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Messages - Matthew Chan

Pages: 1 ... 150 151 [152] 153 154
2266
This appears to be good news for you to get clarification. Do you have a copy of these emails?  I would be very interested in reading the verbiage.

I appreciate your kind words but this is what I was getting at in my commentary and this website.  Cowering in fear does nothing except empower the bully.  There is power in numbers.  There is power in speaking out.  There is power in sharing information.  There is power in sharing resources (and I don't mean infringing or sharing copyrighted materials).

What you did was great.  You reached out and decided to get informed and find out for yourself instead of relying on someone else who may not have your best interests at heart.

Truthfully speak, I did very little except do some reporting.  I posted a bunch of outrageous emails, wrote one major commentary, several minor ones, and one public response to Mr. Riddick.  Mr. Riddick seems to give me more credit and power than I truly have.

Mr. Riddick's and Teri's own emails (now exposed publicly) have done far more to damage their own credibility and case than anything I can do.  Most of those emails are self-explanatory and have enraged so many.  How they expected to get away with such shady tactics in the age of the Internet is beyond me.  I think he underestimated the outrage the embroidery community would feel when he started to go after them using nasty, questionable tactics.

2267
Hello, please contact me so that I can privately corroborate your prior association with Mr. Riddick.  I have sent you a private message with my contact information.  Or you can email submitinfo@extortionletterinfo.com.

Thanks.

EdTeach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As a former colleague of George Riddick, I can
> attest to the fact that his allegations are
> largely unfounded and, well, quite ridiculous as
> most of you have already surmised. As an attorney
> close to one of the cases involving Riddick
> remarked, anyone reading his "rant" emails should
> be able to see this guy for what he is -- someone
> not to be taken too seriously. He seems to prey
> especially on small entrepreneurs who, fearful of
> a lawsuit and limited funds to hire adequate legal
> counsel, would rather settle for the lesser amount
> than risk a legal battle. However, anyone with a
> bona fide claim against an infringer would have
> their attorney write a LETTER -- or at least cc
> their attorney in a letter -- rather than send an
> unprofessional, poorly-worded email. Let him bark
> all he wants, but don't get sucked in.

2268
Christine,

At this time, I must ask everyone who posts regarding the Riddick/ImageLine controversy restrict their posts to directly related posts.  This discussion forum is not a platform for other subjects.  I understand the libel and slander issue.  It goes both ways to both parties.  I would simply say that as long as you back what you say with documentation as you provided, you should be fine.

If you feel, you have information that is important AND direct related to the Riddick/ImageLine controversy, you may send it in to me for me to look at or you can contact me.

For now, I have to keep the discussion threads to their intended purpose.  Thanks for your understanding.

Matthew

christinebbd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you for creating this website.   I've been
> out of the embroidery world for a couple years and
> am getting back into it.  I'm not up-to-date on
> issues and I plan to read your website carefully.
> (regarding above comment...If the need arises, I
> can provide copies of actual letters, emails with
> header information, etc.)
>
> I'm interested in becoming involved with any
> online group that is actively addressing the
> racketeering problem in the machine embroidery
> design industry.  While I don't have financial
> means (yet) to contribute to this effort, I do
> have experience with lobbying, and have been
> successful in helping one bill get passed through
> the legislature in North Carolina, it became law
> in 1996.
>
> I'm currently lobbying for a new law, one that
> could address one way competitors put others out
> of business...NC Senator Steve Goss has entered a
> bill that would address online libel/slander as a
> criminal offense and would require the person to
> post a retraction within 10 days of posting said
> libel/slander.  Although this bill would cover
> only the state of North Carolina, the
> repercussions would affect all 50 states. If a
> libelous email or web post were created outside
> North Carolina, it would come under the
> jurisdiction of the law as soon as it arrived on a
> computer within North Carolina.
>
> http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2009/Bills/Se
> nate/PDF/S46v1.pdf
>
> Christine Chamberlain
> Durham, NC

2269
I have deleted other comments about Teri S. because they were found to be unsubstantiated at this point.  Anyone who wants to make a public accusation about anyone (without substantiation) needs to sign their full names to it and it must be directly relevant to the Riddick/ImageLine case.  We want to stick to the directly related facts.

The accusations against Mr. Riddick is irrefutable because I have copies of the actual emails from people who have fully identified themselves to me.  Any other names that may arise on this forum without substantiation will be deleted.  You can say what you will about Mr. Riddick, at least, he identifies himself with his full name.

We don't want this thread to become a mud-slinging one.  If you want to make accusations of someone, have the courage to sign your name to it.  Thank you for your understanding in this matter.  I am trying to be fair to all parties involved.

Matthew

2270
Riddick/Imageline Letter Forum / Re: A Clear Message
« on: February 28, 2009, 08:46:05 PM »
Getty Images.  The company whose letter tactics sparked the existence of this entire website.  Click "My Case" link shown at the top.

BartPerry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And, if you don't mind me asking..who is Getty?
>
> Bart

2271
Riddick/Imageline Letter Forum / Re: A Clear Message
« on: February 28, 2009, 08:14:45 PM »
If you would like to show me, submit the email to submitinfo@extortionletterinfo.com.  It can be added to the other stacks of outrageous emails he has sent to others.

Matthew

BartPerry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OOPS, I spoke to soon, Riddick emailed me back
> while I was typing. He did NOT get my name
> correct, nor did he send the email to me correctly
> as I cannot even see what is in his email :)
>

2272
Riddick/Imageline Letter Forum / Re: A Clear Message
« on: February 28, 2009, 08:12:23 PM »
I disagree with you.  I think if you take protective measures and document what you purchase, where you purchased, and how, most companies will be "reasonable" and you should be safe from any lawsuit.  Nevertheless, having gone what I have gone through, I prefer to hire someone to create my images and take my own photos nowadays.  Or I will go directly to a company to ask permission for their photos.  Obviously, Getty has not won any goodwill from me and so I will practically go anywhere except them to do business.

riddickvictim2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> From everything I read on this website, the
> message is quite clear.  Do not purchase
> professional graphics, photos or clipart.  Do not
> support “professional” artists of any kind in
> any way.  If you do, you will be sued.
>
> I have paid hard earned US dollars for every
> single image on my website.  And along comes the
> likes of Mr. Riddick.
> So again, the message that I get from Getty,
> MasterFile, Riddick, Jupiter and their ilk is very
> clear.  Buy professional works of any kind and you
> will be sued.  
>
> It is sad that the UAW has killed the auto
> industry.  It is equally sad that Getty,
> MasterFile, Jupiter, and Riddick are killing the
> image industry.  There will be thousands of
> unemployed auto workers and an equal number of
> unemployed artists.
>
> From this day forward, I will NEVER purchase a
> professional image of any kind from any source.
> Getting back to my website, it is loaded with
> images that I purchased legally.  This was before
> the revelation that purchasing professional images
> will get you sued.  The question that I pose is
> this.   How do I make my website Riddick-proof,
> Jupiter-proof, MasterFile-proof, and Getty-proof.
> I am fairly certain that removing all images would
> adversely affect sales.  Income from sales is what
> my family and these predators are counting on.  Do
> I just start replacing professional images with
> home made images?

2273
Riddick/Imageline Letter Forum / Re: A Clear Message
« on: February 28, 2009, 08:09:18 PM »
You can be sued by anyone, anytime, for any reason.  It does not mean they will win anything but it does cause aggravation for everyone.  Keep in mind, for someone to sue, it costs real money and time to do so and often requires paying an attorney to do so.


BartPerry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That is VERY odd, I have the very same item
> digitized on MY site, and I am expecting an email
> myself. HOWEVER, I purchased a membership on
> clipart.com, downloaded the image, and turned it
> into a digitized work with my digitizing skills.
>
> How can both of these two own the same clipart?
> how can WE be sued for what we purchased in good
> faith.
>
> Bart

2274
I want to report to everyone that George Riddick of ImageLine Inc. contacted me via email today to tell his side of the story.  In fairness to him, I am presenting his side by sharing the email I received with you.  I am actually surprised he found us and our reporting so quickly.

Because Mr. Riddick has brought up many issues, I cannot immediately reply to every point he raises.  My open response can be found here.

===========================

Dear Mathew (sic),

When I first read about your “case”, I had some empathy for the position you found yourself in. We have suffered enormous losses over the years at the hands of design and graphics companies in India, China, Russia, and Brazil, where there are virtually no copyright laws to speak of (and certainly no enforcement of the laws that do exist).

The more I read, the less empathetic I became, however. Here’s why:

1.   On your web site, you clearly state that it is your objective to present the facts from both sides, do your homework thoroughly, and provide some relief to end-user “victims” who end up with copyrighted material on their web sites due to the poor business practices and ethics of others, much as is with your case with the folks from India. That’s exactly what we do, Mathew (sic). Yet you posted the rants and raves of two or three disgruntled embroidery industry participants without making any effort at all to hear the other side of this “story”, or to verify what they have told you.

2.   It appears to us that both you and Mr. Michelen see these “victims” as becoming another venture capital source of your new online venture. That is simply not right, Matthew. At times, “right” and “wrong” should come before the cold interpretation and/or enforcement of our law.

3.   You made no mention, whatsoever, that Imageline has never gone after end-user infringers, like the music industry has done for years, or as you claim Getty Images, Jupiter, and Corbis are now doing. We only go after the “middlemen” (much like the company you dealt with in India) who are sub-licensing and re-distributing our copyright-protected property for their own commercial gain on their web sites and in their CD/DVD products, and distributing the pirated images and designs to others.

4.   You also never mention that Imageline agrees to release all of the end user infringers (such as your company would be) when we settle with these “middlemen”. In other words, if your new buddy “Pat” were to distribute unlicensed versions of one of our digital designs to 2,000 embroidery people over his web site, the per infringement settlement fees would be less than $3.75 per end user who is infringing under our laws. That’s a lot less than even the $200.00 minimum Mr. Michelen posts on your blog.

5.   Who wouldn’t become angry and agitated if people caught with their hands in the cookie (and very thoroughly researched and documented by Imageline) don’t remove the infringing images after notice, or even have the courtesy to respond to an official cease and desist letter/e-mail communications we send each of them?

6.   In fact, we follow the exact same C & D and take-down procedures Mr. Michelen claims he recommends for his clients.

7.   This looks like nothing more than sensational investigative journalism to me. I would have been more than happy to share the whole truth with you if you had only bothered to ask.

8.   Imageline has been considered the “David” in the copyright battle with a number of “Goliaths” for over fifteen (15+) years. Over ninety- five percent (>95%) of the companies we go after for infringing our hard earned copyrighted works are substantially larger than we are. You would be surprised at how incorrect you and Mr. Michelen have been here, and have interpreted a few ‘out of context’ communications to support your own pre-conceived notions and business plans … not the truth.

9.   Finally, posting links to blogs hosted by people who hide behind the anonymous nature of the Internet to conduct smear campaigns is not what anyone should expect from a web site moderated by a professional attorney, and stating that it is your objective to deliver “all of the facts” and the truth. We are very confused here. Does Mr. Michelen’s law firm know what he is doing in these ventures? Lawyers here in Virginia are not allowed to practice law in this manner. I am particularly concerned that he advises everyone to destroy evidence on your web site.. Please have him contact me directly if he has any interest at all in representing the information regarding Imageline in a factual manner to your audience.

Again, please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions about what we are trying to do to lower the “digital piracy” rate here in this country, and to begin to accomplish the same goals overseas.

ALL legitimate book, software, audio/visual, and graphic arts content publishers and copyright advocates should support the reduction of Internet-based piracy or they will all soon be extinct. At least that is my humble opinion.

I look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Sincerely,

George Riddick
Chairman/CEO
Imageline, Inc.

2275
(Please be advised this editorial will be updated or revised to include the latest news and developments.)

Please refer to the Getty Clones page and Riddick/ImageLine Letters page as reference in this discussion.

Disclaimer: Ths editorial is NOT legal advice. It reflects my opinions only, not those of Attorney Oscar Michelen. His response to the Riddick controversy is pending.

I have had the opportunity to read numerous emails written by Mr. Riddick and evaluate his communication pattern. It is clear that Mr. Riddick has been able to inflict an incredible amount of psychological stress by his aggressive and quite unprofessional letter tactics. His behavior is far more egregious than anything I have seen before as it relates to copyright protection.

First off, I believe in copyright protection but I also believe in taking reasonable actions. And if a settlement cannot be reached, then more aggressive measures can be taken. A big problem I see is that Mr. Riddick lacks credibility. He comes across as inconsistent, scattered, and a person that rants and raves. He appears to make threats that he does not follow through on. His rationale is flawed. He displays multiple sides to his personality. He can be civil, gracious, respectful, hostile, insulting, and condescending all in the same email! More importantly, his email threats ring hollow on so many levels. Unfortunately, many letter recipients’ are ignorant of copyright law and proper legal process and so Mr. Riddick has single-handedly distressed the embroidery community.

While I certainly do not condone what Mr. Riddick has done, the effectiveness of his letter campaign is effective because you, the letter recipient, because you have not yet become educated on the issues involved. And you have also unwittingly played into his psychological game by driving this underground. I will list some reasons why this letter campaign has been so effective in creating stress thus far and where I see the lack of credibility comes from.

Most people who are in the artistic community lack a fundamental background on how business works. In the world of business, there are good people and there are bad people. When you encounter bad people in business long enough, you eventually learn what you can and cannot do to fight back. Part of fighting back is knowing what resources, entities, agencies, and tactics actually work. Another part of protecting yourself and fighting back is that you learn to grow a backbone. And if you don’t immediately grow one, you learn to fake having a backbone. I am not saying to this to be insulting. I am saying this because I have to make my points quickly.

Everyone knows that bullies will only back down if you stand up to them. Bullies like Mr. Riddick will only prey on who he believes are weaker parties such as those in the artist community. He tries to overwhelm you by dragging in all kinds of legal arguments that may or may not pertain to your specific situation. Have you not wondered why he would chase after a class of people who have relatively few assets and income vs. larger companies? He does so because uninformed people who are unaccustomed to business and legal conflict are easy prey. He knows he has the upper hand because he has just enough information to sound credible and strike fear within you.

In his email communications, Mr. Riddick makes many legal threats on many fronts but fundamentally he has done nothing. From what I can tell, Mr. Riddick has not sent any physical letters or Certified Letters to anyone. All communications from him appear to be emails only. There has been no indication he has done anything on the legal front against smaller, weaker parties.

What is interesting to me is that my search of Imageline Inc in Virginia indicates that this corporation is currently in delinquent status and even if it were not, has a history of not being in compliance with the State of Virginia’s corporate filings. He has missed the years 1999, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008. Most of these corporate filings cost $100 to simply update.

Does a corporation that cannot consistently make their annual corporate filings for such a small annual fee sound like a corporation that can hire an attorney to sue anyone? As Oscar Michelen pointed out, a corporation without good legal standing cannot sue. Further, any corporation that wants to sue MUST hire an attorney because corporations cannot self-represent, individuals and sole proprietorships can. Corporations are only legal entities, not human entities.

Mr. Riddick has often mentioned contingency attorneys. Contingency attorneys are smart people. Most are in it to make money, not to do pro bono work. Most will demand an upfront retainer to start work on the case. They will only forgo a retainer and their hourly fee ONLY if they are certain there will be a big payday. Fortunately for you, (but what many of you fail to realize) is that it would not be worth any contingency attorney’s time and effort to sue you because most of you do not make enough or have enough assets to collect on. Mr. Riddick would then have to be like the rest of us in having to hire an attorney at $200-$400/hour. Even for a medium-sized corporation, this is no small expense. And most attorneys would demand an upfront retainer before they start the case. For a 10-hour retainer, this could cost $2,000-$4,000 per party! If he wanted to hire an attorney to sue “only” 5 people, he would have to come up with a retainer of $10,000-$20,000. Do the math with all the letters he is sending out.

From what I can tell, Mr. Riddick is primarily a one-man operation. He appears to use many aliases to create the appearance he works with a staff but I am not yet certain that is true. Currently, I take the stand he is primarily a one-man operation. Does this sound like someone capable or willing to cough up that much money to file suit?

Also, filing suit across state lines and out of country is incredibly difficult because part of filing suit against someone is being able to properly serve defendants personally. There are also jurisdictional issues. Most of you are outside his state of Virginia. And so, you are difficult to reach. Defendants who do not want to be found will not be easily be found and it will be an additional cost to hire a good process server to successfully serve someone.

Copyright infringement is generally a federal issue. Filing suits in federal court can get quite expensive when you take into account attorney fees, filing fees, and travel fees. Yes, someone is going to have to travel and it is most likely the plaintiff that will have to travel. Does Mr. Riddick sound inclined to want to travel to you and testify against you? Even if he was, how many people could he actually sue given that he is a one-man operation?

Even if he were to make it all the way of hiring an attorney, paying the retainer, having you successfully served, traveling to testify, and meet in court, there is the matter of winning the case. It has been my experience that courts are sympathetic to smaller, more vulnerable parties. Judges strive to be fair and reasonable. They look at your intentions and your actions. Did you do it intentionally or not? Do you a pattern of past intentional abuses? Court cases are often not clear cut which is why even attorneys like to settle. They do not like the uncertainty and surprises that can come up. I have been in court many times most often as a plaintiff but I have occasionally been a defendant. There is never any clear “slam dunk” for any side.

Even if you lost the case, the judge would ensure any ruling would be “reasonable”. I believe Mr. Riddick might only stand to “win” a few hundred dollars at best plus attorney costs. I could be wrong but that is what I believe at this point. Even so, there is yet another obstacle for him. If he got a judgment, there is the matter of actually collecting on it. It can be very difficult to collect money judgments from people who have relatively smaller incomes and smaller asset bases.
Are you beginning to see why getting educated on the issues is very important?

Another point I like to make is that Mr. Riddick uses the tactic of urgency. He sets artificial deadlines to force a response. From what I have seen, many letter recipients have disregarded his deadlines with little or no consequence. That is an indication that these are empty threats when there is no follow-up action with the exception of another derogatory email.
Mr. Riddick has made threats to a letter recipient sue them for libel. In other words, he wants to keep his communications with you a secret from others. He wants to keep you isolated. He does not want his tactics to come to light. It takes away the power when EVERYONE knows about how he conducts himself. It is not advantageous for him for all of you to come together and share knowledge as some of you have done with me. In domestic abuse cases where the abuser/bully wants control, a common tactic is isolation and keeping secrets. I should also point out telling the truth is an absolute defense against libel.

In some of the emails I have seen, there is an emphasis on “Confidential”, “Non-Disclosure”, and the like. For the record, if you are the intended recipient of any correspondence, you have the right to openly share it with anyone (unless there was prior agreement by BOTH parties to keep communications confidential or in cases such as attorney-client or doctor-patient confidentiality.) In other words, you have the right to share any communications you have Mr. Riddick with me, Oscar, or the world at large. 

The reason I have gotten involved is I know that reporting this will help neuter his efforts to keep you isolated and silent. You now have a platform with our online discussion forum to openly discuss (not rant, cuss, or concoct) your stories in a safe open environment.

You see, karma says that what goes around comes around. Many of you have begun stepping up and stepping out. Continue to get educated on the issues. Speak out openly. Start growing a backbone. You will find that Mr. Riddick may eventually back down, become more reasonable, or go away. And if not, then it is up to him to take the next action except that a lot of people are now watching him.

2276
Riddick/Imageline Letter Forum / Re: George Riddick III Imageline
« on: February 25, 2009, 03:03:13 PM »
We would very much like to see photocopies or scanned copies of these letters.  We would also like to see any actual emails he has sent.  We can anonymize anything that is being sent to us.  The way to self-protect is to expose the information publicly in an orderly way.

Matthew

Designer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Crafty - I know of several embroidery business
> owners who have received 'the letter' (and
> sometimes MANY of them). The network is growing
> very quickly. I will be pointing those I know
> about to this forum.
>
> Designer

2277
Riddick/Imageline Letter Forum / Re: New CLONE Hits Embroidery Community
« on: February 25, 2009, 01:13:32 PM »
Send it to submitinfo@extortionletterinfo.com.

Matthew

riddickvictim2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Matthew:
> What email address would you like me to use?

2278
Riddick/Imageline Letter Forum / Re: New CLONE Hits Embroidery Community
« on: February 25, 2009, 12:22:56 PM »
Riddickvictim2,

I am not Oscar Michelen but I am the Editor of this website.  If you want, please email or fax your documentation to me and I will begin looking into this on my end.  I feel quite confident that Oscar will be able to assist your situation as he has expanded his assistance to other individuals involved with companies other than Getty Images.

Matthew

riddickvictim2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mr. Michelen:
> Thank you for making this forum available.  Would
> you consider making your legal services available
> to Riddick victims?  (Nearly 500 by my last
> count.)  All documentation available upon
> request.
> Thank you for your consideration.

2279
Riddick/Imageline Letter Forum / Re: George Riddick III Imageline
« on: February 25, 2009, 12:11:59 PM »
If you forward information to us, we would be happy to start investigating this.

Matthew

riddickvictim2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> George Riddick III CEO Imageline
> This gent is doing the very same thing.  A growing
> network of Riddick victims are assembling and
> documenting threats and extortion tactics.  An
> amazing number of small businesses have already
> fallen victim and have paid out large
> "settlements" and even turned over their small
> businesses to him.

2280
Riddick/Imageline Letter Forum / Re: George Riddick III Imageline
« on: February 25, 2009, 12:10:29 PM »
If you fax or email us the documentation of the letters they are sending, we are happy to look into it and start documenting it.  Oscar and I have observed that there is a growing phenomenon of this extortion letter campaign being used by other companies.  For example, we have begun documenting MasterFile's approach.  From what I have been told, they are much more credible in their claims but also more reasonable in their dealings then Getty Images.

People may use this discussion forum to discuss other companies that engage in similar Settlement Demand Extortion Letter techniques.

MatthewC

Crafty Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Where can I find this network of other victims?
> Would they be willing to use this forum?  Would
> that be okay with the site owner?  
>
> Pat

Pages: 1 ... 150 151 [152] 153 154
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