ExtortionLetterInfo Forums
ELI Forums => Getty Images Letter Forum => Topic started by: Matthew Chan on May 16, 2012, 08:16:03 PM
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We have heard of the "Photo Attorney" law firm headed by Carolyn E. Wright a few times before in ELI's history. She recently tried to have Scribd take down our copy of her extortion letter with a DMCA complaint. ELI aggressively responded with a DMCA Counter-Notification Letter and the copy of her extortion letter was restored.
http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/carolyn-e-wright%27s-photo-attorney-extortion-letter-taken-down-by-scribd/
The Photo Attorney law firm gets ELI's award for the Largest Photo Extortion of the Year (and ELI's history to date)!
At this moment, I ask everyone to withhold any outbursts and unnecessary commotion until I finish my announcement.
The latest extortion letter sets the price at $35,000 for two Images! Yes, you read that right! $35K for 2 images! That is an incredible $17,500 per image! Check out this very familiar extortion letter using very different numbers signed by a young doe.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/93835945/Photo-Attorney-Carolyn-E-Wright-35K-Settlement-Demand-Letter
This Photo Attorney extortion letter was signed by young doe, Georgia Attorney Cindy Wan-Hsin Hsu. She goes from the Coca-Cola Company to the extortion business? WTF. How does that even happen?
About Cindy
http://hsu-iplaw.com/index.html
About Her Fee Structure
http://hsu-iplaw.com/fee-options.html
http://www.gabar.org/MemberSearchDetail.cfm?ID=NTUzNjgw
Attorney Cindy Hsu doesn't know it yet but she just became a mini-celebrity for signing off on the largest extortion Oscar and I have seen on a dollar per image basis.
My question is: did Carolyn Wright even bother to warn young Cindy Hsu what might happen to her name and reputation once she stupid and innocently signed off on that obscene letter?
Everyone now has my permission to show their shock and outrage.
Let the raging begin.
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Forum rules prevent me from typing what I think of this, although I have scared my cats yelling and the computer screen. I am just speechless and disgusted.
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THIS truly deserves some well thought out and executed research, I will withhold, but rest assured there will be a flurry of posts regarding Georgia Attorney Cindy Wan-Hsin Hsu, and probably several videos. I mean it's only fair, seeing the amount of the demand, she naturally demands a little extra attention..
I don't know what she's drinking, but it makes the kool-aid look pretty tame..
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Looks like a mocha water and vinegar.
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She might be cute if I could wipe that Copyright watermark off of her trolling face...
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Yeah, they're phishing using the "shock and awe" technique to see if they can get a larger than normal settlement quickly.
Those photos don't look like something that one would register with the copyright office.
If they're not registered, this demand letter isn't worth the postage used to mail it.
S.G.
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I've often said that collection attorneys work for an estimate 60/40 split depending on the nature of the relationship. 60% for the client and 40% for the attorney.
Cindy W. Hsu has conveniently revealed her collection fee structure on her own lawyer website. I have a screen-shot conveniently saved just in case. It's not often you find an attorney who is so helpful to reveal their fees publicly.
http://hsu-iplaw.com/fee-options.html
Apparently she will go as low as 30% if she gets more than 10 cases.
However, her take might be a little different now that she appears to be working with Carolyn Wright. After all, the Photo Attorney law firm needs to get their take of Cindy's collection efforts. Carolyn announced on their blog on April 4, 2012 that Cindy had joined her team.
http://www.photoattorney.com/?p=3676
Most of Cindy's public record still lists her workplace as Coca-Cola Company, although her bio says she left Coca-Cola Company in early 2011. The whois record of her domain, hsu-iplaw.com lists the following:
Registrar of Record: TUCOWS, INC.
Record last updated on 15-Apr-2012.
Record expires on 28-Jan-2013.
Record created on 28-Jan-2011.
The domain name registered on January 28, 2011. Cindy was on her own for about a year before she joined Carolyn's team in April 2012. It is unclear if Cindy is actually on payroll or simply working as an independent contractor.
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I think part of this extreme price comes from this little nugget from gardenworldimages.com, whom we can also add to the copyright troll list.
"(9.4) Right to use: any Reproduction by you before the full payment of the relevant Invoice/Copyright licence constitutes an infringement of copyright and a breach of this Agreement, thus entitling us to rescind the Invoice/Copyright licence and rendering you liable for the payment of a penalty fee and damages. Any image(s) copyrighted to Garden World Images or represented by Garden World Images on behalf of the copyright owner that are used without our permission or any grant of a licence to use will be subject to a penalty fee. The penalty fee for infringement of copyright is a minimum of 500% of the standard fee applicable for the unauthorised use. Additionally GARDEN WORLD IMAGES reserves the right to take legal action for copyright infringement for additional damages. The borrowing, download, order, reception or purchase of image(s) from Garden World Images does not confer the right to use the image(s). This right is conferred only on FULL payment of our invoice. NO RIGHTS OF REPRODUCTION ARE GRANTED UNTIL PAYMENT IS RECEIVED BY GARDEN WORLD IMAGES. "
Like having this on their site makes it set in stone..That like me saying that anyone that views this post must pay me 500.00 per view...I'll be sending out invoices later today!
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A quick search of the US Copyright site, yielded ZERO results for Garden World Images, so either the images are not registered are they are registered by the photographer, I wish I had more info on the images in question.. The question remains does Garden World Images have te right to sue.. Can they even sue if they are a UK company that doesn't even do business in the US?? DO they have to follow UK law? IS Georgia Attorney Cindy Wan-Hsin Hsu even qualified to take this on??
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I am a little confused... Miss Copyright Wan-Hsin Hsu has a different (North Carolina) address listed on her business site? Not Georgia as reported...
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 678-534-8529 (678-53-ITLAW)
Address: Hsu Law Office, LLC
740 SE Greenville Blvd, Ste. 400-108 #1188
Greenville, NC 27858
United States of America
Edit with LOLz:
A Google satellite map search shows that this is yet another "Strip Mall" Attorney. Now the part that is so "Ironic" is that the Shopping Center is called... "Pirates Pointe Shopping Center"! It also is on the out-skirts of the Greenville, Mall! How classy!!!
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If an entity is represented by a U.S. attorney, they can file suit. However, whether they ultimately will have standing is a whole different animal. The question is whether Garden World has a U.S. presence of any kind like Canadian-based Masterfile does in the U.S.
A quick search of the US Copyright site, yielded ZERO results for Garden World Images, so either the images are not registered are they are registered by the photographer, I wish I had more info on the images in question.. The question remains does Garden World Images have te right to sue.. Can they even sue if they are a UK company that doesn't even do business in the US?? DO they have to follow UK law? IS Georgia Attorney Cindy Wan-Hsin Hsu even qualified to take this on??
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By the sounds of it Cindy Hsu's office reminds me of Saul Goodman's law office on "Breaking Bad":
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100621014530/breakingbad/images/thumb/c/c0/SaulOfficeOutside.JPG/830px-SaulOfficeOutside.JPG
S.G.
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I am familiar with these types of weird-looking addresses. She is/was using a UPS Store as a mail receiving service.
http://www.theupsstorelocal.com/2532/
I happen to use a similar service because I don't have a public office for people to casually drop-in.
I am a little confused... Miss Copyright Wan-Hsin Hsu has a different (North Carolina) address listed on her business site? Not Georgia as reported...
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 678-534-8529 (678-53-ITLAW)
Address: Hsu Law Office, LLC
740 SE Greenville Blvd, Ste. 400-108 #1188
Greenville, NC 27858
United States of America
Edit with LOLz:
A Google satellite map search shows that this is yet another "Strip Mall" Attorney. Now the part that is so "Ironic" is that the Shopping Center is called... "Pirates Pointe Shopping Center"! It also is on the out-skirts of the Greenville, Mall! How classy!!!
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@ Matthew you stated / asked earlier:
"Georgia Attorney Cindy Wan-Hsin Hsu. She goes from the Coca-Cola Company to the extortion business? WTF. How does that even happen?"
This might be a part of the answer: ( from Carolyn Wrights site, for educational purposes only)
"During his esteemed legal career, Robert A. Keller was Senior Vice President and General Counsel of The Coca-Cola Company, served as Managing Partner of Munger, Tolles, Hills & Rickershauser in Los Angeles, was Assistant Dean of Stanford Law School, and practiced with the law firm of Orrick, Herrington, Sutcliffe & Dahlquist in San Francisco. He now serves as Of Counsel for the Law Office of Carolyn E. Wright, LLC.
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A growing industry?
I guess that more people are paying these demands that I might have imagined.
S.G.
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Ya know, someone could make a novel outta this. Kind of in the style of John Grisham. Use it as a vehicle to expose these people. Get some down and out slob who's tired of the stress of actually practicing law, have them get in on the trolling cycle. Make a lot of money, pi$$ some guy off (Matt), he decides to stand and fight, exposes all the misinformation and bullying tactics, counter sues wins case. Someone along the way gets killed so shuts down the company, etc.
Matt you better hurry and copyright this idea. Actually I guess it would be mine. That's o.k. Matt you can use it if you want. I'll only ask for $35,000 for every 2 pages.
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The joke is that these lawyers aren't really practicing law. They are sending out collection letters most of us could have sent out. The difference is they have better credentials and nicer letterhead stationery.