When the Sun shines in!

Ovi magazine, Copycats and Nokia

First of all, we want to thank reporters, journalists and bloggers because they are the only ones who have seen what Mr. Nikula missed and hopefully the legal department of Nokia Corporation will not ignore. Mr. Nikula unethically ignored that there was already an Ovi magazine in Finland that had been well-established since December 2004 well before he ever created his copycat.

Read the original story here: http://ovimagazine.com/art/926

The fact that there is an internet link with the same name was a major clue, plus when he was forced to choose a name like Ovi dash something. Actually he missed that there is Ovi Lehti, Ovi Sanomat, Ovi Junior, Ovi Cartoons, Ovi iKritic, Ovi-magazine, Ovi stories, Ovi iBite and many others that belong to Ovi magazine and are registered to Chameleon Project, never forget the Ovi Bad Boys weekly radio show that is announced to all the Finnish newspapers and magazine; none of which are for sale. Fortunately reporters and bloggers did notice and they are aware of the major ethical injustice.

We like to emphasize this ‘not for sale’ because the Ovi magazine is not just an internet magazine but it is an idea with a heart and soul that hosts from its establishment in 2004 the ideals of democracy, freedom of speech and the exchange of opinion. Human rights, domestic abuse, the plight of children have been among just a few of the worthy causes we have championed, while simultaneously offering a platform for the work of new writers and illustrators, from Finland and from all around the world. That makes us a universal family that cannot be estimated in money.

Unfortunately, through leaks to the press, we discovered that Mr. Nikula is negotiating the sale of his copycat magazine and the Ovi trademark to Nokia Corporation. We trust that this is just a wishful thought and that Nokia Corporation will search a little bit better as to what is going on behind the name Ovi magazine.

Our four years of hard work advocating freedom of speech was recognised and rewarded by Newropeans, while we have had cooperation with many national and international magazines, such as Ydin magazine, Europe & Us, Agenda magazine, Books from Finland, EU-MAN, Free magazine, Newropeans-Magazine, OneWorld, Psihadi magazine and more. We have relationships with Non-Governmental Organizations, such as Reporters without Frontiers and Finland's International Cultural Center CAISA, and the site receives well-over 20,000 visitors a week - the numbers literally increase day after day. We are considered a well-established magazine and trademark internationally and Ovi magazine has been reference for hundreds of sites and blogs from all around the world.

We have always believed that this was an issue of ethics should it ever come to a court house – where, as we are well-informed by experts, we can easily win the case – and it comes as a surprise that, according to leaks to the press, some representative of the Nokia Corporation said that they had never heard of us. It is a simple enough task for them to Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves or whatever else to locate the name Ovi and then find us straight away. Of course we didn’t financially invest in the promotion and push of Ovi magazine, like an international corporation can do, but the thousands of articles, the thousands of links and references to our work, even from Wikipedia and most of all the thousands readers keep us on the top in every search engine.

The fact that the copycats of the printed Ovi magazine ignored us, despite the fact that we could open a case anytime demanding a large percentage of their profits, which they knew, doesn’t excuse an international corporation like Nokia maintaining the same attitude. We are expecting their telephone call before investigating our legal rights on what they plan to pay the copycat because we want to know whether it is true and not a wishful greedy act of somebody who wants to increase his lost popularity.

It has been a justifiable question as to why we didn’t take the case to the court. From the very first moment, other than the support that came from every side and every corner of Finland including employees of the certain magazine, we believed that there is justice that punishes the unethical and the failure of the magazine from its second issue to reach anybody in Finland was proof.

Regarding the money behind this case, we believe that the people who read this magazine and have seen the path we have followed and the fights we have given over the last four years for democracy, for justice, against poverty and have realized the hours, the effort and the financial cost we have put in this magazine will know in their heart of hearts whether we are after the money!

The Ovi Team

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With Yiannis