Ceci n'est pas un blog

Last year I helped an ex-colleague of mine debug a problem with identifiying objects passed to a function in an iframe using the instanceof operator. The problem was that Microsoft Internet Explorer didn't give the expected results and we had to code our way around it. I've been wondering ever since about when theory and practice coincide, and so I created a testcase and tested whether the instanceof operator works as it should.

Yesterday was a fun day. I got up, checked my email, and found this interesting one from somebody called "Compliance". Behind that name you'll find Nikken UK Ltd's Compliance Department, and they wanted to tell me that I wasn't allowed to market Nikken's products on the internet. If you can read Swedish the complete email is found in Jarle's blog entry about it since he's actually the one supposed to get it.

I had a slight problem understanding why they thought my name was Jarle and how on earth "My Nikken Encounter" could be called "marketing Nikken's products". Not only were they referring to an earlier entry in Jarle's blog, but they also referred to my writeup. And they asked me to remove all information I've written about Nikken by February 11.

I forwarded a copy of it to Jarle since he was obviously an intended recipient, and then I wrote a reply to Nikken telling them that I wasn't Jarle, that what I had written can hardly be called "marketing", and that they could mail me back with any specific errors in what I have written.

I got a reply before the end of the day explaining that the Cease & Desist email was meant to be to Jarle. They didn't say they were sorry they had asked me to remove all my writings and they didn't say they were sorry they hadn't researched a bit more and figured out who I am. I'm quite happy that I never intended to comply to their request since if I did, all my writings would now have been removed even though they never intended to ask me to do that.

As I'm a bit delayed in writing about this it's been mentioned in other blogs as well. Jarle has of course got Nikken Bullies with a few comments. It's also mentioned by Anders Jacobsen, Bob, Remco, Arve and Elf.

[Update 2004-01-29: Added link to Elf's blog]

As I mentioned yesterday, Nikken emailed Jarle D. Bergersen and me asking us to remove all our writings about Nikken by February 11.

Their response to my reply was seemingly that they were not concerned with my writings at all, although they did not state it specifically. Instead they want two comments to Jarle's entry Nikken in his Norwegian blog deleted. He's currently keeping his English blog updated with how the case develops, read the latest about it in his Nikken Update.

I'll be sending Nikken's Compliance department another email today asking them to dismiss the cease & desist request in my case, and once I get a reply I'll update the blog.