Analyzing Masterfile's Lawsuit History

[Matthew Chan]

In researching Masterfile, I was referred to Justia.com and ultimately got sucked into spending $80 worth of downloaded Masterfile documents tonight from 2010 and 2011.  I have uploaded about 60% of them so far with quite a bit more to come.  (Yes, it costs me money to pay PACER so I can provide everyone those nice court documents on Scribd. It will be one of my biggest bills yet from PACER so Paypal contributions will definitely be appreciated this time around.)

Justia lists the following for Masterfile being the plaintiff:

2004: 1 case
2005: 3 cases
2006: 17 cases
2007: 1 case
2008: 2 cases
2009: 12 cases
2010: 36 cases
2011: 10 cases

I might by off by 1 or 2 if I miscounted. However, what was up with 2006 and 2010? They seemed unusually high.

I will need help analyzing and reading through the 40+ cases that will soon be on Scribd.  Most look like they were ultimately settled. Some simply defaulted and several defendants are putting up a fight.

http://www.scribd.com/collections/3431851/Masterfile-Lawsuits-2010-2011

This discussion thread is a bit ambitious because there are about 80+ cases to potentially analyze. However, I am not paying for anymore documents. We will have to work with the 2010 and 2011 documents I downloaded which were far more tedious, time-consuming, and expensive than I had anticipated.

[dieselfish]

Wow!  Nice work Matthew!  Consider my donation on the way, and I am going to prop my feet up and start reading.  Thanks for doing this!

[Matthew Chan]

Quick update.  I uploaded another batch of Masterfile lawsuits from 2010-2011.  I am down to the last batch of 8 Masterfile lawsuits that are rather complicated with a series of court documents that I need to sort and assemble. It also appears that I did not download everything I needed.  Ugh.

With nearly 40 Masterfile lawsuits uploaded, a preliminary analysis can begin soon.

[bernicem77]

I just made a small donation. Hopes it makes a small dent in that bill.

[Matthew Chan]

Hi Bernice,

Yes, I see your Paypal contribution.  Thanks so much for helping fund the Masterfile Lawsuit Analysis project.

I cannot wait to see what the entire suite of lawsuits reveal.  Aside from the folks within Masterfile, I don't believe anyone has ever attempted to do an in-depth analysis of Masterfile lawsuits. 

Stick around. In the weeks to come, I hope to release a preliminary report.

I just made a small donation. Hopes it makes a small dent in that bill.

[Matthew Chan]

I need some help in this project.

I need to find some news stories about Masterfile's origins beyond the PR line. Did Masterfile, in fact, start selling stock photos from Day 1? Or did that come later? I am looking for some "meat" about the management, their employees, how they operate, how they hire, what they pay their employees, how they recruit, what kinds of businesses they are in, how they market to photographers and acquire their photos, etc. Steve Pigeon is the 60-year old CEO who has stated he would not be doing what he does forever.  Hence, he appears to be cashing out through his sale.

All I need from you guys are quality links you may run across as you dig through Google.  Just copy and paste those links to this thread.  Thanks so much for helping.

[Bekka]

Well I just found out that under Masterfile's career page, one of their company disciplines they list is "copyright enforcement."  That doesn't really surprise me as much as "finance and administration" does.

http://www.masterfile.com/info/corporate/careers.html

3rd paragraph. 

[Bekka]

I was reading the MF (perfect initials) vs. Synapse and could not believe that they were asking $13,233 for one image.  I assume it was settled out of court since the lawsuit was dismissed by MF.

[SoylentGreen]

Matt,

Here's a tidbit about the origins of MF:

"Masterfile, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, is one of the world's largest providers of premium still images, in terms of revenues. Masterfile was created within a subsidiary of the Toronto Sun in 1981 and managed by Steve Pigeon until it was sold by the Toronto Sun to Mr. Pigeon and a consortium of employees and contributing photographers in 1984."

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/arius3d-to-acquire-masterfile-tsx-venture-lzr-1551561.htm

S.G.