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Author Topic: Has any one seen THIS in an extortion letter before? Courtesy of Deboer IP  (Read 6923 times)

Amanda

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After being even more educated about all these extortion schemes, I thought it was time to share this. I haven't seen this in any of the commentary about John Deboer here on ELI and Getty, it's secondary companies, and its thug lawyers including the Copyright Cow Patty (sorry couldn't resist) hasn't even resorted to this level shakedown in their settlement demand letters based on unproven accusations and empty threats, but if they have I would like to know. I will be going public about this and some other things soon. I think he royally screwed up. Of course he didn't anticipate on me researching and getting educated.

What I am sharing in this thread is on the very last page after all the usual rhetoric of the run-of-the-mill extortion letter. The typical shakedown rhetoric is scary enough, but this adds an extra flair and saves the best for last. This attorney is from Texas, so he likes to go big, I guess. So he is a Texas-sized asshat with a ten gallon hat to match. I mean no harm or detriment to anyone from Texas or any disrespect to any cowboys who live there  ;).

Here is my first post and story about Deboer letter: http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/my-very-own-deboer-ip-extortion-letter-from-john-m-doboer/

Robert, I know you wanted to see the whole letter for review and any of my research you may want to see. Let me know how I can send it to you if you are interested.

Greg, if you would also like a copy of the letter and my research for your review, please let me know.

I had also tried to get in touch with Oscar back in March and April, but he was really busy and on a case. I have already sent things to his office (not sure he ever got himself) and talked with his staff in trying to get on the Defense Letter Program, but no one ever got back with me, and I was never billed-- no harm no foul. I didn't pursue the matter since I haven't heard from Deboer anymore as of the time of this writing. I know from other threads that he (Oscar) has dealt with Deboer in the past. If you think I should try to contact Oscar again or if any of you talk with him on a consistent basis tell him about this thread and/or help me get in touch with him.

So basically in addition to usual threats of the statutory damages, costs of getting a lawyer, costs of litigation, etc, Deboer wants to put a subpoena of all my property for a nice little cherry on top in the event it went to court. Of course, if I didn't pay the settlement (once I reviewed and researched thoroughly and found out it was a scam) or respond (which I did and he never responded back), then...the same ole thing--inevitable/likely litigation. He has a history of subpoenaing the crap out of people. This guy loves a good subpoena! Reminds me of the crap from RIAA, MPAA, and Prenda if you ask me when they did that to people.

http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/historical/425/ (against Amazon)
http://www.authoreyez.com/2015/04/512h-dmca-subpoena.html (against Authroeyez an IP blog)

Here is Page 8 of my letter for your viewing pleasure (what I referred to as "threatening language" in addition to the usually threatening language of trolling letters. Name of my company has been removed):

NOTICE TO PRESERVE DOCUMENTS AND DATA

[My Company] is on notice that, without resolving the matter, litigation in civil court is
likely regarding its actions concerning Client’s copyrighted materials. [My Company] is
now obligated and has a duty to preserve all evidence that may be relevant to the
dispute discussed above and that may be the subject of pending litigation. This duty of
preservation extends to, but is not limited to, data files, e-mails, calendars, telephone
logs, access lists, and logs that are located on [My Company] computer networks, e-mail
servers, mainframes, individual computer workstations, and external drives, or are
located on any of those devices within [My Company] control but not owned by [My Company], such as its web host. Specifically, but not exclusively, [My Company] is on notice
that it must preserve all evidence of all its uses of Client’s copyrighted materials.

[My Company] is required by law to suspend any practice, even a normal or routine
practice that might purge, delete, or overwrite any electronic document or other
evidence, including database matter and related structural information, files remnants,
residual and hidden data. This duty extends to [My Company] employees and agents.

We request that [My Company] notify any such employee or agent of this retention
request immediately. This duty also extends to the preservation of replaced
computers, hard drives, and other storage media. If [My Company] backs up its
computer drives, it must preserve the back-up files, as well. This office requests that
[My Company] presently back up and archive any documents, including e-mails and all
 [My Company] communications, between [My Company] and all other persons and
entities that relate to Client’s copyrighted materials. It is also requested that [My Company] suspend any act or practice that would cause de-fragmentation, compression, or
reformatting of those hard drives.

Sanctions for violating any of the foregoing duties can be severe and include
substantial monetary sanctions, adverse inferences in evidentiary rulings, and the
entry of judgments by default. It is the hope of this office that this matter be resolved
without unnecessary litigation. The above duties, however, must be satisfied during
any settlement or other discussions that may occur.[/i]

Of course I know I have nothing too worry about. There is nothing to retain as it wasn't used in email or anything, just on the website. All this over one image? Come on now. Of course I have found fatal errors in his case which I won't share in public until my SOL runs out (March 2018). Wouldn't you say that this kind of action is a little extreme based on unproven accusations of willful, flagrant infringement that he can never prove (I can prove that I didn't)? If anything at the most, would be innocent infringement at the worst. I didn't do any of the things he accuses me of without proof in the letter. I could go on, but I'll park it there.

Let me know what you guys think.

stinger

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Lawyers love to use word processors to cut and paste things into documents.  Write it once, cut and paste it forever.

For my two cents that probably looks a lot like the legal verbiage that Hillary Clinton (allegedly) ignored when doing State Department business on her personal email account.  :)

Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Amanda,

Yes, I would like a copy of the letter.  You can send it to GregTroy at CABALaw.org.  Thanks!
Every situation is unique, any advice or opinions I offer are given for your consideration only. You must decide what is best for you and your particular situation. I am not a lawyer and do not offer legal advice.

--Greg Troy

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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and greg can forward it to me! ; ) Maybe I'll sit down and right a nice post about DeBoer IP, and give that douchebag some FREE SEO. I've been itching lately to stir the pot anyway.
Most questions have already been addressed in the forums, get yourself educated before making decisions.

Any advice is strictly that, and anything I may state is based on my opinions, and observations.
Robert Krausankas

I have a few friends around here..

Amanda

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@ Stinger that cracks me up!  ;D I could only imagine. Reading the whole letter with him wearing out my company name was painful to read.

@Greg Sent! I hope it arrived OK.

@ Robert I can't wait for your post! Please post it here when you're done so I can read it and link to it when I go public soon. I'll wait. If you make a picture of a 10 gallon Asshat or something funny I would like to hotlink to it and give you full credit.

Thanks so much for your support! I will keep coming back and contribute soon!  :)

Amanda

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I also got in touch with Oscar about this, and he's also on board. So the more of the lovely ELI people, the better!  ;)

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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This douchecanoe John Deboer is a member of the Texas Bar Association ( https://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Find_A_Lawyer&template=/Customsource/MemberDirectory/MemberDirectoryDetail.cfm&ContactID=310218) he is not admitted in any other state, therefore he cannot sue you in your home state, and add to that that the copyright holder is in Colorado also adds to the situation. I found the image available for sale in print format for as little as $45.00, so they have certainly "devalued" this image IMHO.. there isn't much difference between decorating your office with a print where 10000 people a month may walk by it, while it hangs in a lobby, or if 1000 visitors to your site seeing id decorate a page.. surely a judge would consider this...any whoozle I'll be doing a post at some point..
Most questions have already been addressed in the forums, get yourself educated before making decisions.

Any advice is strictly that, and anything I may state is based on my opinions, and observations.
Robert Krausankas

I have a few friends around here..

Amanda

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Thanks for the extra info, Robert! Can't wait to see that post. The photographers also sell that image on their website for 99 cents as a puzzle download.

It would be nice to tell the Texas Bar that he likes to add some fraud, racketeering, and abuse of power with his extortion :P

 

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