A few days ago a letter was written by myself with regartd to the fake Hetchins issue to Mark Joynt, the owner of this business venture. I questioned the propriety, honesty and right to produce frames under to Hetchin's trademark. So far no reply has been sent by Mr. Joynt. This is a reply that was received from Flash of the Hetchin's Homepage after I wrote to him about my letter to Mr. Joynt.
Dear Pete,
Thanks for your letters. Andrew Moore is the only one I know who has had a reply from Mark Joynt. Hetchins soliciters and Clive Rodell have told him in no uncertain terms that he is in breach of trademark laws, but so far as I know Joynt has not replied to them either. I have no legal resources to pursue the breach of copyright (he stole a GIF file from my web site), so all I can do is simply tell the truth that he is a plagiarist and a scoundrel.
I believe market forces will drive him out. Example: a few weeks ago two Hetchins MagOpuses were offered for sale at ebay. One was a genuine Hetchins (I have seen it live) and the other was one of Mark Joynt's replicas. Visits to my web site soared that week and I posted a warning at my web site that the second one was a replica. The result was that the real Hetchins sold for well more than the reserve price, whereas the fake one was withdrawn without having come anywhere near its reserve price.
As David Miller said to me, if Joynt thinks he can muscle into this tiny and eccentric market of devotees and make a profit at it, his business judgement is dubious. Miller himself is not making a living at it.
Congratulations on the new acquisitions. I myself have closed a deal to acquire a 1952 Experto in mint condition. Will pick it up in UK next summer.
The new web site at http://www.hetchins.org is not yet quite online; will be in a week or so.
Regards,
Flash