New copyight troll battlefront to start watching

[Matthew Chan]

The central focus of ELI has always been the Getty Images Extortion Letter. However, over time we felt compelled to expand coverage to other stock photo companies such as Masterfile, Corbis, Hawaiian Art Network, etc.

For a time, we covered Imageline and George Riddick with his extortion letters regarding outdated clip art images.

Then, we started discussing the Righthaven lawsuits. The lessons gained from the Righthaven lawsuits have been quite helpful and beneficial in demonstrating the distaste the court system has over trivial and outrageous copyright trolling lawsuits.

In that spirit, I direct you to a new discussion thread relating to adult video extortion letters accusing uses of digital piracy.

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/legal-controversies-forum/steele-hansmeier-settlement-demand-letters/

Unlike the stock photo extortion letters, the adult video extortion letters have hit mainstream media.  MSBNC has covered this. EFF is involved in the fight. Our brothers-in-arms http://fightcopyrighttrolls.com is on the forefront of this.

There are many parallels to what is going on there that is applicable to the stock photo extortion letters.

[Oscar Michelen]

Matt: I have handled one or two of these and what's worse about these types of claims is that they list the titles of the movies the person allegedly downloaded in an attempt to further embarrass the recipient.

[Jerry Witt (mcfilms)]

This time I get to be way out ahead of the curve. Check out my post from August 2011:

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/can-we-start-a-%27success-mission-accomplished%27-thread-for-success-stories/msg2872/#msg2872

That story from the Seattle Weekly is about 7 pages long and goes into a great deal about the antics used so far.

[Matthew Chan]

Oscar, we need to talk after the weekend. I didn't realize you handled these recently.

Matt: I have handled one or two of these and what's worse about these types of claims is that they list the titles of the movies the person allegedly downloaded in an attempt to further embarrass the recipient.

[Matthew Chan]

Mcfilms,

I know there are many copyright trolling extortion activities exist outside of the stock photo industry but I had been reluctant to devote space and time to open up discussions on new fronts simply because for a long while, it was only Oscar and I and it was all we could do just to maintain the stock photo side of things.

With you and Buddhapi officially part of the ELI Defense Team and Righthaven dying out, I figured it would "safe" for ELI to expand into that area. Having read the Steele-Hansmeier Extortion Letters, I feel confident we can offer many ideas for defenses in the matter.

I have been in touch with FightCopyrightTrolls.com (FCT) periodically over this and I told him that we would be covering this from the extortion letter perspective. FCT has spearheaded this and I see us working symbiotically and in parallel with them. FCT has already retweeted my announcement.

I think it is interesting how those cases has gotten far more press coverage than the stock photo extortion letters.  But I think a lot of that is because the stock photo industry has been much smarter in picking and choosing the lawsuits they file.

Last thing, you are a forward thinker.  That is one reason why I begged you to join the ELI Defense Team late last year.

This time I get to be way out ahead of the curve. Check out my post from August 2011:

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/can-we-start-a-%27success-mission-accomplished%27-thread-for-success-stories/msg2872/#msg2872

That story from the Seattle Weekly is about 7 pages long and goes into a great deal about the antics used so far.

[Matthew Chan]

Enjoy this series of voicemail recordings....

[SoylentGreen]

This is funny as hell.  Love that "Jaws" - type "blatt" sound to add emphasis.
I swear that I heard somebody talking about "The East Side" and munching on Cannolis in the background.

S.G.