Misappropriation - dishonestly or unfairly take for one's own use

'Misappropriate' - dishonestly or unfairly take for one's own use (Oxford Dictionary)

It has been brought to my attention that an individual has misappropriated numerous images from posts in this blog in order to promote himself and his school.

This blog was initiated in response to enormous interest in the Jan de Jong story, particularly from those that were/are a part of that story. Based on feedback received, the material posted on this blog has been well received.

As has been stated in previous posts, this blog has become a lighting rod for others to share their memories about their time with Jan de Jong and some have kindly shared photographs of those times and given me permission to share those with the larger Jan de Jong community through this blog.

The abovementioned individual went to a great deal of effort to misappropriate those photographs in order to post them on his school's Facebook page without acknowledging their source. He copied numerous photographs and images from numerous posts on this blog in order to then post them on his Facebook page and in some instances comment on them, all without acknowledging their source or gaining permission to reproduce those photographs.

J.H.G. Smits based a lot of his chapter on Jan de Jong in his Naverteld verleden: Jiujitsu in het verzet in Nederland 1940-1945 on the material from this blog. Before doing so, the author requested permission and acknowledged the source of that material in his book. I nor any of the contributors to this blog have any problems with being associated with the greater Jan de Jong story, however, we do have a problem with material being misappropriated by an individual in order to promote himself and his school.

Others have shared the posts from this blog on their Facebook page and webpages. I have no problem with that and neither do the contributors to this blog. Those same people are not happy that this individual is misappropriating their photographs in order to promote himself and his school.

This misappropriation of photographs and images is all the more disappointing because the perpetrator is associated with Jan de Jong, albeit very remotely. This individual had very little contact with Jan de Jong when he was alive and was awarded all of his senior grades through an offshoot school after Jan de Jong had passed away. This misappropriation and misrepresentation is disappointing because it is definitely not in the tradition of Jan de Jong.

Technically this would not appear to be a breach of copyright law, however, it definitely infringes upon the spirit of that law. The legal advice is to initially contact the offender and provide them with an opportunity of amending their error.

I have contacted this individual on numerous occasions to point out this 'mistake' and eventually to request those images be removed because he did not attempt to address the issue. I informed said individual that he could, as others have done, share the blog posts in their entirety on his Facebook page. The individual has not bothered to respond to those messages nor to address the issue.

I apologise to the contributors to this blog whose photographs and images have been misappropriated by this individual. I have not named this individual at this point in time as would be Jan de Jong's process, however, I will do so if he continues in this manner. I urge this individual to refrain from this type of behaviour, attempting to profit of my work and the generosity of former members, as it is unbefitting for someone who purports to be a part of the Jan de Jong tradition.