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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Recent articke- Investigating the Higbee & Associates Copyright Trolling Operati

« Last post by kingkendall on February 28, 2019, 09:50:47 PM »

What I wrote speaks for itself and the article I posted loudy echos my research on Higbee.  They do sloppy work top notch law firms don't do.  It doesn't mean they need to be ignored.  One has to learn the copyright law cold.  And yes, HAA is about the low hanging fruit.  That's where they make the bulk of their money.  It is what it is.   

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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Recent articke- Investigating the Higbee & Associates Copyright Trolling Operati

« Last post by Ethan Seven on February 27, 2019, 12:00:02 PM »

The article has a few good takeaways.

1.  It helps to get a lawyer.   Anyone who has assets should hire an attorney.
2.  There are often strong legal arguments to be made to dispute liability or damages. 
3.   It can help to engage, ask questions and challenge assumptions or their “facts”

What I would not takeaway is that Higbee and company are not copyright lawyers.   I have no idea about  the validity of what this author is saying or the story behind it.  I do know that Higbee files hundreds of copyright lawsuits.  I have seen several references to the referring claims to other law firms.   There is an undenaiable risk of getting sued.  I have read about 25 or more of Higbee’s pleadings and they are very well written.  The other thing that struck me when reviewing their cases is that they rarely lose on their motions. 

If you are suggesting that they only pursue low hanging fruit and inferring it is safe to ignore these claims, I would strongly disagree.

There are several threads on this forum that demonstrate why these claims are not safe to ignore, unless a person has no assets and does not expect to have any in the future.  Below are two recent ones.

https://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/higbee-letter-lawsuits-forum/higbee-attacking-counseling-agency/

https://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/higbee-letter-lawsuits-forum/judge-awarded-higbee-associates-$48-000-for-use-of-1-photo!!!

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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Recent articke- Investigating the Higbee & Associates Copyright Trolling Operati

« Last post by kingkendall on February 26, 2019, 01:32:38 PM »

The below article documents the shoddy work done by Higbee & Associates.  The biggest takeaway is that these lawyers ARE NOT intellectual property lawyers.  They don't know copyright law and they don't care.  Their in the copyright troll game to secure payments from "low hanging fruit", people that get so scared they pay up quickly.  The way to combat this is to get educated and push back with knowledge.  It isn't a great feet to become more knowledgeable than Higbee. 


 Yesterday, we wrote about web developer Daniel Quinn's harrowing experience receiving a $20,000 payment demand from copyright troll Higbee & Associaties. That post ended with Quinn explaining how he found lawyer Carolyn Homer to represent him. Today, we have a companion post by Homer to talk about her experience investigating and dealing with Higbee, and calling out some of his questionable legal practices.

The moment I saw Higbee’s demand letter to Daniel Quinn I knew I was dealing with a troll. Although I’ve recently joined the #resistance, I spent the first five years of my career defending Silicon Valley companies against mass copyright trolls. Higbee is new to me, but I know this game.

I immediately scanned his demand letter for problems. There were many — Michael Grecco’s power of attorney authorization isn’t even signed! — but I’ll focus on three major ones.

Major Defect # 1: Pricing Unmoored From Market Reality

As Daniel quoted yesterday, Higbee’s November letter threatens litigation, statutory damages up to $150,000 and attorney fees. Supposedly to avoid this terror of litigation, Higbee demands payment of $20,000 within seven days, accompanied by a non-disclosure agreement.

Daniel Quinn did not pay the $20K. So Higbee sent a December follow-up letter which escalates the demand: “[P]lease do not make the mistake of ignoring this. If this matter is litigated, the demand amount will likely quadruple or more, and then you will also likely have to pay attorneys fees.”

Higbee’s message is clear: pay $20,000 now or risk litigation and $80,000—maybe even $150,000—later.

None of those numbers make sense. The market rate for a license to publish most individual photos on the internet ranges between $0-$1000. Similarly in my experience, typical litigation damages for adjudged infringement of individual photos on the internet range between $200-$2000. At this exact moment in time, a photograph from Michael Grecco’s same X-Files photoset is available to license for $1800. And that is itself insanely high—there’s a multitude of other professional X-Files stills available from stock photo agencies Alamy and Getty for $49-$499.
 

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190220/13283641640/investigating-higbee-associates-copyright-trolling-operation.shtml

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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Claim Against My Corporation

« Last post by ihtfp71 on February 25, 2019, 05:14:56 PM »

Matthew - thank you for your sensible point of view and your willingness to take a few minutes. Hopefully your comments will also be helpful to others.

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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: UrbanLip.com v. Lereve Skin Institute (Higbee Client v. Pro Se Defendant)

« Last post by Matthew Chan on February 22, 2019, 07:54:19 AM »

Read Document #37 "Declaration" that was filed by defendant.

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.723273/gov.uscourts.cacd.723273.37.0.pdf

It explains some of what has transpired. It does not paint Higbee lawyer, Ryan Carreon, in a positive light. I think Document #37 is required reading for people who suspect they may get a lawsuit against them. It provides insight to what happens behind the scenes.

There is some questionable behavior. I am not a lawyer and don't know all the professional rules of conduct. But if everything written is true, Ryan could have a problem even if this case settles out.

It looks like Lereve lawyered up on this.  Smart move.   Does anyone have insight on what happened?

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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Settled with PicRights, now getting harassed by Higbee for the same image

« Last post by Matthew Chan on February 22, 2019, 07:44:50 AM »

There is always a some level of risk when you file a written complaint about someone or business. People don't like it, get defensive, and you draw attention to yourself.  As such, your complaint should be grounded and credible, or you come off looking badly. In the case of Higbee's operations, they likely deal with hundreds of cases at any given time.  But if you were to file a complaint, you would certainly draw attention to your case.

And if they attempted to retaliate in an unfounded or inappropriate way, they would subject themselves to yet another potential complaint.

Essentially, I come from the school of thought that file a complaint if you think the situation is valid.  But if you are doing it "just because" or for weak reasons, it might not be a "net positive" result.

The whole class action thing is still unlikely for a variety of reasons. But who knows? There might be some brilliant lawyer that could surprise us one day and take it on.

I absolutely believe a class action is one way to potentially bring awareness and put a stop to Higbee.  Also, Matthew Chan, are there any risks to filing a complaint against Higbee with the California Bar Association?

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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Meyer, Suozzi, English, Klein v. Mathew Higbee, Youngson, RM Media, Higbee Assoc

« Last post by Matthew Chan on February 21, 2019, 10:54:19 PM »

Without actually seeing the court documents, if what you say is correct in the firm filing for default judgment, it occurs to me that RM Media is executing an ELI strategy move I have discussed.  The default judgment will not likely touch RM Media because the schmuck is located in the UK and out of reach rendering the default judgment largely worthless.

See how that works? RM Media, through Higbee, can touch US Citizens but the reverse is not true. It is very hard to touch RM Media because Youngson is sitting comfortably out of reach.

Interesting new development in the case. Yesterday Meyer firm filed for default judgement. It appears the court issued summons to Youngson and RM Media, and both defendants have failed to respond to either the summons or the complaint. Curious to see what's going on at the house of cards over at Higbee, and why their clients haven't responded?

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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Email from Matthew Higbee himself

« Last post by Ethan Seven on February 21, 2019, 02:43:37 PM »

A pastor of a church accused.   That is an interesting twist. 

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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Meyer, Suozzi, English, Klein v. Mathew Higbee, Youngson, RM Media, Higbee Assoc

« Last post by Ethan Seven on February 21, 2019, 02:41:44 PM »

Figures, when I finally stop checking, something happens.   

That is an interesting development.   The judge still has not ruled on the motion to dismiss filed by Higbee. 

I am sure there is a strategic reason why RM Media has not responded.  I doubt they would ignore it without a plan.  I am just not sure what it is. 

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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Meyer, Suozzi, English, Klein v. Mathew Higbee, Youngson, RM Media, Higbee Assoc

« Last post by ohhellno on February 20, 2019, 10:41:44 AM »

Interesting new development in the case. Yesterday Meyer firm filed for default judgement. It appears the court issued summons to Youngson and RM Media, and both defendants have failed to respond to either the summons or the complaint. Curious to see what's going on at the house of cards over at Higbee, and why their clients haven't responded?