Copyright Theft
Perhaps we should be flattered by the number of people including dealers who continually infringe our IP (Intellectual Property) rights by using our copyright images, but we do not find it amusing, and will take legal action against any copyright thieves.Goldline International Inc of Santa Monica California (goldline.com)
What's Wrong?
Goldline have used a number of our high quality copyright coin photographs on their website without our permission. They also include a copyright sign on their pages implying that they are the owners of the Intellectual Property Rights of the material contained on that page. In other words, they are claiming they own our copyright.Apart from being dishonest, this may also give some web viewers the mistaken impression that we (a smallish UK company) have used Goldline's (a large US company) photographs.
As they are such a large dealer, we gave them a second page showing them stealing our Russian ruble photographs .
Pirated Photographs
We noted the following of our photographs which Goldline have used:- 2001 Gold Proof Five Pound Crown
They have used the obverse photo which they labelled "Front".
Their filename for this is "2001fivepoundcrownvictorianeragoldproofobv400.jpg", which happens to be our filename. Their image is only 250 x 250 pixels, our original was 400 x 400. - 1984 Brilliant Uncirculated Five Pound Coin
Goldline have labelled this "5 Pounds Proof 1980-1997".
It is in fact the obverse of a 1984 Brilliant Uncirculated Five Pound Coin, not a proof. - 2001 Brilliant Uncirculated Five Pounds (Quintuple Sovereign)
They incorrectly labelled this is the "Back" of "GREAT BRITAIN 2 and 5 POUNDS PROOF". It is clearly not a proof coin, and clearly not the reverse of the other photograph.
Their filename is "001fivepoundbugoldrev400_0.jpg"whereas the filename of our original photo is 2001fivepoundbugoldrev400.jpg". Their photo is 250 x 250 pixels, our original was 400 x 400. - Gold Russian 5 Ruble
Goldline have used our photographs of an 1899 Russian gold 5 rouble coin. Their filenames are identical to ours!
This could just be a staggering coincidence, especially as our filename prefix ends in 400 to denote its width in pixels, and they have retained the 400 even though their image is only 250 x 250 pixels. - More to Follow
via their website, claim:
Goldline International - Buy Gold Coins - Largest U.S. Gold Dealers
Buy gold from Goldline, one of the most trusted gold dealers in the US Learn more about buying gold coins, gold investment information, and gold price news ...
For 50 years, Goldline International has served precious metals investors and collectors with a full range of products, including gold, silver and platinum coins and bars, numismatic and collectible coins, and rare currency.
Goldline products are delivered direct to your door or stored in a secure, independent facility. Goldline offers a unique Price Guarantee Program which can help protect you from short-term price changes.
Whether you're an investor looking to diversify your portfolio or a seasoned collector seeking to establish a unique collection, Goldline's personal Account Executives will assist you in learning about the wide array of precious metal products we offer.
© 2010 Goldline International, Inc.
Their Front Page Headers & Links Say:
Buy Gold
A step-by-step guide to getting started
FAQ
Answers to your questionsGold & Silver
Catalog and prices of coins, bullion, bars, and gifts.Knowledge Center
Current gold prices, gold in the
news and industry researchAbout Goldline
Why choose Goldline, news
and testimonials
Their Front Page Flash Animation States:
National Recognition
Inc.
No 53 in the top 100 companies in the Inc 500 Revue Los Angeles Business Journal Recognised by the LA Business Journal
as the 37th largest private company headquartered in Los Angeles"A Top Notch organisation"
- Glenn Beck
Credibility
Learn why Glenn Beck , Mark Levin,
Fred Thompson, and Laura Ingraham
Trust and use Goldline for their gold.Goldline
50
Years of Excellence
1960 - 2010
A Solid Reputation
We're proud of our A+ reputation with
the Better Business Bureau and
50 Year History.
See all of the reasons you should choose Goldline.Live Radio show
American
Advisor
News and insights on personal finance.
the economy and precious metals.
Click to listen live over the internet and view show schedule.Knowledgeable Account Executives
Dedicated Representatives and in-house numismatic experts.
Discover why clients choose Goldline
Trusted?
The quote "one of the most trusted gold dealers in the US" does not appear in the source code of their homepage, yet Google reports it as though it were Goldline's "Description" tag, we can only assume this is some fancy web design to optimise search engine performance, or possible as a subliminal advertising, after all most people seem to trust Google, and any such recommendation comes better from a third party than from the advertiser's own mouth.They make quite a feature of their testimonials page, listing about 79 instances of praise, however without much effort, we also found about 26,900 results when we Googled "goldline.com scam", and we only did that because Google suggested it as a popular search term. Some of the sites found were complaining about Timeshares Goldline.Com or Goldline Systems. If we get enough time, we will try to work out how many of the reported Google results actually relate to Goldline.Com.
Thepissedoffconsumer.com had at least one page full of complaints about them.
Goldline Ripoff was the name of just one YouTube video.
Weiner Report
Rep. Anthony Weiner targets Glenn Beck and Goldline International
By KENNETH P. VOGEL | 5/18/10 12:22 PM EDT Politico.com
Talk show host Glenn Beck and Goldline International, a California-based gold retailer, have colluded to use fear mongering tactics to bilk investors, according to a stinging report issued Tuesday by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.).
The report alleges that Goldline grossly overcharges for the gold coins that constitute the bulk of its business, uses misleading sales techniques and takes advantage of fears about President Barack Obama’s stewardship of the economy – which are stoked by its stable of paid conservative endorsers including Beck, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham and Fred Thompson – “to cheat consumers.”
Goldline is the exclusive gold sponsor of Beck's radio show. But, as POLITICO detailed in December, a number of gold selling companies pay other conservative commentators as sponsors and also advertise on a variety of conservative talk radio shows, as well as Fox News, which airs Beck’s television program.
“Goldline rips off consumers, uses misleading and possibly illegal sales tactics, and deliberately manipulates public fears of an impending government takeover – this is a trifecta of terrible business practices,” said Weiner. He said a December report in POLITICO report prompted his scrutiny of Goldline.
“This industry goes beyond Goldline, but the Goldline circle has been particularly cynical in its cultivation of these conservative commentators,” he said. “There are two industries that are intertwined here in this cynical play: the media industry and the online gold industry, and there is a lot of blame to go around.”
As for Beck, Weiner asserted he “should be ashamed of himself.”
A member of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, Weiner said he plans this week to introduce legislation to require Goldline and other precious metal retailers to fully disclose all their fees, how much the price of gold would need to rise in order for their customers' investments to yield a profit, and the purchase price, melt value and resale value of the metal that constitutes their products. And he called on the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the Federal Trade Commission to investigate “the shady business practices conducted by Goldline International.”
Goldline president and CEO Mark Albarian said Weiner is targeting the company because of its relationship with Beck, the popular conservative radio and television talk show host who has drawn rebukes from the White House for his scathing attacks on Obama.
“It feels like it’s politically motivated in that neither the Congressman nor anybody from his office ever contacted executives form the company to really ask the important questions that they need to ask to understand this business,” said Albarian, adding Weiner “doesn’t get” the gold retail business. The congressman’s report, Albarian asserted, seems driven by “our relationship with Glenn Beck, which we are very happy with.”
On his radio show Tuesday Beck teed off on Weiner, pointing out that his newly hired press secretary until recently worked at Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog that Beck has attacked in the past for its repeated criticisms of his ethics and integrity, including over his gold sponsorships. On Tuesday, Beck accused Weiner of leveling a politically motivated attack on Beck and Goldline at the behest of the Obama administration...
$500 Million Annual Sales
Goldline proudly proclaims its size, which must help reassure potential customers that they are dealing with an established company.We ask why such a big company should be such cheapskates that they resort to stealing our high quality coin photographs on their impressive website. Surely they can afford to employ a professional photographer to take photos for them? Stealing our images may give a valuable clue as to the general ethics of Goldline.
We would not trust them as far as we could throw them.
Numismatic Experts?
We doubt it, and will follow up here with our reasons.Domain Lookup
Registrant:
Goldline International, inc
1601 Cloverfield Boulevard
100 South Tower
Santa Monica, California 90404
United States
Domain Name: GOLDLINE.COM
Created on: 21-May-97
Expires on: 22-May-13
Last Updated on: 30-Apr-10
Administrative Contact:
Fazio, Robert webmaster@goldline.com
Goldline International, inc
1601 Cloverfield Boulevard
100 South Tower
Santa Monica, California 90404
United States
+1.8773762646 Fax -- +1.3103190265
Technical Contact:
Fazio, Robert webmaster@goldline.com
Goldline International, inc
1601 Cloverfield Boulevard
100 South Tower
Santa Monica, California 90404
United States
+1.8773762646 Fax -- +1.3103190265
Domain servers in listed order:
NS10.DNSMADEEASY.COM
NS11.DNSMADEEASY.COM
NS12.DNSMADEEASY.COM
NS13.DNSMADEEASY.COM
NS14.DNSMADEEASY.COM
NS15.DNSMADEEASY.COM
"Goldline International, inc" owns about 1,966 other domainsEmail Search: webmaster@goldline.com is associated with about 1,964 domains
Copyright Notice Please see our "Copyright" page for further information.
Copyright Infringements Remedies Our suggested draft remedies for copyright abusers dependent on category - competitors, bloggers, pseudo-expert & advice sites acting as eBay & Google portals, eBay & other auction site sellers.
Our Images
We have shown two of our own images so that you can compare.Our Opinion
We have a very low opinion of other dealers who steal our images, and use them to compete with us. It is dishonest. We could sue these people, possibly for thousands of dollars, but it costs time and money, and even though we would win and be awarded costs, we might not be able to recover the costs if the copyright thieves turned out to be impecunious or insolvent. That's why we have decided to give these crooks some free advertising our our website, something which we do not normally provide even for payment.Rare Coin Investment Pushers
We mention Goldline in our Rare Gold Coins as an Investmentpage as one of many US dealers who try to push colectors and investors to higher margin "rare" coins instead of bullion.
Goldline International Crooks? Not only do Goldline steal some of their best coin photographs from us, they also treat their customers as suckers.
Baird of London Goldline (goldline.co.uk)
Is there any connection between the two goldlines?
Yes, they both use coin photographs pirated from our websites!
Other Web Sites
All comments about copyright also cover content of all our other websites including, but not limited to:-- Chards
www.chards.co.uk - Investment Gold Bars & Coins (This Site)
taxfreegold.co.uk - General Coins & Jewellery:
www.24carat.co.uk - Gold Sovereigns:
goldsovereigns.co.uk - 18 Carat Gold Jewellery:
www.18carat.co.uk - 9 Carat Gold Jewellery:
www.9carat.co.uk
400.jpg)
Goldline International Inc goldline.com Great Britain 2 and 5 Pounds Proof Page
Our Images
Reverse of 2001 Brilliant Uncirculated Five Pound Coin
Obverse of 1984 Brilliant Uncirculated Five Pound Coin
Obverse of 2001 Queen Mother Centenary Gold Proof Five Pound Crown
32 - 36 Harrowside, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY4 1RJ, England. Telephone (44) - (0) 1253 - 343081; Fax 408058;
E-mail: Contact Us The URL for our main page is: taxfreegold.co.uk