Book piracy and the Cockrill series 29 to 32

If you own any of the 4 books I wrote on Nigerian Postal History there is a fairly good chance that you have a pirated copy!

 The four books were:

1.      Cockrill Series - No. 29, “The Stamps and Postal History of the Niger Territories and the Niger Coast Protectorate”.

2.      Cockrill Series - No. 30, “The Local Bisects & Surcharges of the Oil Rivers and Niger Coast, 1893-1894”.

3.      Cockrill Series - No. 31, “The Stamps and Postal History of Southern Nigeria”.

4.      Cockrill Series - No. 32, “The Stamps and Postal History of Northern Nigeria”.

The only copies that are genuine are those that identify Philip Cockrill as the publisher and that have my former address in Somerset on the back cover. All other copies were produced entirely without my knowledge or consent. There never has been an “authorized reprint” by Mervyn Todd – or indeed by anybody else - of any of these books. 

In the High Court of Justice Chancery Division on 20 September 2013 the long running dispute between Mr Mervyn Todd and Mr Martin Nicholson in respect of the so-called "authorized reprints" of Cockrill booklets #29, 30, 31 and 32 was resolved. 

Mr Todd paid an agreed sum to Mr Nicholson for compensation and costs. Mr Todd also "acknowledges that Mr Nicholson was, is and remains the copyright holder of the four books."

I thought the judge was very patient with Mr Todd and his total lack of knowledge of copyright law! 

Amusingly Mr Todd subsequently tried to save face by claiming, “…  we mutually agreed that neither of us could prove copyright convincingly …” . This is entirely untrue. 

If you do have a pirated copy I would be grateful if you would email me with details of where and when it was purchased.