A Letter to WSCC Club members

[moomin]

Dear Mr Westmore,

With regards to your letter to WSCC club members. As a member, herein follows my personal response.

I find your tone somewhat aggressive, particularly with respect to our club chairman. I expect you will find that the majority of club members are more than happy, indeed positively grateful, with the work the chairman (and other committee members) puts in on our behalf.  And in this respect I expect most would resent your implications made against him in your letter; "a CLUB is there for it's members and NOT for it's chairman's personal benefit". I doubt there is a single member of the club who shares your sentiment, indeed, who would remain a member of a club if they felt that way?  I fear your comments are somewhat misguided.

I think you will find that the chairman (as nominated representative of the club) was acting in the interests of the club as a whole.  The club is a company in its own right, and therefore it is at risk itself if it is seen to be involved in any potentially non-legal situations.  In the case of your previous thread, the legal standpoint of your product offerings was unclear, and as such the chairman moved appropriately to close the thread.  In my opinion this was the sensible and correct thing to do.

I appreciate your explanation of the situation with regard to your product and it's legality.  My personal area of expertise is IT, so I am in no position to question your statements of legality, and will take them as read.  In your letter you outline your proposal to contact Westfield Sportscars, which seems an appropriate approach to me, since they are legal owners of the copyright of the design of Westfield sports cars (as I understand it).

If people are genuinely interested in your offer, then the small matter of a thread being closed on the forum will not prevent them persuing a purchase, and should not be of great concern to you. It is up to you to market your products appropriately - however I fear your comments here today are not helping your case with the wider club population.

Remeber this is an open forum, although it is funded by club members, and therefore any views expressed are those of individuals. Indeed it is for this very reason that you are able to express your own. A view posted by the club chairman can be considered representative of the club as a whole, if the chairman desires to post his own view, I have little doubt he will do so, as himself.

Regards,

David Hackett

[Bananaman]

Seems to me like Mr Westmore has got the wrong end of the stick BIG style....

The Club Chairman was only protecting the CLUB & enforcing the rules of this boardroom for the benefit of THE CLUB MEMBERS, as he always does for no payment....

I feel that attacking OUR chairman is VERY I'll advised if Mr Westmore wants to sell his products to WSCC members.

Maybe he was having a bad day.

Please don't let this get out of hand, maybe an apology from Mr Westmore could get us back on track & we can all get on with our business as usual.

[Club Secretary (Reserve)]

Dear Simon.

Some facts.

Commercial advertising is STRICTLY PROHIBITED on this bulletin board. By signing on with a user name and password, you agreed to be bound by the rules, and you are in clear breach of those rules. The line on the rules page that you seem to be keen to ignore is:

Please do not post any commercial adverts, all commercial postings will be removed.

I believe it is clear, and unequivocal.

As has been pointed out by "The Bear", The Club Chairman was merely offering comment on the potential issues you might face if you have copied certain design elements from a Westfield vehicle. As you rightly point out, there may be no issues arising at all, but we feel that it is only right and proper that Westfield Sportscars be contacted before moulds are taken, to ensure that there is no damage to their business, and no infringement of their copyright or IP has taken place. This action will not damage your company, but show it to have a responsible attitude to a potential "corporate" customer (Westfield Sports cars Ltd), and it's customer base (us).

It was also suggested to me that a CLUB is there for it's members and NOT for it's chairman's personal benefit.

Correct. To suggest that Mr Stanton may gain personal benefit other than enjoyment of the Club and it's activities from his voluntary work with the WSCC is defamatory, and may be libellous. ALL Committee members are unpaid volunteers, and the Club is run as an essentially non profit making organisation.

You have just annoyed just about everyone who has shown an interest in our products, ( I know this because I have been contacted by many of them)

Nothing could be further from the truth. We were delighted when member DaveM proposed that it may be possible to get some parts made for Westfields. This happens with plenty of members and other companies. We call them "Bulk Buys". As long as it is controlled by a Club member, and there is no commercial advertising on the Bulletin Board by an "outside" company, then we are happy for companies to benefit from our members patronage. However, it is the commercial advertising nature of your contributions to this Bulletin Board which we do not allow.

We may look into setting up a forum of our own for Westy's as one of our investors was the founder of a £60m internet company. He could do this in his sleep.

Feel free. We are not against competiton.

Finally, if you still feel the need to engage in legal proceedings, please have your solicitors write to either myself, or the Club Chairman. Our addresses are available from the "Contacts" link on the home page, which is www.wscc.co.uk.

For our part, we are happy for you to continue to post as an expert in the field of carbon fibre technology, and we are sure that our members would value your input as an expert in this area. However, we WILL NOT tolerate commercial advertising, in accordance with our rules by which you have agreed to be bound.

I trust this has made our position clear.

Thank you.

Mark Hall

WSCC Club Secretary