Karaoke Forums

Hi, it's me, I'm back! Your humble trolling SC schill, & who knows what else your brilliant minds may think I am, reporting on the latest POOP regarding the fight against karaoke piracy....

Sound Choice files another trademark lawsuit yesterday, September 25th 2009, this time in North Carolina against 10 defendants.

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court- ... _id-57276/

Have a fun rant. I will not comment further....

Bye....

Give me a .gov link.. I'm still waiting on your answer son. I'm leaving KS headed west. Do you have a real name? I know what it is and where you are.

Wow, I know at least three of these defendants and maybe more.

Looks like they stuck close to home this time. Do you know anything about the defendants KarJer? Looks like one is a BIG company.

I know at least three individuals named.
I know at least two of them are computerized and download.
I know at least one of them multi-rigs.

edit

Apparently you can't see the difference between posting real news and starting topics relating to the business and support of an organization.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I don't know any of them. I'm in North Carolina though. Someone came in my show a few weeks ago, and said that he may have a need for our kind of entertainment and wanted me to call him. He gave us his card, and it stated that he was from an entertainment company in Charlotte. I didn't call and threw his card away, because I have no interest in multi-rigging. Makes me wonder...

I guess I'm still confused about how they file lawsuits with all the John Does. Wouldn't you at least need to know someone's name if you are going to file a suit against them?

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It's called Karaoke Therapy...

I think it is news related to the karaoke industry and of interest to at least myself--as long as he isn't saying, "Join because look what they are doing," etc. Oddly enough, this news isn't even on the organziation's own site yet (I checked to see what kind of spin they were going to put on it) .

Now if this organization went on a crusade to eliminate their songs being done on a certain brand of cheap mics......

This is a long post. I don't claim to have any special knowledge regarding this suit or anyone involved with it.
I discussed this suit with some of my singers at my show tonight. I can make a few assumptions regarding the suit:

1. It's only Sound Choice (and Slep-Tone) as the plaintiff. No other organization listed. So this is presumably over Sound Choice files only.

2. It was filed in North Carolina's Western Federal District Court. Sound Choice is based in Charlotte, NC.

3. It appears that all of the defendants listed are based in and around Raleigh, NC.

4. It appears to me that at least one of the defendants is completely ignorant of the suit at this point. It was filed Friday, Sept. 25; I can find no indication this defendant has heard anything about it. This KJ performed shows as usual Thursday and Friday, and was seen Friday afternoon purchasing new audio gear.

5. My discussion group is very interested in finding out the identities of John Doe No. 1 and John Doe No. 2. We have suspicions, partly based on the named defendants. We also suspect that the "John Doe" designations may have something to do with some KJ's using stage names.

6. One of my singers told me it was "common knowledge" in his circle that one defendant is part of a file-sharing and -selling group involving at least three other KJ's who are not named in the suit. (One of those alleged file-sharers personally offered to sell me a 40,000-song hard drive including "every Sound Choice song" for less than $400.)

7. Regardless of who the two John Does are, this lawsuit has MISSED probably upwards of a dozen strongly-suspected pirates in the Raleigh area.

8. I found it interesting that the Phoenix suit also listed venues as defendants. The Raleigh suit does not list venues. I don't know why this is, or what the significance is.

9. We all want to know how Sound Choice obtained these names. Somebody from somewhere is looking into karaoke shows in the Raleigh area. I am not aware of any KIAA or Sound Choice investigations going on in the area. I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary at any of my shows.


Obviously, this suit could lead to a huge shake-up in the karaoke business in my area. It fascinates me, in the sense that I am watching a big train having a tremendous slow-motion wreck right in front of me.
I'm (slightly) concerned that it could hurt the overall karaoke business in the area, if venues get burned, or if real pirates are allowed to slip off the hook. On the other hand, if it does put pirates out of the picture, my business could pick up.
(For the record, my show is based on legit CD+Gs and LDs, no digital files and no CDRs. I have no association with KIAA or any other group, and my only association with Sound Choice is that I've bought a lot of their discs and I was in the Sound Choice Club thingie for a year.)

I Googled three defendants:
VWE Music Network appears to be based in Greensboro, NC.
RAVE Productions appears to be based in Charlotte.
Cindy Kay appears to be based in Charlotte.

Oh... that's nothing compared to what is going on in Chicago. Chicago puts Portland Oregon to shame. Just like you I have no special knowledge but I do travel and I like to sing karaoke but when I am in a 1500 sq ft bar with a 120,000 song library and the kj is working for tips ONLY I wonder how many 5 singer rotation nights will it take for the kj to break even.

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[img]<img%20src="http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j288/miller2348/myspace/images/Funny_Pics/images/21.gif"[/img]

CHECK YOUR ATTITUDE AT THE DOOR, STICK AROUND YOU JUST MIGHT HAVE SOME FUN

Ollie, that's quite a costume you've got on! A little early for Halloween, don't you think?

Re the John Does: I thought it strange that they didn't do enough research to get names on the last suit, also. But the actual suit states that some are being sued as John Does aka Stage Name or Whatever Company because they refused to give their real name or answer calls or letters.

My interest in this is also because there is some activity in our area, evidently brought on by a company that joined THE organization. When it starts happening close to you it becomes something you want to keep an eye on. I think that Karaoke Jerry being familiar with the area and some of the "accused" adds a lot of insight into what is going on.

Can't wait until they get ahold of my local multi rigged pirate competition. They even have a page in the back of every song book advertising that they sell "cavs"

They 50 + shows a week and have been pirates for more than 18 years.

It doesn't bother us one way or another as we are CDG only with no copies.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Glmmantis:

We would love to have any information you have on the Hosting Company that you are referring to in your area. If we don't know about them already, we just might be able to help you out......send any information to info@thekiaa.org since the other members would like to know as well.

This is a long post. I don't claim to have any special knowledge regarding this suit or anyone involved with it.
I discussed this suit with some of my singers at my show tonight. I can make a few assumptions regarding the suit:

1. It's only Sound Choice (and Slep-Tone) as the plaintiff. No other organization listed. So this is presumably over Sound Choice files only.

Yes, we filed on our own behalf, but other members of the KIAA are doing investigations and may soon take action on their own behalf. We won’t comment on their activities so as not co compromise their activities.

2. It was filed in North Carolina's Western Federal District Court. Sound Choice is based in Charlotte, NC.

3. It appears that all of the defendants listed are based in and around Raleigh, NC.

No, we filed against defendants in Charlotte, Winston Salem and Raleigh area in our INITIAL filing. There will be more to come in NC as well as other states. Last Thursday (October 1) we filed against over 10 defendants in TN.

4. It appears to me that at least one of the defendants is completely ignorant of the suit at this point. It was filed Friday, Sept. 25; I can find no indication this defendant has heard anything about it. This KJ performed shows as usual Thursday and Friday, and was seen Friday afternoon purchasing new audio gear.

We file the suit, but we do not serve the defendants until we have contacted them in writing and given them the opportunity to either prove they have an original disc for every song on every system they have, or to accept a reasonable settlement offer. So, if they have not yet received our letter they will not be aware of the suit. If we cannot reach them (and hence they do not respond) then we serve the suit on them and the process server has much better information at their disposal to track them down than we do.

5. My discussion group is very interested in finding out the identities of John Doe No. 1 and John Doe No. 2. We have suspicions, partly based on the named defendants. We also suspect that the "John Doe" designations may have something to do with some KJ's using stage names.

If we cannot readily ascertain the complete information on the individual prior to filing we list them as John Doe, which is completely legal. When they are actually served with the suit, the process server (who is hired by the clerk of court and could be a contracted company or the Sheriff) has better ways to research details on the individual and find them.

6. One of my singers told me it was "common knowledge" in his circle that one defendant is part of a file-sharing and -selling group involving at least three other KJ's who are not named in the suit. (One of those alleged file-sharers personally offered to sell me a 40,000-song hard drive including "every Sound Choice song" for less than $400.)

I think we may be aware of this same “sharing group” and we were contacted by someone present during exactly such an exchange. We would be interested in learning more details about the other folks that you say that we missed. We might already have a case on them and just not listed them YET in our filings, or you might have new information.

7. Regardless of whom the two John Does are, this lawsuit has MISSED probably upwards of a dozen strongly-suspected pirates in the Raleigh area.

Well, for reasons we will not discuss we might or might not be aware of them and simply decided to leave them for a future filing. BUT, we hate to MISS anyone who deserves to be invited to the “pay-up party” - one of our primary goals is to create a level playing field among all the KJs, so that you will have less of a worry about being undercut by a pirate with a laptop with 120,000 illegal songs, willing to work for tips and beer.

8. I found it interesting that the Phoenix suit also listed venues as defendants. The Raleigh suit does not list venues. I don't know why this is, or what the significance is.

In Phoenix, there was a mix of single system operators, multi-system operators and bars which owned the systems. In our TN filing interestingly enough 10 out of 12 defendants are bar operated systems, while in NC all the defendants were mobile KJs. It is just coincidence, because we cannot explain why TN had a preponderance of bar owned systems.

9. We all want to know how Sound Choice obtained these names. Somebody from somewhere is looking into karaoke shows in the Raleigh area. I am not aware of any KIAA or Sound Choice investigations going on in the area. I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary at any of my shows.

Well Jerry, your show was investigated and since you were running all CDGs, you passed without question. Thanks for your continued support and purchase of our products. (PS. We don’t know who Jerry is, so he is not a “plant” here for us.) Yes, we are often given leads by other KJs in an area, so we welcome any help you can send us if we “missed” any.


Obviously, this suit could lead to a huge shake-up in the karaoke business in my area. It fascinates me, in the sense that I am watching a big train having a tremendous slow-motion wreck right in front of me.
I'm (slightly) concerned that it could hurt the overall karaoke business in the area, if venues get burned, or if real pirates are allowed to slip off the hook. On the other hand, if it does put pirates out of the picture, my business could pick up.
(For the record, my show is based on legit CD+Gs and LDs, no digital files and no CDRs. I have no association with KIAA or any other group, and my only association with Sound Choice is that I've bought a lot of their discs and I was in the Sound Choice Club thingie for a year.)

We do hope that it does shake up karaoke from top to bottom. The vast majority of KJs do not buy any products anymore, but get new music through a variety of ways that I am sure most of you know about – maybe even more so than we do. But it’s time to turn the tide, bring stability back to the market, get rid of hosts who would profit from stealing and then undercut and put other Legitimate KJs out of business with their low ball pricing, or make them pay and become legitimate. Further, when a KJ has 120,000 songs (that’s virtually every manufacturer’s entire catalog), the singers know that he has EVERYTHING and they quit buying discs to bring in to play. So manufacturers lose primary and secondary customers.

Kurt,

Welcome to KS

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Kurt,

We are beginning to see some nervous folks here in our marketshare now that 2 other suits have been filed.

The shake up is beginning thanks to your efforts as well as our alliance as fellow KIAA members.

We look forward to a continued relationship with you assisting in the fight!