Examination

An examination will be made of whether the application fulfills the substantive requirements. The following trademarks will be refused as they are deemed not to meet the substantive requirements.

(i) Trademarks which do not enable consumers to differentiate the applicant’s goods or services from those belonging to other parties

(ii) Trademarks which are unregistrable for reasons of public interest or for the protection of private interests

(5) Notification of Reasons for Refusal

Where an application fails to meet the substantive requirements, a notification of reasons for refusal will be sent.

(6) Written Argument / Amendment

An applicant may submit either a written argument against a notification of reasons for refusal or an amendment that would nullify the reasons for refusal.

(7) Decision of Registration

If it is ultimately judged that there are no reasons for refusal, a decision to register a trademark will be made.

(8) Decision of Refusal

If a written argument and an amendment can not eliminate the reasons for refusal, and if the examiner judges that the trademark can not be registered, a decision of refusal will be made.

(9) Appeal against Decision of Refusal

When dissatisfaction is in the decision of refusal of the examiner, the applicant may appeal against the decision of refusal.

(10) Appeal Examination (against the decision of refusal)

An appeal examination against a decision of refusal is performed by a collegial body of three or five appeal examiners.

Decision of the appeal examiners is called appeal decision.

When it is judged, as a result of appeal examination, that the reasons for refusal was solved, an appeal decision to register a trademark is performed, and when the reasons for refusal is judged that the reasons cannot cancel and the trademark cannot be registered, an appeal decision of refusal is performed

(11) Registration (Registration Fee Payment)

With the payment of the registration fee, the registration of the trademark right will take place and the trademark right will come into force.

(12) Publication of a Trademark Gazette

As for the trademark right which has been registered and come into force, the contents are published on the trademark gazette.

(13) Opposition

Any person may file an opposition to the decision to register a trademark with the Commissioner of the JPO.

(14) Appeal for Invalidation / Revocation

Even after a trademark is registered, any person may appeal for invalidation of the trademark if it has a flaw.

Moreover, if the trademark has not been used after registration for three years or more, an appeal for revocation may be charged.

(15) Appeal Examination (Invalidation / Revocation)

An appeal examination of invalidation/revocation is performed by a collegial body of three or five appeal examiners.

About invalidation, if the appeal examiners judge that there is no flaw in the decision to register a trademark, they will make a decision to maintain the trademark registration. If however they judge that the decision to grant was flawed, they will make a decision to revoke the trademark right.

About revocation, when a right holder cannot prove using the trademark, an appeal decision of revocation is performed, and the trademark right is revoked.

(16) Intellectual property High Court

An applicant who is dissatisfied with an appeal decision of refusal of an appeal against decision of refusal, and an interested party who is dissatisfied with an appeal decision of invalidation, revocation or maintenance, may appeal to the Intellectual Property High Court.

Conclusion

‘Imagine for a moment a world in which trademarks on goods are unprotected. Counterfeiters and forgers, seeking to profit from the goodwill of merchants with skill and quality products, are unleashed to flood the marketplace with “knock-offs” and imitations. Consumer confusion as to true source results in inadvertent purchasing of low quality goods. From a merchant’s (or corporation’s) perspective, the incentive to build a reputation through sincere effort and scrupulous business practices is lost. The likely result of such a scheme is a haphazard distribution economy bordering on disorder and chaos.’

Like the Japanese patent system, the Japanese trademark system employs a first-to-file system. Under this system if one or more applications conflict with another, the application that was filed first is registered. In the unlikely event that two or more applications are filed for identical or similar marks on the same day for identical or similar goods or services, the parties involved are given the opportunity to decide which one may obtain registration. If no agreement can be reached within a specified time limit, the Director-General will draw lots.

Due to the first-to-file system and the low threshold for showing intention, many large companies in Japan have created their own trademark banks by registering many different trademarks. Many of these trademarks are never used. About one third of all registered trademarks have never been used. More than two thirds of all registered trademarks are currently not in use. The Japanese system does allow a party to demand a Trial for Cancellation of Trademark Registration (due to non-use).

An application must include the mark, designated goods or services, the applicant’s name and address, and the applicant’s area of business, and must be accompanied by a filing fee. No power of attorney is required. If the mark can be represented using ordinary characters, a sample is not required. However, if the mark is a figure, sign, three-dimensional mark, or any combination of the aforementioned, including characters, with or without colors, a sample must be submitted. A mark may consist of characters, figures, or signs. It may also be a combination of these. Assuming that it can be represented graphically, a mark may be any combination of characters, figures, or signs with colors. Three-dimensional trademarks can also be registered. Sounds and smells cannot be registered. Japanese law allows for multi-class applications. This means that the designation of more than one of the forty-two classes of goods and services is permitted on a single application.

Under Japan’s Trademark Law, trademarks can be registered even if they are not in use at the time under the first-to-file rule. However, if a trademark is not used at all within a period of three years following registration, an interested third party might file a petition for the cancellation of that trademark. Incidentally, “use” of a trademark is not limited to the displaying of the trademark directly on a product; the printing of a trademark in a pamphlet together with an image of the product, the use of the trademark in an advertisement for the goods such as in a newspaper, or the displaying of goods featuring the trademark on an Internet website all constitute “use.”

References

· Dr. Sheon Ono ‘Overview of Japanese Trademark Law’, 2nd edition

· ‘Examination Guidelines for trademark in Japan’- Japan Patent Office February 2003

· ‘Permissions and trademark guidelines’ Adobe. Retrieved on September 3, 2006.

· Pullum, Geoffrey K ‘A Guide to Proper Trademark Use’ Retrieved on December 5, 2006.

· Danny Bronski ‘MAKING YOUR MARK: TRADEMARK BASICS FOR TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURS’

· Danny Bronski ‘A SENSIBLE APPROACH TO SECURING TRADEMARK PROTECTION’

· Gregory H. Guillot ‘All about trademarks’

Web Sites

· Japan External Trade Organization- http://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/setting_up/laws/section5/page3.html

· http://www.marcaria.com/

Trademark organizations

· INTA The International Trademark Association

· WIPO World Intellectual Property Organisation

· WIPO trademarks homepage

Shantanu Jugtawat,national Law Institute University,Bhopal

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Many business owners have taken proper steps to insure against property loss and injury claims, the more traditional forms of commercial insurance coverage. However, they may have overlooked protecting themselves against claims of professional negligence.

Errors and Omissions (E&O) insurance, also known as Professional Liability insurance, protects organizations or individuals against claims of financial loss due to negligence in the delivery of professional services. Professional liability related to errors or omissions, whether actual or merely perceived are not covered by General Liability insurance. (General Liability essentially covers claims of bodily injury or property damage.)

As the business climate grows more complex, so do the insurance needs of business owners, regardless of whether they employ hundreds of consultants or operate as a sole proprietorship out of their home. Errors and omissions insurance coverage is critical and it protects businesses in two vital areas: legal defense fees and settlement expenses.

Most E&O policies will cover defense costs, which, even if the allegations are found invalid, can cost tens of thousands of dollars. For many small businesses and individuals, high legal defense costs could lead to serious financial strain or even bankruptcy.

Who’s at risk?

Professionals who most commonly need E&O insurance include doctors, lawyers, engineers and consultants. However, there are a handful of businesses in which E&O coverage is often over

In some cases, subcontractors may be required by the client to provide proof of General and Professional Liability insurance. Any business that provides specialized service or performs work on a project that is critically important to the client’s business, will want to insure themselves against E&O claims. This risk opens the contracted business to potential litigation. If a client perceives a task was not carried out as promised, they can file claims on several issues, including:

* Software or system failures that cause a client to lose profits

* Failure to perform duties

* Loss of client data

* Copyright infringement on Web site and software development

* Failure to meet pre-determined benchmarks on specific projects

While quality control can reduce the risk of errors and omissions, no company has complete immunity to it. Even with the best and brightest employees serving on the frontline, mistakes will happen and if the client feels the service was not completed as promised, if it costs the client money, or damages their reputation, then the company could be at risk of E&O litigation.

Ensuring the policy meets the company’s needs

Costs for errors and omissions insurance coverage vary significantly. Many factors are taken into account such as, the type of business, the type of services provided, the location, claim history, and size of the business. The competition among insurance providers, however, works to the business owner’s advantage, and the process for receiving an E&O insurance quote, cost comparison and detailed policy information should be fairly simple.

While the process will vary, some insurance company underwriters will ask for copies of contracts and descriptions of quality control procedures, while other underwriters may simply request an application be completed. When searching for an E&O insurance quote or reviewing a policy there are several key features to be mindful of:

* Coverage should include legal defense costs.

* Both W2 employees and 1099 subcontractors should be covered – the company should be protected against claims from work performed by 1099 subcontractors on the company’s behalf. In many cases, however, 1099 personnel are not covered and would need their own errors and omissions insurance coverage.

* Optional coverage for allegations of copyright and intellectual property infringement – this protects the company from claims alleging copyright infraction. Intellectual property infringement coverage is particularly important for software, systems or processes, as they are the most widely known “intellectual properties.”

* Personal injury coverage such as claims of libel, slander and invasion of privacy

* Worldwide coverage – this covers incidents regardless of where they originate.

Defending a claim

In the event a claim is filed, E&O insurance will adequately prepare the company to defend its case. It will pay for a strong legal defense and potentially save a small business or individual from severe debt. Unfortunately, laws and legal precedents that govern the technology industry are still under development, which often puts IT professionals in unknown legal territory.

However, while mistakes are bound to happen, there are a few steps businesses can take to mitigate claims:

* Have a written contract detailing what service will be provided, what is not included and the fees for delivering that service

* Communicate throughout the entire job; give the client realistic expectations upfront and provide regular status updates

* Implement quality control procedures, and regularly conduct audits to ensure the procedures are being adequately executed

Once the contract is written, be sure it contains very specific information, including:

* Limits of liability – the dollar amount per occurrence of liability

* A section detailing the services the company will be providing

A written contract is one way businesses and individuals can protect themselves, however E&O insurance will provide an extra layer of protection against the unknown and unexpected. Defending a claim is costly and time consuming. Regardless of whether a suit is deemed unreasonable, attorney fees will still need to be paid. In some instances, costs for defending a case can exceed the cost of a resulting settlement. E&O insurance covers attorney fees, any settlement costs that may result, and allows the business owner to continue operating without fear of potentially having to face bankruptcy or a mountain of debt.

James Cochran

Author Bio

James Cochran is the founder of Techinsurance. Since 1997, Techihsurance.com has been providing high quality professional liability insurance at a reasonable price to IT firms across the nation. They quickly became a leader in providing business liability insurance, and have since maintained their position as one of the top IT business insurance providers.

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Video is an extremely powerful medium. If you use eye-catching videos on your website chances are you will capture your website visitor’s interest. Moreover, if you put video on your webpages, search engines will love you and will push your website in the top pages of their search results.

There are a lot of ways to implement videos on your website. Let’s discuss some basic issues in this article.

You have two options (from the website visitor’s perspective) when you want to put video on your website. Either let the visitor wait for the download of the entire video file and then view it, or use streaming techniques to immediately start playing the video file when the page loads. Streaming video becomes more and more popular every day.

Many web designers or webmasters think that the process of creating a video, editing it and uploading it to the website is a pain. The truth is that it does take time to do it, but it’s not that complicated.

What you should pay attention to, is the bandwidth usage. Videos are real bandwidth eaters. You should also be aware of the various legal problems that may arise if you use video files that don’t belong to you.

So if you decide to put video on your website you may first think if the value of the video justifies the time you need to spent to prepare the video and implement it on your website. Will the specific video help the website visitors? What technique of video implementation is better for you?

For example in a slow internet connection (56 kbps), a 1

In other words, if you want to put video on your website make sure it’s a good one. One that adds real value for your website’s visitors and enhances your website’s quality.

Mary Markell

Author Bio

If you wish you could put videos on your website quickly without worrying about bandwidth issues and video quality then your wish came true. Have a look at this sophisticated video software that will help you put videos on your web pages in 3 easy steps. There’s also a surprise bonus gift for you if you act on time.

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1. As you begin to think about getting a web site, consider these things:

? Goals – What exactly do you want to communicate to your visitors or to accomplish? What outcome will make you feel that your site is a success?

? Audience – With what exact groups of people are you trying to communicate?

? Content – What types of material could your site provide that would both attract your audience and meet your goals?

? Resources – How much time and money can you dedicate initially and over time to create and maintain your site?

A web site is a web site is a web site. However, the type of site that?s built for you will have a specific purpose. Defining the type of site determines the features it has. If you want a site that lets visitors know about your products and services, your company in general, that is considered to be a ?brochure site?. If your purpose is to sell products and services online, you will have an e-commerce site. Perhaps you want the site to develop leads and capture the contact information of people who are interested in your products or services. If so, what you want is a landing page, also known as a lead capture or splash page. And, it is perfectly acceptable to want all or a combination of any these features. In fact, most sites serve a combination of purpose.

The basic components of an operational web site are:

? The domain name (www.yourbusinessname.com)

? hosting

? The actual construction of the page(s) that are then published on the Internet

? Search engine submission

Be sure that whoever you engage to build/design your web site will provide all the above and it?s written in the contract.

You should choose your domain name. Schedule a time with your consultant to either be on the phone together or at the same location when you go online to establish your domain name with the registrar (i.e., GoDaddy.com, NameCheap.com). **See the notes below regarding domain ownership.**

You want to have a dot com domain name (www.yourbusiness.com) unless there are immensely overriding reasons to not get one ending in dot com. It?s difficult for people to remember www.yourbusiness.net. People don?t think about web site addresses ending in dot net. All the search engines default to dot com. Before you decide to get a domain name that doesn?t end ?.com? (probably because it?s taken), type the dot com name in the browser, to go to the site. See what the site is. Oftentimes the name is just ?parked? and it may be for sale. That?s a whole other topic to discuss so I won?t go into it here. If that?s the case, though, contact me or another consultant to find out your options for possibly purchasing it. Also, you do not want to have any dashes (hyphens) in the domain name.

Hosting can be something of a mystery to the uninitiated. Think of it like this? You have a car, but it has to have a steady supply of fuel to go places. Hosting is the fuel for your domain. You pay a hosting company to keep your site visible on the Internet. hosting companies charge monthly fees which are usually discounted when paid annually.

Whoever builds your site should submit it to the three main search engines, Google, Yahoo and MSN as part of the deal. They handle about 95% of all searches. Google alone garners 47% of all search activity.

Side note: There are services which advertise that they?ll submit your site to a gazillion search engines for ?a couple hundred dollars?. Don?t bite. Submitting a site to the Big 3 takes a few minutes. If you aren?t currently working with a consultant and want to do it yourself, call me and I?ll walk you through it.

Other aspects of having a functional web site are:

? SEO ? search engine optimization

? A shopping cart, or another means of collecting payment, if you?re selling something online

? email configuration

It?s common for people to have a web site built, and then find that it doesn?t do anything. They think it?s broken. Building it and getting it on the Internet is one part. Getting the search engines to find it and send people to it is another part. Often the person who builds the site does not do any optimization. Sometimes they can (meaning they know how to), but it is considered another ?competency? or ?deliverable?. In other words, SEO costs extra. And it should. Search engine optimization is a highly specialized field. The people who do SEO well often specialize in doing only SEO. It is intense work, techniques for effectiveness can change rapidly; therefore the practitioners must keep themselves educated, which takes time and money.

That said, basic search engine optimization needs to be done for all sites. And it doesn?t take a PhD to do it. If your web designer/builder doesn?t know how to do this, or doesn?t want to do it, you?ll need to find someone who does. The designer/builder probably has someone they can refer you to. Be sure to have SEO addressed when you have your site built, otherwise ?they will not come?.

Notes about domain ownership

I?m not an attorney so be advised that everything stated here is my understanding, not legal advise. If you need/want legal advice, contact an attorney.

Technically, domains are not owned. They are ?leased?. When you see that a domain is for sale, it is technically the ?lease? that?s being transferred, not ownership. No one can own a domain. Maybe the government can, I don?t know.

Here?s what you absolutely must know and pay attention to: Your domain name must be registered in your personal name or your business? name. Period. It is common practice for consultants/web designers to register your site through their own account and start work once you have entered into an agreement with them. In the majority of cases, this was done to expedite the process, not to deceive or take advantage of you.

Ask for a printout from WhoIs which shows the name and contact information of the registered owner, the site administrator and the technical advisor. If you do not appear as the registered owner, ask the consultant to transfer the domain, at no cost, to you. There is usually no cost from the registrar (GoDaddy, NameCheap etc.) to do this transfer. Transferring the name is a simple procedure. Doing it NOW will prevent a lot of headaches and legal hassles down the road. Once they say the transfer is done, get written verification for your records.

You can check this yourself by going to www.godaddy.com. Type in your domain name at the top of the page where it says ?start a domain search?. When the page comes up showing that domain is taken, click onto the ?click here for info? link that appears just after the domain name. You may need to type in a verification code (uniquely generated each time the page appears), then submit. The information that appears on this final page is the name and contact information for the registered owner of the site. If you?re not on it, you don?t own it.

In addition to the obvious ownership issues, there are other reasons to have the domain in your name. You want to be notified when the renewal comes due (this date will appear on the WhoIs info); if the domain name is not renewed, it becomes available and will become available to the public in 30-60 days after the renewal date. The domain you?ve spent time and energy integrating into your business will be purchased by someone else and it will be gone forever. The site can be ?high jacked? (redirected and taken over by someone else) or it can simply disappear. All of these scenarios can, and have, happened. If you are not the owner of record, you legally have no rights.

If you already have a web site on the Internet, and find it is not registered in your name, contact the person who established the domain right away. Ask that it be transferred to you and that documentation be provided to verify the transaction. The consultant may want to charge for his/her time, but may be open to negotiation on this point.

Unfortunately, many people find themselves in the position of having a web site up and running and their relationship with the consultant has become less than optimum, or worse, nonexistent. In this case, contact the registrar (GoDaddy, Network Solutions, etc.) and ask for their protocol. It is my understanding that circumstances may exist wherein ownership may be transferred.

The harsh reality is that it is possible nothing can be done to transfer ownership to you, even though you paid for it and the site?s been online for years. In that case you now have decisions to make about how to go forward. It?s best to hire a consultant who can advise you of your options for the best course to take for your specific business, or consult an attorney who specializes in Internet matters.

Georgann McCrosson

Author Bio

Georgann McCrosson specializes in creating customized electronic marketing solutions for small business. Contact her at georgann@catchphrasemarketing.com to discuss how you can get more clients, increase profitability and work less. Go to http://www.catchphrasemarketing.com to request reports on how electronic marketing can benefit your business’ bottom line. Her blog, http://www.strategicclientretention.com, has articles on achieving client retention and acquisition in any economy.

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Nick Pope famous ufo investigator: Mr. Nick Pope worked for the Ministry of Defense in the U. K. He was in charge of ufo investigations for three years. He is the author of several ufo books and has appeared in various documentaries and tv programs.

Ken: Webmaster of About Facts Net Internet Magazine.

—————————————————————————————————————————-

Ken:

First of all I want to thank you for the interview, I really appreciate it and I thought that maybe, since I have a mixed audience, there not all ufo buffs, I thought that you might like to go into your duties at the position you had at the Ministry of Defence at the UK and maybe tell us about the books you have written?

Nick Pope:

Sure, well I only left the British Ministry of Defense last year, after a 21 year career. The way that one is attached to a post there, is what they do is, they move you around every 2 or 3 years to different posts. In my number of years there, I have done a number of different jobs there, all of them very interesting. The ones that I suppose that I am best known for were from 1991 through 1994. I was working in a division where my duties included researching and investigating into the ufo mystery. Although it wasn’t in the formal term of reference, you can’t run a ufo project without fin

Ken:

OK so now maybe you would let us know some of the books that you have written?

Nick Pope:

I have written two non fiction books, one called “Open Skies, Closed Minds”, that was an overview of the ufo phenomenon, the book concentrated on my own official research and investigation, and I also wrote the “Uninvited”. And the only point in each was that they focused on alien abductions. I also decided to really speculate, I suppose, to combine some of what I learned about ufos with wider issues of crisis management in a government environment. I decided to write two science fiction novels, based on alien invasion, called Operation Thunder Child and Operation Lightning Strike and those were really speculative novels and I was having a bit of fun with the content but the main thing is that they claimed to be a superior beings or lifeforms.

Ken:

Well I imagine that it must be quite frustrating to you when some people think that you have all the answers to the ufo questions and they just won’t accept the answers that you give them. What was your most frustrating encounter?

Nick Pope:

Well yes, I think you hit the nail on the head there. I think some people have accused me of being part of the cover up myself. I’ve been portrayed, at least in the UK, of being a sort of real man in black type character. Yes you are quite right there are some people who think that I know all about the ufo phenomenon, they want an answer quick and they want a solution and they think that I know where the smoking gun is and when they hear the answer, certainly as far as I am aware in the UK that while the British government and the Air Force over the years has investigated thousands and thousands of cases, I’m sure we will get into that in a little while, some have been tracked on radar, some seen by pilots, we don’t have the answer, we don’t know what the ufo phenomena represents. Most are a case of misidentification of course, but we don’t know what that unknown 5% is. The possibility does remain about those things being extraterrestrial and indeed that statement can be seen on the MOD’s website, but we don’t have any evidence that points to ufos being extraterrestrial and we don’t have any hard proof. There are no spaceships in hangers here in the UK.

Ken:

The disclosure project has been getting some press for the last few years and I saw your name mentioned in some of the articles on the site. Correct me if I am wrong, you spoke as a witness, didn’t you?

Nick Pope:

Yeah, because I had written books on the subject. By the way I should clarify that I am in no sense a whistle blower. My book and indeed all my major activities have been cleared with the Ministry of Defence. Just as any former government or military or intelligence official wishes to write books and I am sure the situation in America and indeed all around the world is, that anyone who genuinely wants to write a book and wanted to draw on their official work to write a book after they left, that book has to go through a very detailed executive procedure to make sure that they didn’t inadvertently disclose any classified information. I of course, because I take my oath of secrecy very seriously, I have of course followed that system to the letter. So in no way should I be called traitor or simply whistle blower, speaking out or spilling the beans type of thing. Yes, in fact, fine, to answer the question. That information is in the public domain about ufos, that is in my book. I have no objection to having my name added to a list of witnesses. There were a number of other people on that list known to me, such as Lord Hill-Norton the former chief of defense staff, here in the MOD and much more senior than I and his name was there too, so I just felt that if it could help having my name on the list, somebody who’s background could be verified through a trail of documents and that it could be verified that I am who I said I was, that I just felt that it would do some good and I put my name on the list.

Ken:

Do you think that they have a chance of succeeding in their mission of getting all the ufo documents declassified and gaining access to alien technology if indeed alien technology exists?

Nick Pope:

I don’t know. I can only of course speak with any authority and knowledge of the United Kingdom, I don’t know what information still may or may not still exist in the U.S. that has not been released or declassified, so the honest answer is I don’t know. I wish them well, maybe there is a smoking gun, but as I said earlier, if there is a smoking gun, it certainly is not in the U.K. Its not one that I have been briefed on.

Ken:

When you testified before the Disclosure Project you said, and I hope I am quoting this correctly, “And if, as governments consistently say when the politicians probe on this issue or when the media inquire, that there’s really nothing to worry about, then okay, let’s see all the data.” Does this mean that you believe that important ufo data is being withheld from the public?

Nick Pope:

No it doesn’t mean…that quote is accurate, but what I mean by that quote is perhaps something slightly different from the way in which it has been interpreted. What I was really speaking about was freedom of information. I was speaking in the run up of the introduction of the British Freedom of Information Act, which many of your readers may not realize didn’t really come into force until 2005, where I know that perhaps it was geared to the Americans. But er I was thinking about information which I knew was about to be released. I was really encouraging my colleagues, as it were, to embrace the Freedom of Information Act, to embrace the concept of open government, they have and at least recognize that there can be a huge degree of interest in information about ufos and indeed my prediction proved correct. The British Ministry of Defence receives more Freedom of Information Act claims relating to ufos than any other subject, including the war in Iraq. So my quote was really preempting the huge interest and indeed, the MOD had disclosed hundreds upon hundreds of pages of documents some of which were classified at levels of Secret UK Eyes Only, some of which were pretty interesting. None of that information though was obtained through an extraterrestrial presence. I mean there really is sort of something going on. The good evidence suggests something tangible such as ufo sightings and they are not all misidentification, hoaxes or delusions, but we don’t know what they are.

Ken:

That is an interesting fact that you just gave me that there are more inquiries than on Iraq, I didn’t know that myself.

Nick Pope:

Yes, it is just phenomenal interest, a lot of it from the media, some of it from the ufo community and from individuals who just want to use the Freedom of Information Act to read about it and perhaps check details of their own sightings and see whatever investigation may or may not have taken place. But yeah there is an absolutely phenomenal amount of requests on the subject that are coming in over the years and it is that interestingly, that has led to deciding in the last few months, doing what the French governments did earlier this year and saying rather than this piecemeal approach, just filling in the cracks, this reactive approach, just ruling on a case by case basis, do what the French did, posting the entire archive and that is currently under consideration.

Ken:

I wasn’t going to ask this question, but since we got on to this topic, I saw a memo that is posted on the internet. Supposedly, the name is redacted, but it seems to come from somebody who is very high in the Ministry of Defence and it pertains to putting the data on the internet and it sort of suggests that one of the reasons they want to put all of the data on the internet is that if they don’t put it all on, they can say to people that down the road its coming, do you know what I mean?

Nick Pope:

Yes I’ve seen that document. It is a very difficult issue. I don’t think the person that was writing that was intending to do anything underhand. All the person meant was that under the Freedom of Information Act this information is about to be released, you can actually answer a request and say we are dealing with that file now. Rather than respond to your individual request, if you can wait a few weeks, the whole lot is going to be posted on the internet. It is much easier to get it from the internet than the National Archives, because the National Archives you have to visit. It is very difficult for someone who is not in touch. You know that once its on the internet, just about anyone with internet access can find it. The person was not trying to do anything underhand they were just saying that this is what the law says you can do. We had to find a way, given the volume of requests, to make this a bit more manageable. Quite frankly, my former colleagues there are absolutely sinking in a sea of Freedom of Information Act requests.

Ken:

I can imagine.

Nick Pope:

They are honestly not trying to be difficult about it but they just need someone to cut them a little bit of slack.

Ken:

Ancient ufos seem to be a topic of interest with many people. Did the Ministry of Defence ever find any evidence of ancient ufos or artifacts, that might indicate that ufos may have landed on Earth some time in our past, or that some ancient race may have existed on Earth that could have had space travel capability?

Nick Pope:

No, I have never seen any research done on that matter. Very much the terms of reference that we were operating under were very much geared to the current situation. In other words, investigating ufo reports as they came in to see whether there was evidence of a threat or evidence of a safety threat, as it were. I could do research, but historical research was frowned upon, it would have been outside the frame of reference. Frankly I was getting two or three hundred ufo reports each year, that had to be my priority.

Ken:

I guess that kept you kind of busy?

Nick Pope:

Yeah, absolutely. I’m aware of course of the literature of all sorts of people, Von Daniken, Velikovsky and many many others, Graham Hancock. Its an interesting area, but its not something that I have looked into and its not an area that interests the MOD as far as I am aware of.

Ken:

I would like to ask you a personal question, it has to do with the question I just asked you. There are cave paintings and ancient statues that some have interpreted as depicting men in space suits. There are also bones of giant people that have been found in tombs in different locations, do you believe that our ancestors might have met people from other planets, or that we ourselves may have come from other planets and settled on Earth?

Nick Pope:

I’ll give you the honest answer again, I don’t know. I’ve seen some of those cave paintings and at first glance they certainly look very interesting, but I also know that skeptical people say that we really don’t understand the psychology of our ancestors. Some of these images might not be visual, they might be allegorical. They could represent someone with a space helmet on, but they could just as easily represent some archetypical demon from a dream or nightmare.

Ken:

What famous ufo sightings occurred during your watch and what made them so much more interesting to you than some of the other ufo sightings?

Nick Pope:

The most significant case on my tour of duty was something called generically the Cosford Incident. You can go to the Ministry Defence website and that, by the way is just, MOD.uk and if you put in Cosford this is one of the case files that the Ministry of Defence has already released and it runs to over 100 pages of documentation, it is well worth the look. This was a case where over a period of about 6 hours we had a number of different ufo sightings from the 30th to the 31st of March 1993. We had ufo sightings from a number of different areas of the United Kingdom, seen by witnesses that included quite a lot of military personnel and police officers. The description varied, with reports of large triangular shaped craft that were fairly well represented in the case files. Most interesting was that ufos flew over two Air Force bases. Cosford had them, then a nearby base called Shawbury and seen by a patrol of Air Force police officers at the first base and seen by a meteorological officer as an unidentified flying object at the second base. Its size was midway between a C-130 Hercules transport and a Boeing 747. While clearly near to the base, there came a low frequency humming sound coming from the craft that inspired American military fighters on the ground and from a very slow pace it probably accelerated away very quickly. There was a witness that had been in the Air Force 8 years and saw military jets, helicopters on a daily basis. So clearly, witnesses like that are pretty interesting. We launched a very detailed investigation, one of the first things that we did was check the radar tapes. There were some inconclusive readings, but nothing you could hang your hat on. Some of my Air Force colleagues, that I sent out, said well it could just be ground clutter. It sometimes happens with some of the radar systems at the base. Nothing to say to that and even my very skeptical head of division, when he wrote on this event some two or three weeks after, summarizing this investigation, wrote to the assistant chief of the Air Force, a two star military chief and he said briefly, briefly in summary, that there seemed to be some evidence that an object or objects, was flying over the United Kingdom. Now that is about as close as you will ever get to saying on the subject that yeah, there is something here and its real, of course none of that means an extraterrestrial. Its certainly a case that changed a lot of people’s minds, both the civilian employees and the military colleagues that were briefed on it.

Ken:

As we know, a lot of different satellites have the capability of looking down and also the space shuttle has the capability of taking pictures both looking down and looking out into space and the United States has taken some pictures of some unknown objects. Were you ever involved with any project with the MOD where sightings were taken through satellites, of ufos?

Nick Pope:

No I have not been involved in anything like that, having said that, what I did do, an organization that I did work with was an air force base called Fylingdales which was part of the ballistic missile early warning system. Fylingdales of course had a network of space tracking radar and were part of a system to track about 8 thousand objects in space like satellites and a spanner dropped by an astronaut and when I was doing my ufo investigations with the agency, there were two staffers at Fylingdales. That is just an area that I can’t go into in great detail.

Ken:

I understand

Nick Pope:

Having said that, I’ll tell you an anecdotal story that you just might find interesting. I just had to check the capability that we had with one of my colleagues and he said, well yes we sometimes see very strange things here. Like things traveling at speeds of 15,000 or 20,000 thousand miles per hour, or something like that. We call them all fireballs.

Ken:

Can I stop you for one second and ask you one quick question?

Nick Pope:

Sure.

Ken:

Have they ever seen anything that they thought might have hit the speed of light or exceeded the speed of light?

Nick Pope:

No. They were talking speeds of 15,000 to 20,000 miles per hour. They said yeah, we call them fireballs. Well I said sorry, but how do you know that they are fireballs? They said because they go very fast. So it was a kind of catch 22. A lot of government ufo research is like that, it can be quite frustrating. You don’t really get all the answers, because every time you answer a question, you get another one.

Ken:

Did you have any access to any other ufo records, such as European records or records from the United States?

Nick Pope:

In terms of reference we were very much limited to the United Kingdom, however on occasion we used to get reports from elsewhere, you couldn’t really investigate them because you didn’t have jurisdiction. But what I did do on occasion was a little bit of liaison, in particular with the Belgians. There was a very famous wave of sightings over Belgium in 1989 and in 1990. I immediately, when I investigated Cosford, I immediately recognized the parallel with what happened in Belgium. Not the least was the staff who say I’m linking the main Belgium sightings of 30 31st of March 1990 and the Cosford incident itself was 31st of March 1993. See that in itself is interesting as was the fact that we are dealing with large triangular shaped craft that are capable of maneuvering at a very quite rate of speed. So I contacted our air attache at our British embassy in Brussels and he had said that a call was made to two pilots of the Belgian Air Force and they had scrambled and tried to intercept the ufos, and a call was made to Major General De Brower, the Belgian officer who after those incidents gave a press conference on all this. Yes this was a major news story.

Ken:

I think that this was televised.

Nick Pope:

Yes and certainly I had it confirmed to me by the embassy. Yes, everything you read about this and it was on tv. Please bear in mind that the Belgian Air Force, the Belgian government, the pilot, and the general air defense staff and the Belgian Air defense headquarters, all believe that the craft was a real solid object and there was an almost funny and humorous anecdotal story at the end of this. It was, well thank goodness that they were friendly, because if they hadn’t have been, we really couldn’t have done much about it.

Ken:

Thats for sure.

I know that you have discussed this many times, but I am under the impression that you consider the Rendlesam Forest ufo case to be one of the most important. Is that correct?

Nick Pope:

Yes indeed. Although it happened in the 1980s before I joined the Ministry of Defence. I was soon getting questions about that. Members of parliament were asking questions about it, military were asking about it, ufo people were asking about it. So of course, one of the first things that I did when I took up my post at the ufo project, was to pull the file up. At first, of course, I was extremely interested because you had a report of a landed ufo. We had numerous United States Air Force witnesses. We had radiation readings taken at the landing site. We had a defense intelligence staff of experts who stated that radiation readings had been “significantly higher than background” and again there is another file, another case file that is on the MOD website for people to see. Once I got beyond my interest, I became a little concerned, I don’t ever like to criticize my former colleagues, it is just a matter of loyalty and professional courtesy, but I do have to say the investigation, the original investigation, was not handled, shall I say, the way that I would have handled it.

Ken:

Many people feel that way, yeah..

Nick Pope:

A number of fundamental things that I think should have been done, were not done. The most logical thing that should have been done, that wasn’t done, was the immediate cordoning off of the landing site, post guards on it and protect it from decontamination. Another thing that wasn’t done was the taking of soil samples and of control samples from immediately outside of the landing zone. Perhaps worst of all, we effectively had two parallel investigations. The United States Air Force were busily interviewing the various witnesses and taking statements and details of the craft, detailed sketches and descriptions, right down to the hieroglyphics seen on the side. The Ministry of Defence was busy sending the radiation readings, getting intelligence on the craft, getting an assessment on the radar tape, but no one person was in charge. No one single person was making sure that all this data was shared, so you had a bizarre situation where the Ministry of Defence knew that the radiation readings were significantly higher than the background, but failed to give that fact to the United States Air Force. The United States Air Force failed to pass the witness statements to the Ministry of Defence, for example sketches of the craft with the markings on the side, so that is just to start, I could probably write a much more detailed critique that would probably go on for pages. Those are some of the errors.

Ken:

Well let me ask you this then, Gordon Edward Williams was a Major General, I think. He was involved in this, with the Brentwaters Woodbridge ufo and he stated, just recently, that he actually talked to an alien.

Nick Pope:

Well I’m not sure he did say that. I saw it reported on the internet, but I would be very surprised if it was a first hand quote. I mean I’ve actually sat down, together with a civilian ufo researcher Georgina Bruni, who wrote a book on this. We sat down and had dinner with the General a couple of years ago and he certainly made no such claim. I would be extremely surprised, I’m not sure what the source of that is, I have a feeling that its a second or third hand quote.

Ken:

Yeah you are probably right, I don’t know the source either, I just happened to see it.

Nick Pope:

I don’t think he made the quote, I don’t think he saw the ufo, let alone any extraterrestrials. Just going back to the investigation on a critical question, a ufo investigation should be similar in a way, to a police investigation with some of the things you do. In other words you need an investigation plan, an interview, witnesses, to identify, recover and analyze evidence. Those two strands, as it were, are common in both police investigations and ufo investigations. One of the things that can go wrong in either investigation is delay and delay was a critical factor, I’m afraid, in the Rendlesham Forest investigation. In part because there was a critical period and many of the key personnel were on leave. I think it exposed a gap, as it were, by virtue of the fact that there should have been a standard operating procedure, so that everyone should have known what their actions should have been. Instead, I think, everyone ran around saying oh gosh what do we do, we never had anything like this before?

Ken:

Do you think that’s because nobody takes a ufo investigation very seriously?

Nick Pope:

I think that is a big part of it. I agree very much so by the very nature of the word ufo. Some people will roll their eyes and start humming the X-Files, all sorts of potential ridicule, and I suppose that’s why Air Force pilots who have seen ufos never reported them, probably because they feared ridicule. They felt that the chain of command might question their judgment and psychological state, such is life. Yeah I think that was the critical factor perhaps in what went wrong in the investigation at Rendlesham. They thought, ufos what do we do? In fact that was one of the reasons, when I was filling the post, we tried banning the use of the word ufo, at least in our internal discussions. We tried to replace it with UAP Unidentified Ariel Phenomenon. We felt that we were just trying to rebrand the whole phenomenon in a more scientific way, because it was due to the critical nature of the ufos and I think your audience attributed this to a political or military or governmental forum.

Ken:

Have you ever heard of a ufo crash in the British Empire?

Nick Pope:

I have certainly seen, shall we say, all sorts of second and third hand reports, but certainly I have not seen a first hand report. I think that what is a potential crash site to various researchers will invariably turn out to be an aircraft crash, or a fireball, or indeed, just a very tall story. So that, yes I heard many many stories, but really only in ufo literature, not in any of the MOD case files.

Ken:

I don’t know if you can answer the next question or not? Project Blue Book had about 4 employees. How many people worked at the ufo project at the MOD and what were their duties?

Nick Pope:

Well it was effectively just me and one administrative duty officer in a support role. Having said that, of course you have to understand, that doesn’t tell the whole story of what we couldn’t do, or be it that they were not full time on the project, but any time we wanted, we could pull in. So we were the ones, as it were, at the center of the web, but we could pull in, for example, Air Force Officers to impound radar tapes, then to pick them up and analyze them, get special personnel, special equipment and make inspections of personnel and equipment. Make sure we had the personnel and special equipment to punch through the formality to get the radar tapes at Fylingdales, so that when you look at Blue Book and you look at us, it sounds like very small numbers. I hope and think that we punched above our weight.

Ken:

I think that you did.

Have you ever come across any ufo cases that turned out not to be ufo cases, just some people pursuing an agenda?

Nick Pope:

You mean an out and out hoax?

Ken:

Well a hoax or something where they were using it to make a reputation for themselves.

Nick Pope:

No, not in an official capacity. I’ve come across all sorts of hoaxes, pranks, things like that. There are a number of videos and things like that. I am not talking about anything official, we didn’t go on file sharing sites, like Youtube and things, that you see on almost a daily basis. They are what I suspect, some viral marketing campaign or some designer showcasing their talents and having a bit of fun with a hoax. I think that is something that has always gone on. Back in the 1950s, people were trying to fool the Ministry of Defence by literally cutting out saucer shapes and pasting them to their window and taking a photograph. So its always gone on. Its just that the technology to do it is getting more sophisticated, but I don’t think, hoaxing has always been a part of the problem, but it is a minuscule part of the problem. Again without going into the details of the base facility we had we had all sorts of specialists, equipment and indeed personnel to analyze these things, who could very easily spot a fake.

Ken:

Right.

Well the next question I just have to ask you. I only ask you because there are so many rumors on the internet. Have you ever seen any documents that indicate that the Nazis succeeded in building a flying saucer and that it could have been copied by the victorious forces and that what we are seeing today is the modern day version of it?

Nick Pope:

No, I think one of the points about disc shaped craft is that they are incredibly unstable and this would be a very very difficult shape to fly. Now I don’t dispute, it is a matter of record that there were aircraft designers that were thinking about these things, but I don’t believe and I see no evidence to suggest that the Nazis ever got anything remotely like a working prototype, let alone an operational craft and lets face it, this was total war, if the Nazis had something like that, a craft like that, they would have used it. I don’t think the thought or ideas of such a craft went very far off the drawing board.

Ken:

The United States had at least one incident where several missiles were shut down and prevented from going back on launch ready status, while a ufo hovered above the silos. An example of this happened at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, in 1967. This would seem to be a threat to the world’s defenses. Correct me if I am wrong, but the British government has said in the past that ufos pose no threat. Did the British government ever investigate this incident and if so, what conclusion did they come to if you know?

Nick Pope:

I don’t know. I am aware of the case from the literature. I am not sure whether the Americans ever shared any information on that with the British government. I don’t, to be honest, know if the British government ever asked the Americans for a report on that. So, yes, sorry I don’t know.

Ken:

Alright thats the answer.

There seems to be a rash of sightings by airline pilots. One was reported over the Channel Islands in April 2007 and it was said to be about a mile wide. How can something this size, which is seen by a professional pilot, or in this case two pilots in two different planes, be disproven or even ignored by the government or do you think that they are secretly investigating the sightings?

Nick Pope:

Well I am familiar with that case. I think that what might have been called a ufo might have been two ufos and not as much as a mile long. I haven’t heard officially. I think I recall having an interview with the pilot concerned. His name is Ray Bowyer in which he said well that was just an estimate of something very far away, I think I might have worked it out. So this is really not something of value. Having said that, perhaps it being a mile wide seems to be of extreme interest, in the short term, the MOD did investigate and there is a case file, a very small one and again it is on the MOD’s website. If you search the term ufo, Channel Islands, you’ll find it. I think it is about a half dozen pages. Well again I don’t like to criticize, but it is not the most detailed investigation in the world and no one seems to know for sure what type of radar sensor there was at the airport security, which I would have thought would have been the first question that they asked. Whether there is anything new going on or indeed the civil aviation authorities might know something as well, I don’t know. It may be that the pressure from the journalists and Parliament and the ufo community might cause the MOD to scan a bit. There is a small case file on it and indeed now from Ray Bowyer, the pilot, and from one of the other sources in the aviation community here there does seem to be an indication that they are working on the tracking on radar and there does seem to be corroboration of the findings. So those things say a lot.

Ken:

Alright.

It is said that only one in seven sightings is reported. When it comes to airline pilots, there is probably much less reporting, because they are afraid of losing their jobs. Airline pilots just might be in the best position to see ufos and might have a far greater number of sightings. Do you agree with this statement and if not, why?

Nick Pope:

Yes I do agree with it and I guess its true of both military pilots and civil airline pilots, many of whom have told me, off the record, of ufo sightings and many of whom have told me that they didn’t write a report, because they feared for their jobs or they feared ridicule from their colleagues or they knew it would cause them much difficulty. Its extremely unfortunate. Technically, reporting isn’t optional it is mandatory, particularly if the object comes close enough to present a potential hazard. By training, all pilots do have to do that and I think it is encouraging that there have been several more over the years, but I do think that there is still a job to be done in selling this message to the aviation community. It is not something to be embarrassed about, frankly it should be in the training. Its very interesting, a couple of years ago previously, the Ministry of Defence published a previously highly classified discussion on ufos and one of the recommendations did relate to flight safety, so there is an issue quite apart from what ufos are, having flight safety as the issue and certainly I’m aware of quite a number of cases where there has been a near collision between aircraft and ufos.

Ken:

Did any of the reports you received on non ufo topics ever seem to tie into a legitimate ufo sighting? For example did you ever get a paranormal report and it turned out that it was really a ufo sighting that they were talking about?

Nick Pope:

No, I got, I think I mentioned at the outset, I did get reports such as alien abductions, crop circles and ghosts. All those sightings tended to be fairly compartmentalized. I am always wary of bad science in explaining one sighting by another. I mean literally, I would get a report from some security guard saying they were on night patrol and saw a shadowy figure walk through a wall for example. I would regard that as a ghost report. I didn’t have much to do with it, I didn’t try and explain one mystery by another.

Ken:

Giorgio Bonguivanni met with the Russian military after getting permission from former President Gorbverchov to do so. The Russians answered questions pertaining to ufos. The Russian general that was interviewed said that he believed that there were powers other than humans and they were expecting something from us and that information is being withheld by Russia and the US on ufos. What is your opinion about his statement and does it surprise you that he was so candid?

Nick Pope:

Well again I know that there are so many statements that are doing the rounds that are false

Ken:

May I interrupt you on this?

Nick Pope:

Yeah.

Ken:

This was on a dvd. The whole meeting was recorded on video.

Nick Pope:

So this was the general first hand?

Ken:

Unless the dvd is a fraud.

Nick Pope:

Ok, well I better not, for legal reasons, go down that road. Yes, of course I have to see the comments in context.

Ken:

Well are you familiar with Mr. Giorgio Bonguivanni, he’s a….

Nick Pope:

Yes I believe I met him, he is a stigmatic.

Ken:

Exactly.

Nick Pope:

Yes I met him a few years ago in London. So yeah, I am familiar with him. In fact I may have seen the dvd or one certainly very much like it. I have seen all sorts of former Soviet military personnel speak on ufos. What I’m listening to invariably, is someone dubbing. I don’t know Russian so I don’t know if everything is taken in the literal sense, or the comments are simply about belief. For example Lord Hill-Norton, who I mentioned earlier, went on the public record a number of times saying that he believed that there was a cover up. He didn’t know, that was his belief.

Ken:

Well that is what the general claimed too, he was just saying his belief.

Nick Pope:

Whether that belief comes from knowledge or first hand evidence, we don’t know.

Ken:

I guess you know Bob Lazar?

Nick Pope:

Yes,

Ken:

Do you think that he actually worked at Area 51 and do you think that he actually saw a flying saucer?

Nick Pope:

Again I’m going to have to fall back on I don’t know. My only knowledge of this is through ufo literature therefore I’m better at my work qualifying what I used to do.

Ken:

Ok, I’ve got a more interesting question. A famous sighting occurred at Shag Harbor in Canada on October 4, 1967, where a ufo supposedly crashed into the water and a second one came to rescue it. There were all sorts of stories about American and Canadian ships chasing them and divers seeing the craft and even aliens. Do you think that there is any truth to any of this and if not, what could the objects have been that seemed to be able to navigate while flying and also while submerged?

Nick Pope:

Well again I’m familiar with that case, but I am sorry to keep…..

Ken:

I’m only asking a personal opinion.

Nick Pope:

Again, I really don’t know. Its not a case that I have studied at the MOD. Again I really don’t know any more or less than anyone else. I read the odd magazine article. There is an old saying used by intelligence analysts all over the world. The phrase is interesting if true.

Ken:

Thats a good one.

Nick Pope:

In cases like this its hard to say. You know if I was interviewing you and asked for an answer to every single case in Britain, Canada and America I think it would be awfully suspicious. No expert I know, knows it all.

Ken:

I wasn’t really asking for you expert opinion in this, I just wanted to know how you felt about it.

Nick Pope:

I am going to have to fall back on the, interesting if true.

Ken:

Ok.

I see where the Ministry of Defence has released 29 sightings and they all seem to be over Lincolnshire in Great Britain and they cover several years. Is there any reason that you know about, that so many sightings would be in the same area, such as an experimental military craft being tested in that area? Did you ever notice that more ufo reports were coming from one spot, more than the others?

Nick Pope:

I think that what happened there is that what you might have is a local newspaper report. What happened over the last several months, is that the Ministry of Defence released summary sheets of all ufo sightings reported to the department from 1998 to 2006, but what happened is that all the local media have seized on this, they found it on the Ministry of Defence website, so they have run stories, but only about ufo sightings in their area, so you have got a lot of people saying we found 20 ufo sightings in Lincolnshire over the last few years. What they don’t go on to say, is that if they look at the summary sheets in their entirety, that each year there is over a hundred reports that come from different locations. I think what you got here is just reporting things in their own area. Having said that, there are occasional hot spots and I asked one of my administrative staff to go back through the files to try and make an outlying map and try and pinpoint those sightings geographically. Interestingly, what you got, er, what you have is basically a population density map. Which essentially only proves that if there is a ufo sighting over 50 people are likely to see it, probably not. The ufo hot spots actually turn out to be big cities, London, Manchester and Liverpool in Great Britain.

Ken:

We were always under the impression that if there were hot spots they would turn out to be nuclear power plants, etc.

Nick Pope:

Well there is something there, what you call clustering in interesting ways, it is quite controversial. Military bases for example, had a lot of ufo incidents, Randlesham Forest, Woodbridge, the Cosford incident although in fact, there are several dozens of ufo reports all around the country that pertain to military bases. Whether that means that ufos are interested in these sites or whether it is just that these sites are where the witnesses are trained observers and they are aware of ufos or more likely they’re more apt to get investigated.

Ken:

Have you ever investigate any abduction reports?

Nick Pope:

Yes, having said that, I think the word investigated might be difficult to describe that. It is what you might call, in terms of reference, in depth, perhaps a dozen or so. While short of doing something way outside our frame of reference, like calling the people in and doing hypothetic regressing, which is very controversial and that sort of thing. It is questionable, I think, morally. Now what I tried to do was to give them the pros and cons of regression and to point them to civilian ufo researchers. So I did get the report, I am not sure I can put my hand on my heart and say that I investigated them the same way that I investigate a ufo sighting.

Ken:

At this point I’ve talked to you for an hour. I’d like to ask you more questions but I don’t want to presume on you. Are you alright?

Nick Pope:

I am happy to keep going for a little bit.

Ken:

Could I change my tape?

Nick Pope:

Sure.

Ken:

Thanks. Ok, I’m back in business.

Nick Pope:

Ok, I don’t know how many more questions you prepared?

Ken:

I’m not going to go through all the questions. I drew up 54 questions, because I didn’t know how long each question would take and it seems that we can do about 24 questions in about an hour.

Nick Pope:

Ok, we done 24, I’m not going to volunteer to go all the way to 55. That would probably take up the rest of the evening.

Ken:

Of course, I wouldn’t do that. I’m going to skip a lot of questions here.

Nick Pope:

Yeah, I’m happy to do another 15 minutes or something like that and answer any really important questions that you may want to cover.

Ken:

Ok. I want to ask you about Gary McKinnon, are you familiar with him?

Nick Pope:

I am, that is going to be a very quick answer though, because legal proceedings are still ongoing. I don’t want to discuss that I’m afraid.

Ken:

Thats ok, I’ll skip it.

The next question is just a personal opinion. Are you familiar with the fact that scientists have stated that 95% of our dna is alien, and what do you think about that?

Nick Pope:

I’m not familiar with that and I guess my question would be, which scientists have said that? No I am not familiar with that claim at all. When they say alien, I don’t understated how they could be saying that? No I am really not familiar with that claim and I would be extremely surprised if it is a claim from any mainstream….

Ken:

It is from the Genome Project.

Nick Pope:

Well….

Ken:

It is from the scientists working on the Genome Project. They actually came out and said that.

Nick Pope:

Alien, I mean….

Ken:

As in not being from the Earth.

Nick Pope:

Ah, well now…..

Ken:

Not as in alien

Nick Pope:

Maybe there buying in to the Panspermia theory that organic materials have come to Earth from elsewhere. It is not a field that I am familiar with. I follow it in a very casual way, not a scientific one.

Ken:

How about this, you are very familiar with remote viewing. Did you ever hear of a remote viewer picking up what he thought was the inside of a ufo?

Nick Pope:

I have heard about that, but again it was from literature. I should say that the Ministry of Defence did have a kind of project to investigate the possibility of remote viewing, long after the Americans had launched their project which was Stargate The Ministry of Defence came very late to this particular phase. It was 2001 before the Ministry of Defence started work on studying remote viewing to see if anyone could demonstrate remote viewing. Of course I wasn’t involved in it and found out years later about it. It was a very interesting project, but whether it ever developed into a operational project, I don’t know. I have seen books by some of the Americans like David Morehouse who made a number of claims, but I seen nothing like that in any British projects. Incidently the British study is something that again is on the Ministry of Defence’s website. Go to MOD.uk and type in remote viewing and you will see what us Brits have been up to.

Ken:

Disinformation is the topic of conversation between many people today. You have probably come across it yourself. Without naming any names, do you feel that there are any ufo organizations that are there only to put out disinformation?

Nick Pope:

No. I think that there are a number of individual ufo organizations that are putting out information that is plain wrong. But in my experience, certainly in Britain, I see no evidence that the government or MOD used ufo organizations to put out disinformation. In a sense they don’t have to do a thing. The ufo community is their own worst enemy. I think that there is so much noise as it were and so little substance sometimes. Governments don’t have to use disinformation.

Ken:

I want to ask you about the ufo that was over O’Hare Airport in Chicago. Have you ever spoken to anybody about that?

Nick Pope:

No I haven’t. It was only published a week or two ago. I’ve seen the NARCAP report. by Ted Roe

Ken:

Yeah, thats where they say it was a danger to air traffic.

Nick Pope:

Yeah I have to be totally honest with you, because of the shear length of the report, I haven’t read it in its entirety yet, but I think its from, what I have seen, its a splendid piece of work by NARCAP. I think this is a tremendous, really something that should have a proper scientific investigation and you can’t have ufos flying around in controlled air space. The Federal Aviation Agency or others should look at this very seriously. Its interesting that there have been thousands of reports from pilots and controllers and other people in aviation, so they are doing their job.

Ken:

What do you think about all the sightings in Mexico? Thousands and thousands of people have seen them. I am not going to go into the record, I think that you are familiar with them. They never seem to make the papers, at least in the United States, why do you think that is?

Nick Pope:

I think that some of them are probably helium balloons blowing in the wind, to be honest. I am not saying that there are not some more interesting ones in there. Its not something that I have been following too closely, but I’m going next month, when is it, in just about three weeks time, I be in D.C. for the X conference. I think, from memory, that Jamie Maussan….

Ken:

I was going to ask you if you knew Jamie Maussan?

Nick Pope:

I think that he is one of the other speakers there and it may well be that after the X conference, I think that Jamie will be there and I may get to ask him that question.

Ken:

Many recorded communications are said to exist that prove that astronauts have been followed by ufos and have reported seeing ufos. Have you ever received any documents to indicate that this is true and do you believe that this has happened?

Nick Pope:

Well I think that it is a matter of public record that people like Gordon Cooper and Edgar Mitchel and people like that made comments about ufos, some of which relate to them being seen, some of which relate to their belief, going back to the question of which statement comes from first hand knowledge and which statement is belief. I think somebody sent me one of the very many videos that is around on the subject, the other day. There are all sorts of things floating around in space. When they catch sunlight, they can perhaps look bigger than they are and literally fit the ufo definition, because the astronauts don’t know what they are, they are ufos. Of course now at actual NASA conferences, the NASA people will say that these are probably ice crystals, maybe off of the space craft or lint or other very informal material, material off the shuttle bay or things like that. I am not one of the believers that NASA is part of a ufo cover up. NASA would love them to be ufos, they would probably quadruple their budget overnight. So yes, there are strange things that the astronauts have seen, but I think that they are some times difficult, because they get shoved into a ufo documentary and you get people who are not qualified to really know what they are looking at. I am talking about going deep into making contact.

Ken:

Here is what I wanted to ask you about. Have you ever heard of any ufos that were visible through binoculars, in other words with the aided eye that couldn’t be seen with the naked eye and were not at a distance that precluded them from being seen with the naked eye?

Nick Pope:

No, I haven’t come across anything like that.

Ken:

Well I have, that is why I was asking you the question.

Nick Pope:

I can’t say that I have. Maybe there are one or two cases in the MOD files. I haven’t looked at every single case right from beginning to end. Nothing should be ruled out in Britain

Ken:

Well it sort of ties in with people that have taken photos, just taken a photo of the sky, didn’t see anything there, and yet when they looked at the photo they saw a ufo on the picture.

Nick Pope:

I am certainly familiar with many many cases where that has happened. I think that in many of those cases that have been investigated it was more likely to be the camera itself. I don’t rule out something on the photo.

Ken:

Lastly this is your chance to discuss anything that you would like to.

Nick Pope:

Well ok I’ll em…, I guess that my allegiencey to the ufo phenomenon does raise important defense questions. I don’t have any knowledge that constitutes a smoking gun and I am not aware of anything that could fall into that category. It definitely points in the way to ufos, but there is nothing in the way of proof that I can show anyone. I think, really as a closing statement, that I would say that I think that there are various natural phenomenon I know that this is probably a very unpopular statement for a ufo researcher. If there is life out there and I am fairly sure there is, I suspect that our proof will jump up through the ufo community. It will probably come through radio astronomy. And I think that it is particularly interesting that what has happened, er what is happening in regard to things like the Square Kilometer Array, which is the next generation of big space telescope.

Ken:

We call it the large array, it is the same thing.

Nick Pope:

You have got the Very Large Array, which is already operational which I think is in use. My understanding is that the Square Kilometer Array is either going to…, construction hasn’t begun yet.

Ken:

Oh!

Nick Pope:

This is the next generation one. It is going to be built, they had four sites, the last I saw they had two final sites, one is in Australia I think, the other is in South Africa. It is not going to be operational until 2020, but when it is operational, its sensitivity and power is going to be several orders of what you have now. Certainly I am aware that they believe that there are other civilizations out there, certainly within a hundred light years of here. That a distance that contains several thousand stars. Any signal that emanates should be detected. I have great hopes and I think those hopes are going to manifest themselves in SETI and the radio astronomy unit. I think they are, but that is just the way I feel at the moment.

Ken:

The interview is officially finished now and I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed it.

Nick Pope

I enjoyed it too.

—————————————————————————————————————————-

References:

The Disclosure Project – A group of concerned people from all walks of life that are trying to get the US government to release all ufo data and alien technology, if any.

Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident – In December of 1980, a ufo landed in the woods outside an air force base in Britain, It was manned by Americans who saw the craft and investigated the landing along with the British.

Project Blue Book – An Air force project to explain ufo sightings.

Gordon Williams – A British General that was rumored to have said that he talked to aliens during the Rendlesham Forest incident.

Malmstrom Air Force Base – in 1967 a ufo was over this US base in Montana when several missiles were taken off line unexpectedly.

Giorgio Bongiovanni – An Italian who was allowed to interview a Russian General about ufos. The KGB were also present.

Bob Lazar – A person who claims to have been an engineer at Area 51 who said he saw a ufo there and was employed to reverse engineer them.

Shag Harbor – A ufo incident that occurred in Canada in 1967 where a ufo was said to have crashed into the water only to be followed by a second one.

Gary McKinnon – A famous British hacker that hacked into NASA and the US military. He was caught and claimed that he found important secret ufo data.

Remote Viewing – A technique that was used during the cold war by the US, Britain and the Soviet Union to see into places while remaining at a location. It was said to have no limit as far as distance was concerned.

Jamie Maussan – A famous Mexican tv news reporter that specializes in ufo reporting.

Area 51 – A secret US Air Force Base.

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Kenneth McCormick

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Ken is the webmaster of About Facts Net ( http://aboutfacts.net ) a popular, free, internet magazine web site. The site contains hundreds of articles on all different, interesting subjects that are often accompanied by photos, video or audio. The magazine is suitable for viewing by the entire family.

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