Messages

706

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Defense Letter Program

« on: May 27, 2015, 04:40:57 PM »

This is going to sound "mean" but it really isn't meant to be.  It is simply pragmatism and limits to how much servicing we can provide on "informational request for service". Early on, he handled initial contacts himself. But it has been many years since he has done it that way simply because it is not practical.

He is not going to call you back over your current submission. The information we have provided online is where you sign up and the instructions are clearly provided. If there are any inadvertent service issues, you can email me and I can escalate the matter but only if you are a paid client. There are plenty of free posts and videos if you need to "check us out".

You can ask people's opinion here if you need more info.  Honestly, time is a big issue and he isn't going to get on the phone to try to explain the Defense Letter Program. I openly tell people there are no callbacks on informational calls. Our reputation speaks for itself and we have an info page for that.  If that is insufficient, we understand we cannot help everyone or make everyone happy.

Don't take this personally but I also don't return calls to anyone wanting "just a few minutes" to explain what we do. We did this early on and we got overwhelmed.  It is unfortunate but we have to draw a line.  The ELI Forums provide lots of great information. If you need information on personalized service, the best we can offer is what is provided here on the Forums, the videos, and the informational descriptions we provide.

It is not a full-time endeavor for Oscar, me, or anyone else on the Defense side and it is not a significant revenue-generator for either of us.

As I said, don't take it personally but you are not likely to get a callback nor would I even encourage Oscar to do so. He might call you back AFTER you become a client. This is not a full-service, concierge legal servicing. It is a bare-bone, systematic legal service. It is the cold-hard reality for the price being offered. The alternative is going to a full-fledged retainer/hourly billing system.

If you want to sign up for the Defense Letter Program, you need to follow the instructions provided on the link I posted. The prices are there.  Non-Getty letters are generally $250.

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/2012-update-expansion-of-attorney-oscar-michelens-defense-letter-program/

707

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Defense Letter Program

« on: May 27, 2015, 02:27:41 PM »

Are you a client who has paid for service already? If so, email me matt30060 at gmail and I will forward the message to them.

If not, you will need to refer to this link for information:

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/2012-update-expansion-of-attorney-oscar-michelens-defense-letter-program/

708

Getty Images Letter Forum / MOVED: Just got my McCormack nonnegotiable final offer..

« on: May 27, 2015, 11:31:26 AM »

This topic has been moved to McCormack Letter Forum.

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/index.php?topic=4320.0

709

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Reached my SOL today but still going to Keep Fighting

« on: April 04, 2015, 07:40:16 PM »

Congratulations on reaching that Statute of Limitations. We need to have more people posting their stories as an inspiration to others. If we get enough of them, I will create and develop a new section to "success stories" and people who successfully reached the three-year mark.

And regarding the consequences of Getty Images' actions, there is no question that it created a great deal of unhappiness and stress for me that led to the launching of ELI in 2008.

But it is also undeniable that there have been MANY positive events and unforeseen benefits that came from their actions. Similar to Greg, because of Getty Images, I have formed friendships and associates from literally all over the world and extended my reach and influence to the press, tech blogs, entrepreneurs, small business owners, etc. in unimaginable ways before 2008. ELI has even become a part-time business project (although admittedly I have mixed feelings about that aspect of it).

From Getty Images, was born the antics of Timothy B. McCormack who would later go on to foolishly advise, encourage, and make himself involved to the embarrassing Chan v. Ellis appeal ordeal.  Getty Images has one more reason to be embarrassed about Timmy but I don't want to digress aside from the fact that he functions as the token pinata for ELI to beat on and mock (figuratively speaking, not literally, for the literary-challenged) when he does or says something foolish publicly. You know he is really disrespected when even a certain ELI lawyer makes the occasional "disapproving" public remark of Timmy.

I just realized that today is the end of my statute of limitations.  Although I felt fairly confident Getty was not going to come after me (and kind of sad they didn't try) it is still good to know that this part of my Getty experience is over. 

I am not going anywhere and will continue on here assisting new letter recipients explore their options and encouraging those who feel that they have been treated/handled unfairly to file Attorney General complaints, speak up and make their voices heard.

On the bright side of this, if I had not received that letter and Getty refused to negotiate in good faith I would have never become involved with ELI or have made so many life-long and valued friends.  So thank you Matthew, Robert, Oscar, April, Joe and the rest of the family, it is a privilege and pleasure to talk with you, work with you and most of all call you friend.

710

ELI Responses: Media Coverage of Chan v. Ellis Case / Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Covers GA Supreme Court Victory of Chan v. Ellis

« on: April 03, 2015, 06:56:17 PM »

One of the most "fairest" and most objective articles written about my case comes from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. I commend Stephanie Pedersen for doing such a fine job and I intend to send her my thanks. I would have rather her not written an article about me in the city I lived but I also understand it was an important and significant story for Columbus, GA. In many ways, she did me a service which puts notice to everyone that online free speech in GA is not to be trifled with and certainly not through the GA anti-stalking statute law.

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2015/03/27/3640018_georgia-supreme-court-overturns.html?rh=1

711

ELI Responses: Media Coverage of Chan v. Ellis Case / EFF Covers ELI win in Chan v. Ellis Appeal

« on: April 03, 2015, 06:51:30 PM »

I have been waiting for the EFF announcement for nearly a week. At long last, I am able to share EFF's comments about the outcome of Chan v. Ellis. Further, they believe there needs to be a federal anti-SLAPP law that helps deter others from filing frivolous lawsuits. 

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/04/censorship-order-threatened-websites-and-message-boards-overturned

712

ELI Responses: Media Coverage of Chan v. Ellis Case / Georgia Supreme Court Hands Unanimous Win to Matthew Chan & ELI

« on: April 03, 2015, 06:48:04 PM »

I am pleased to announce that ELI won an important battle for online free speech that people cannot use the GA stalking statute to wholesale muzzle websites from speaking ABOUT a person, even if it is rude, politically incorrect, or offensive.

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/all-justices-concur-eli-wins-internet-free-speech-appeal-in-georgia-supreme-court/

Further, others cannot wholesale remove entire groups of messages ABOUT someone even if one party is violating an exception to the First Amendment.

ELI fought this battle in through 3 courts: the Muscogee County GA Superior Court, the GA Court of Appeals, and finally the GA Supreme Court.

Read the GA Supreme Court decision here: http://www.gasupreme.us/sc-op/pdf/s14a1652.pdf

ELI is stronger and more prominent than it has ever been in its entire history launched in 2008. The significance and impact of the Chan v. Ellis GA Supreme Court decision helps firmly entrench that what ELI does has been and continues to be legal.

713

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: I think my SOL was up yesterday

« on: March 29, 2015, 06:49:02 AM »

The only reminder I would like to give is to make sure you are extra careful in using images on your websites. After all, you wouldn't want to get ANOTHER extortion letter, right?

Congratulations, Doc!

My understanding is the SOL runs 3 years from the date they discover the issue.  Since that is impossible to know, using the letter date is extremely conservative.

You, my friend, are done with this BS.  Please feel free to stay connected with this community and to share anything you think might be of help to others that you may have previously felt uneasy about sharing.

714

Getty Images Letter Forum / Musical Memes of ELI Members

« on: March 26, 2015, 10:47:01 PM »

April Brown, author of Poetic Justice, decided to poke some fun at ELI Team members.

Have some fun and laughter at our expense. We not only mock copyright extortionists, we mock ourselves too!

http://www.jibjab.com/view/ajXD7JvCRUGWDb9AiFF4eg

http://www.jibjab.com/view/CUCk-yRPSImi338ofiMfWw

http://www.jibjab.com/view/eam1FcpRTamLT-_PeA4XZg

715

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: What you can learn from my 3 year battle with Getty and McCormack IP Law

« on: March 25, 2015, 11:43:50 PM »

Forgive me, I am terribly late to this discussion. I want to add my comments to add a dimension that is not commonly or publicly known.

First of all, let me congratulate Stinger for crossing over to the "bright side" of the statute of limitations. He can now speak freely. Stinger has been an ELI warrior in ways very few people know.  Stinger is a smart businessman and he did his own assessment of the situation. He also fought back in ways people did not know. Stinger, like most of us, became angry and disgusted in Getty Images and their legal team's obnoxious conduct.  They wanted to use their overbearing name and force unreasonable and unrealistic settlements against all of us, large or small, without little distinction or consideration.

Stinger shared with us how he punched by filing a state bar complaint against one of McCormack's associate lawyers. From what I understand, Stinger's complaint was so powerful and effective, McCormack's associate lawyer had to hire a lawyer for HERSELF over Stinger's complaint.

Stinger also financially supported me and ELI through a major financial contribution during my legal fight against the Dash Poet during the appeals process. Although Oscar entirely donated his legal services on behalf of me and ELI, there were still secondary legal expenses I faced as the owner of ELI. Stinger, UncleJohnsBand (UJB), and April Brown were among the largest ELI financial contributors during my fight through the GA Court of Appeals and now the GA Supreme Court. None of these folks had to contribute to my fight but they could not stand idly by and let me or ELI get defeated.

I don't believe I am speaking out of turn that ELI has the been the single, toughest and rebellious stronghold against stock photo copyright extortionists. Certainly, there have been dozens of websites (many who refer links back to ELI) that have been launched and created to complain about Getty Images and their ilk. But I believe we are the ones who took the stock photo extortion phenomena most seriously and actually put a plan together to combat it and defend non-willful, unintentional infringers.

In fact, I remember over a year ago when I asked Stinger why he was making such a large contribution to my appeal fight against the Dash Poet. He plainly said that losing ELI as a resource would negatively impact him and every other victim.  If ELI were to fall, it would simply not be good for him and scores of other people. He implied if ELI disappeared, it might become hunting season for extortion letter victims.  I never viewed it that way before. It was his insight that motivated me and enlighten me the larger impact of ELI.

I thank Zazen's comments here for a few important reasons.  One, he thanked and acknowledgement Stinger's story and contributions. Stinger has not been acknowledged enough and I am glad he has stepped out to take credit he greatly deserves. Because it allowed me the opening to brag about his huge behind-the-scenes support that the public doesn't see.

Another reason I commend Zazen is that he took interest in my appeal case now sitting with the GA Supreme Court. He watched the videos himself and saw how pathetic Timmy McCormack was and how at least three Justices took him and his co-counsel, Elizabeth (Betsy) McBride to task. Timmy is a joke to us and will never be respected.  Those videos will forever haunt their professional careers. No one held a gun to them to work the case.  On the small  chance that my legal adversary wins against my appeal, it won't be because of their oratory or lawyering skills.

The other reason I thank Zazen is that he is one of a small group of people who signed up for the ELI Support Call program. We have never done the hard sell on it and rarely bring up the necessity for ELI Financial support, or the intangible benefits of signing up.  We let it stay as a background resource for those who feel they need personalized service and a customized discussion of their situations.

But the honest truth if ELI isn't financially supported, many of the resources that are available today couldn't continue. The ELI Support Call is an important gateway to other resources I have. It is also a great way to start a new business association that goes beyond extortion letters.

People who sign up for ELI Support Calls get a personal connection to me for the life of their case, sometimes even longer.  Some people become Linkedin associates or Facebook friends. I am only an email away and act as an informal connector to Oscar and his law firm for those who want the extra helping hand. I am also a connector to any other resources I can reasonably offer to assist them in their case and business situations. I am clearly not a lawyer but I am a business strategist and those who sign up get the benefit of strategy insights.

And without financial support from ELI Support Calls from people such as Zazen, I would not be able to dedicate as much of my personal time such as writing this post and other ELI-related work so that EVERYONE else benefits. To Zazen, I appreciate the unsolicited positive feedback you shared with everyone.

Stinger understood the need for ELI's longevity. I don't like to fear-monger but EVERY extortion letter victim should have a vested interest in making sure ELI survives for at least another three years, the statue of limitations for every copyright infringement claim. There are many of us that believe the if ELI were to ever come down or get taken down, it would become hunting season on many extortion letter recipients. They would be far more aggressive than they are today.  They know we have many eyes and ears that are paying attention.  There is strength in numbers, shared resources, and the club of the First Amendment on our side.

We have had a few people over the years get more than one extortion letter because of work they did 5-10 years ago that resurfaced recently. If you are a long-standing web developer, you want ELI to be around for MANY YEARS because a stray image on a  website developed years ago can rear its ugly head. It happens because I have talked with these people.

My post is long enough. Again, thank you Stinger and Zazen.

716

Getty Images Letter Forum / Life360 CEO Uses ELI-like Tactics to Defeat Patent Troll

« on: March 23, 2015, 08:08:50 PM »

First, I don't want to claim that I "invented" unorthodox, unconventional, and controversial techniques to beat back copyright extortionists. However, I can honestly say that many of the tactics and strategies I have publicized, implemented, and disseminated on ELI over the years is based on my observations and studies of power structures, organization structure, human behavior, influence, etc. In other words, I am a strategist. It is my job to look at challenges in different ways and create effective unconventional solutions to unconventional problems.

I am always happy to see other people that have come up with similar strategies to beat back bullies and their lawyers. ELI has been calling out and publicly beating on bad lawyers for their role and culpability.

Take a read of Life360 CEO's strategy to vanquish a patent troll.  It is great reading and has some life lessons about standing up to obnoxious, greedy bullies.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/23/i-beat-a-patent-troll-and-you-can-too/

Some great quotes, ones that I absolutely can relate to.


"They thought I was bluffing. They were wrong."

"There were three non-traditional things I did during our troll fight that any company facing a troll can and should do."

"I can’t promise you’ll win, but you will definitely send a message that you are not interested in settling and in fact, will make it as painful as possible for the troll, sending a clear message that you are not a willing target for future litigation as well."

Go Nuclear (I love the term, "go nuclear"!)

"There is nothing that trolls or predatory law firms hate more than being publicly called out for what they are. They expect that you’ll listen to your lawyers, stay quiet and pay them to go away. In our case, we refused to let AGIS Inc. and its lawyers Mark Hannemann and Thomas Makin of Kenyon and Kenyon LLP, hide in the background. Throughout our battle, we frequently publicized their role in this case with various influencers and media and it really got to them."

Go With Your Gut And Commit To It

"This is about right and wrong, and that will help you sleep better at night. Always remember you are fighting the good fight and while that may sound cheesy, but it’s really important when things get hard.

There were some advisors who encouraged me to settle, so I wouldn’t have this costly distraction, but that is a very short term view. You are far less likely to become a target if you have a prior record of making it very difficult for the troll versus paying up each time.

While this win was not without cost, we have strong evidence that our hardline approach is working.  We’ve received two other demand letters since the AGIS suit was filed, and when they saw the extreme defense we mounted against AGIS, they went away."


Corporations are made up of people and their lawyers.  It is important to identify, name them, and call them out very publicly and put the heat on them.  (No, I don't mean to set them afire, pull a gun, or any physical or violent act. That is for those dipshits who want to claim I made a "physical safety threat".)  As I have said many times, most employees are gutless wonders when they are called out singularly. They are used to being under the protection of their corporate mommy's wombs.  That means Googling and Binging your little heart out to gather information and doing your research when necessary.

Today, most of Getty Images legal employees and copyright compliance are in hiding. They don't sign their names to anything. They won't even make public statements by name.  Articles written about them is always by some nameless "Getty Images spokesperson."

This is why we haven't heard from Hawaiian Art Network and their lawyers for years.

If you are not willing to be at the front, you can always become part of larger group such as the ELI Community for mutual defense and protection with combined resources, ideas, strategies, information, people, and money. 

717

Getty Images Letter Forum / Elon Musk's SpaceX Images Put into Public Domain

« on: March 23, 2015, 07:39:09 PM »

ELI Defense Team Member Greg Troy will enjoy this bit of news because he is a SpaceX fan.

Ars Technica reported that Elon Musk has authorized SpaceX images to be put into the public domain.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/03/elon-musk-puts-spacex-photos-into-the-public-domain/

SpaceX's Flickr account with the newly submitted public domain images can be found here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacexphotos

Help yourself!

718

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Masterfile v. Law Firm of Jerry Joseph Settled

« on: March 23, 2015, 04:01:59 PM »

How pathetically predictable.  Today, someone brought to my attention that Masterfile is now quoting the National Law Journal article of Jerry Joseph's case in addition to the three Summer 2014 lawsuits as part of the collection emails. AS I said, the consent judgment was likely a strategic move to PUBLICIZE the settlement.  In years prior, the goal was to SUPPRESS the terms of the settlement through a non-disclosure agreement.

Ironically, Masterfile's move will strengthen the support and need for ELI.  It is likely ELI readership and patronage will INCREASE with moves like this.

Jerry Joseph will likely avoid the spotlight here because this situation has made him look foolish. However, most non-lawyers would not have to run from this as it is easily explained and proven how Masterfile and their ilk operate.

Masterfile apparently is eager to join Getty Images and have a legion of people on the interwebs to hate them, provide negative publicity, and NEVER buy from them again. It is a winning formula. All the stock photo companies will continue to die a slow death. And golden-oldie Steve Pigeon who tried to sell Masterfile a few years ago will continue to see his company plummet to the bottom as his entire image database becomes a commodity and a DEPRECIATING asset.

They are now going to use this paid article as a club. ("Paid" means that the article is only semi-publicly available.  LOL.)

I thought that the National Law Journal article was pretty weak and completely lacked analysis and proper context. But that is why people read ELI for all things "extortion letter" related.

719

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Masterfile v. Law Firm of Jerry Joseph Settled

« on: March 21, 2015, 03:34:04 PM »

Wow, Greg. You were considering that?  You are a bit more "pernicious" than I ever gave you credit for! I am allegedly an "out of the box" thinker but it never crossed my mind to use any CEO's name! Maybe YOU are the person people need to be worried about, not me. LOL!

720

Hawaiian Letters & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Are State and city offices targets?

« on: March 21, 2015, 01:24:43 AM »

There is a certain Poet that has issued extortion letters to schools (I believe) for sharing her poem.