Guardaley | Voltage
Elf-Man v. Lamberson: defendant agrees to let plaintiff go… for $100,000
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Elf-Man, Elf-Man, hold it a little while, I think I see Chris Lynch coming, riding many a mile. | |
| Led Zeppelin: Gallows Pole, paraphrased |
A bit less than a month ago I covered a German-linked copyright trolls’ panic — an attempt to cut and run after the defense presented a damning evidence of champerty and fraud in Elf Man v. Lamberson (WAED 13-cv-00395). As predicted, the defendant wasn’t amused by the prospect of letting the plaintiff dismiss the case and call it quits without certain conditions (namely, paying $100,000 for the trouble):
[…] Mr. Lamberson requests the court condition the dismissal on payment in advance of $100,000 pul $154.50 in allowable costs for the deposition costs charged for the Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6) deposition of Elf-Man, LLC which was noted and held, but which neither Elf-Man, LLC, nor its counsel attended.
On 7/3/2014 the defendant’s attorney Chris Lynch filed 5 (!) documents:
- 64. Defendant’s Reply Memorandum in Support of his Motion to Compel
- 65. Declaration of J. Christopher Lynch in Support of Defendant’s Reply Memorandum in Support of his Motion to Compel
- 67. Memorandum regarding Plaintiff’s Motion to Dismiss
- 68. Declaration of J. Christopher Lynch in Support of Defendant’s Memorandum Regarding Motion to Dismiss
- 69. Declaration of Ryan Lamberson
Embrace for a thorough and intriguing read. Some interesting points:
- The defendant asserts that the copyright certificate is incomplete: a critical second page with signatures is missing (probably stolen by the ghost of Alan Cooper). Notwithstanding, the plaintiff continues to cherish its entitlement to statutory damages.
- Guardaley and its shells (APMC, IPP International, Crystal Bay Corporation… you name it) are undeniably the real party of interest, yet this fact was not disclosed in this case as required by law.
- No admissible evidence of the defendant’s wrongdoing exists: despite the statement by German “experts,” no one actually “observed defendant infringing” at all. All these wannabe investigators have is a half-second piece of the movie allegedly shared by the defendant’s IP address.
- While the estranged Elf-Man’s attorney Maureen VanderMay, despite the overwhelming evidence of the contrary, still claims that she sent documents to the defense before the deadline, Chris Lynch discovered that she blamed USPS in the past. Facepalm.
- The transcript of the APMC Prezi presentation is filed as an exhibit, the most cynical parts are quoted. For example,
“APMC stays in the background where they are invisible, but we are the center (i.e. ‘we make things happen.’)”
“We bring the clients to the law firms. We manage their legal strategy.”
There is much more in these documents, including well-described links between the parts of this German-centered racketeering organization (yes, including Lipscomb/Malibu Media/X-Art):
3. Anti-Piracy Management Company, LLC (“AMPC”) is incorporated in California, but using the address of 400 Capitol Mall, 11th Floor, Sacramento, CA 98514. That address belongs to the Weintraub Genshlea Chediak law firm. I called the Weintraub law firm to inquire about APMC and the Sacramento address. I was informed that the Weintraub law firm occupies the entire 11th floor of that building. The law firm receptionist had no contact information or forwarding information for APMC.
4. The Weintraub law firm has been a plaintiff’s attorney in other BitTorrent cases, including Camelot Distribution Group v. Does 1-5856 (not a typo), in the Central District of California, Case No. 11-cv-01949. That matter used Tobias Fieser as its witness wherein Mr. Fieser declared, ECF No. 22-1, that he was the “Technical Administrator of IPP International UG.”
5. Mr. Fieser also testified in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 2013 in Case No. 2:12-cv-02078-MMB, ECF No. 205, where he testified beginning at page 91 about his responsibilities at IPP in Germany. At page 97, Mr. Fieser was asked:
Q: Did anyone else at IPP, Limited verify that the movies were copies of Malibu Media’s works prior to filing the lawsuits?
A: Yes, Dan Macek also verified the movies.
Remember that Daniel Macek is explicitly mentioned in the “Devil’s cookbook” (p. 36).
I’m sure that these findings will be discussed in the oncoming hearing in Maryland. The storm is coming.
Forget the “contingency fee agreement,” the fraud is deeper than it appears
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Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. | |
| Buddha |
The most important piece of the new information in Chris Lynch’s filings is sealed and heavily redacted (Exhibit B), yet the following description is more than enough (emphasis is mine):
The explanation did include an April, 2012, agreement between APMC and Vision Films that Ms. VanderMay said was part of the explanation. That agreement is filed under seal and is designated as Exhibit B to Mr. Lynch’s Declaration. Lynch Decl. at ¶ 8. Page 7 of that agreement includes redacted portions, but does otherwise indicate that any recoveries from APMC’s enforcement campaign would be allocated first to APMC’s costs, and then “the remaining monies shall be distributed as follows: (a) The appointed Attorney’s and litigation [REDACTED IN ORIGINAL], (b) The appointed forensic IT expert costs [REDACTED IN ORIGINAL], (c) The RIGHTS OWNER shall receive [REDACTED IN ORIGINAL].” In other words, it appears that APMC as the investigator and financier of the litigation has a direct and contingent stake in it.
So this is the moment of truth: this is the answer to the question why Malibu Media and other Guardaley-affiliated trolls have been stonewalling discovery aimed at untangling the web of relationships between the Germans, their lawyers and plaintiffs. When the “oral contingency fee agreement” was inadvertently mentioned in an answer to interrogatories, it was bad enough, but the reality is even more shocking: the German “investigators” are not being paid on contingency; it is them who pay lawyers and plaintiffs a fraction of the settlement proceeds. Just think about it: all this copyright law abuse, fraud, misery, ruined families and careers, bankruptcies — this grim theater is run by a foreign racket with the help from greedy puppets — American lawyers.
I used the word “fraud” deliberately. In thousands of frivolous cases that have been plaguing this country for years, not a single time a real party of interest — Guardaley — was disclosed. This gross deception won’t stay hidden from the US judges for long.
Related: Redefinition of “Chutzpah”: the troll moves for default judgments
Make sure to read the latest DieTrollDie’s post on this topic: DTD analyses plaintiff’s questionable motion for default judgments against seven defendants in the Lamberson’s parent case (Elf-Man LLC v. Does, WAED 13-cv-00115), including the unbelievable two separate claims against a single married couple. Well, if Elf-Man’s new attorney David A. Lowe appeared on the case in this astonishingly douchy and sloppy way while even Mrs. VasderMay bailed out from the Bittorent cases citing ethical concerns, it doesn’t require a Ph.D. to deduce Mr. Lowe’s moral and professional qualities.
Fight © Trolls 
Make sure it is a cashiers check.
@TAC: Cashier’s checks aren’t good enough…those need to clear, fully and completely.
@SJD: The strict victorian english grammar monster strikes! One deducts (subtracts) from paychecks and sums but deduces (draws out) conclusions, as in:
“it doesn’t require a Ph.D. to DEDUCE Mr. Lowe’s moral and professional qualities.” (LOL!)
In general, though, excellent…who’s next? We should have figured a common figure behind a lot of this…some of the publicly identified just don’t seem that smart or wise, so it had to come from somewhere!
Well said!
Ha! Thanks!
IMHO the revelation that Guardaley / IPP / Excipio / APMC etc etc are the real benefactor behind these troll litigation lawsuits is what most of us in the Internet Hate Group had suspected as more and more of this cases were filed across many countries.
The notion that this was correct was when the slip of this so called “oral fee agreement” slipped out during the discovery of one of the troll litigation cases and was further reinforced with the “Devil’s Cookbook” how to guide that was brought to the attention of those that had been following the Troll litigation models.
The “Devil’s Cookbook” provided an established pattern of how these lawsuits were ran and the steps that followed down them. The fact that even the Judges are now recognizing how these are boilerplate from the get go was even noticed by the Judge handling one of Malibu Media / X-Art cases with Nicoletti at the helm of it.
When a Judge goes out of their way to state in their orders that a great number of these troll lawsuits that were filed in their state and all have the exact same number of pages, and paragraphs and the only difference in variations is the IP address and some dates/movie names and further tells the lawyer asking for fees that their is no way he put in the hours claimed to file “boilerplate” litigation paperwork and then cuts those requested hours down to a single 1 hour of billable time, that say’s a lot.
When a Judge looks at all the lawyers filings and determines that all of them in a certain time period have all same features as the lawsuits the current Judge is dealing with and he flat out say’s “boilerplate” filings in his ruling, that is a fairly strong statement of how these filings were viewed and his opinion of them.
While I was surprised the Judge let Vandermay off the hook in the case, I don’t believe for a minute that she is out of danger from the effects of this case and Lynch’s work that he has put forward to the court in his filings on Lamberson’s behalf.
As for Lowe. it would seem in my opinion that hemay be having a sense of Deja Vu with this case as it seems like their was past issues with the copyright assignment in a troll case he was involved in.With that being said, it does explain how he had been parachuted into this case.
Hypothetically I would have to believe this is not coincidental and that our little German friends chose Lowe as a tactical move to help Vandermay off the sinking ship as it were and try to get this dismissed without any earth shattering after effects starting to rebound on the Troll parties involved.
In my opinion we may see the Prenda like effects in this case were the Troll’s may have to pay a hefty price to have their operation and it’s tactics stay out of the Judge’s watchful eye. Lord knows we all know how the rebound effect has hit the Prenda gang and ever since they were brought out of darkness and into the light after removing them selves from the porn troll litigation game, they still are having issues with other non porn trolling techniques because of their action in the porn copyright lawsuit game.
The real question is if the Judge will let the trolls off the hook here, I would think he has to give Lynch’s affidavits some strong consideration with the going’s on in this case and I doubt the trolls stone walling Lynch helped their cause any.
The Trolls and the Germans have much to lose if they don’t cough up the cash, they risk this case and the rulings in it following them and being brought up in other cases which may well be a healthy shot to their eventual demise. It will be interesting to see where the Judge will go with this.
Let’s hope he views this issue with the Law in mind and not mercy.
This goes to show what a farce the EDPA Bellwether case was. Also note that in respect to the Elf-man defaults, the plaintiff is asking for $15,000 for submitting boiler plate complaint and serving ISP with subpoena by attorney Maureen Vandermay. It seems outrageous that it cost so much to change a few things on a form. Plus there are additional legal fees on top of this. It would be wonderful if the judge requires Vandermay to take the stand and explain her billing on this.
It is a crime that so many judges have simply rubber stamped these cases without any thought or questions.
I’m looking forward to the class action lawsuit against Malibu Media and the Fields to claw back every dollar paid in these cases. .
I hope the defendant holds strong in this, and refuses any settlements offered that include a nondisclosure agreement. With the trolls so firmly on the hook in this situation I would hate to see them allowed to shake free in a manner that would allow them to pretend that they didn’t lose.
David Lowe sure has some lack of ethics problem. Trying to bail out of one case and trying to cash in on other identical cases. When does this constitute obvious fraud on the Federal Court where justice would demand sanctions and/or disbarment?
Lynch is closing the jaws…especially where he says the court may disagree with his position, but his only immediate concern is making his client whole.
Quite a game of chicken Lynch has set up…I’ll put you in a still hotter place if you don’t pay up, and promises to pay won’t do….
From Ars article on mobile tracking
…”Erik Möller, Wikimedia Foundation’s vice president of Engineering, said ……
“This is what any site or service you visit immediately knows about you (by looking up your IP address in one of the many databases that match IP addresses and probable locations),” Möller wrote in an email to Ars. “This information is very imprecise — it’s reasonably accurate at the country level, but the exact location estimate will often be wildly off.”………
I’ll take Wikipedia’s VP of Engineering statement as true rather than some German investigators and American lawyers.
Well, this guy Lynch is just hammering the poor judge with page after page of [snark] irrelevant and unsubstantiated [/snark] allegations. Why isn’t Maurice here to tell everyone how this lawyer is going to be sanctioned for all this evidence he’s turned up?
And, come to think of it, where do you suppose Jordan “Malibu has good evidence” Rushie is? He must be very confused by all this, since Malibu’s evidence comes from the same place as Elf Man’s.
Yeah! What do I win? 🙂
A lifetime membership in the Internet Hate Group.
What, no John Steele bobble head? No copyright troll trading cards? 🙂