Ebay Scam · Seller "intermusic_com"/"user140405"
Tom Ceni of Intermusic illegally sells copies of copyrighted fingering charts on the Ebay auction site
April 17, 2005
I have written this statement to alert future Ebay buyers of fingering charts to avoid a seller who is illegally plagiarizing, distributing, and selling copies of copyrighted online fingering charts, including fingering charts from this web site, the Woodwind Fingering Guide (http://www.wfg.woodwind.org/). I have purchased a copy of each fingering chart to which I will refer so that I can ensure the accuracy of this statement.
Originally using the user name "intermusic_com", seller
"user140405" sells electronic copies of fingering charts for flute, piccolo, oboe, alto saxophone, and clarinet on the United Kingdom version of the Ebay auction site. The fingering charts are also available on Ebay sites for other countries. Once a buyer has purchased one of these fingering charts for £0.99, user140405 emails the fingering chart to the buyer from the address intermusic4music@aol.com.
The fingering charts are sent in HTML format and include direct links to and copied formatting from material on the two web sites. Images load directly from the web sites because the HTML formatting links to the remote images. The flute, piccolo, oboe, and alto saxophone fingering charts are each illegal copies of the corresponding Basic Fingering Charts on the Woodwind Fingering Guide. The clarinet fingering chart is an illegal copy of Linda Swihart's clarinet fingering chart (mirrored with permission at http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/Study/FingeringCharts/bbfinger.html, formerly at her site http://www.biochem.purdue.edu/~swihart/bbfinger.htm). The emailed fingering charts are each signed:
Kind Regards
Tom Ceni
Intermusic
Buyers who have noted this copyright infringement and poor salesmanship on Tom Ceni's seller feedback page often receive very negative feedback on their own buyer feedback pages. Tom Ceni prefers to insult these buyers rather than take responsibility for his illegal sales. Tom Ceni has also been known to lie about the validity of the fingering charts that he sells. On April 13, 2005, Tom Ceni replied to feedback from "exhibitlink" by claiming that the "Charts are not stolen - the site is connected to us.", referring to the Woodwind Fingering Guide. The truth is that there is no connection between Tom Ceni and either me or the Woodwind Fingering Guide, and the charts are indeed stolen.
I, the webmaster of the Woodwind Fingering Guide, own the copyright to the material on the Woodwind Fingering Guide and have not authorized Tom Ceni to plagiarize, distribute, nor sell any portion of my web site. Correspondence with Linda Swihart confirms that she has given no such authorization either for his sales of her clarinet fingering chart.
Buyers who have purchased fingering charts from Tom Ceni of Intermusic are encouraged to report the seller's illegal activities through Ebay and to demand a full refund of their money.
Potential buyers of Tom Ceni's fingering chart should note that the same material (as well as other, more detailed fingering charts) is available legally and for free on the web at the Woodwind Fingering Guide web site and at woodwind.org (here the clarinet fingering chart is mirrored with permission).
Timothy Reichard
Webmaster, The Woodwind Fingering Guide
http://www.wfg.woodwind.org/
