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Author Topic: George P. Riddick - Survival Manual!  (Read 6046 times)

bullyriddick

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George P. Riddick - Survival Manual!
« on: March 06, 2009, 01:25:17 PM »
I am not a lawyer, but a survivor of George P's extortion tactics. He tried to extort money from me last year, but after I told him he will not get a dime from me I did not heard from him in 6 months now. We will see what happens next, but I am 100% sure that I will not pay to him anything because everything that happened was unintentional.

After you received the first letter from George p., the first feeling is probably shock and disbelief because you can hardly believe that any CEO of any legal entity anywhere in the world can use such language. After you settle for a moment, asking yourself question like which images, where, when, how etc. it's time to plan your action against mafia-like extortion tactics used by George P.

1) DO NOT PANIC - George P. is trying to scare you and rush you into settlement by asking you to pay substantial amount of money without proving that he is right. In most cases people assume he must be right by writing such letters, he must be sure of what he's talking about but it is not the case. As we have seen on this forum, many people have bought perfectly legal copies of clipart and still got extortion letters from George.

2) DO NOT GIVE ANY INFORMATION - Usually in his first email George is asking to identify yourself and send him your address, phone etc. No normal human being would give his personal information to a complete stranger via email, especially someone who is threatening to financially destroy you and your family. Just don't do it.

3) DO NOT SETTLE - This is the most important thing. Do not settle, because you do not know if he's right and he did not prove it. If you do, you may become victim of further extortion with further consequences for your business.

4) CONTACT OSCAR MICHELEN OR GOOD COPYRIGHT ATTORNEY - This is always good advice, especially if you are in the USA. As it has been explained on this wonderful site, people often give up because they are not informed about their rights. As you have seen in his letters, George is boasting with 100's of settlements so far (I doubt that very much), making word extorter his middle name. Explain your situation to your attorney in details and see that a letter is sent back to the extorter.

5) [DELETED to stop false information and untrue rumors]

6) REMOVE SUSPICIOUS IMAGES - this is just in case. George P. will usually not tell you which images are infringed. He will continue to push you to send him your personal information and threaten with extreme measures if you don't pay. If you legally bought these images, you can contact the company you bought images from and ask for the confirmation about copyright. If you don't know the source of your images, remove them just in case. Let you attorney know about any new details.

7) CONTINUE WITH YOUR BUSINESS AS USUAL - you have contacted your lawyer, maybe police or FBI, you have removed images and now you can continue with your business as usual. George may or may not come back. It is still unclear if he goes on with his threats or he retreats after you don't give in. I am sure there are cases with both outcomes. This is something we can discuss here on forums.

This is what I think you should do. I would like Oscar or Matthew or others who had similar experience to give advice on any of the above actions (maybe I missed something or said something wrong). I wish you all good luck against George. Do not give up, people like him just must not win.

Matthew Chan

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Oscar and I have NEVER stated Police or FBI
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2009, 01:52:24 PM »
For the record, neither Oscar or I have EVER said to go to the police or FBI.  Somehow, this piece of advice has been attributed to us but is entirely false.  This is a rumor and totally untrue.

The police and FBI have nothing to do with this.  Copyright issues and Riddick's letters are generally considered civil issues, NOT criminal issues.

I have deleted that portion of your post because I do not want anyone else getting that notion.

Matthew

P.S. Oscar Michelen's official position has yet to be released.  Please do not attribute anything to him until he releases his statement next week.  

>
>
> This is what I think you should do. I would like
> Oscar or Matthew or others who had similar
> experience to give advice on any of the above
> actions (maybe I missed something or said
> something wrong). I wish you all good luck against
> George. Do not give up, people like him just must
> not win.
I'm a non-lawyer but not legally ignorant either. Under the 1st Amendment, I have the right to post facts & opinions using rhetorical hyperbole, colloquialisms, metaphors, parody, snark, or epithets. Under Section 230 of CDA, I'm only responsible for posts I write, not what others write.

 

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