Karaoke Forums

My name is James Harrington. Some of you probably know who I am, and others may not. I am an attorney based near Charlotte, North Carolina, who represents Slep-Tone Entertainment Corporation in a number of lawsuits around the country. I am not the only attorney representing Slep-Tone, but I was the first to file a lawsuit against karaoke hosts and venues as part of Sound Choice's enforcement strategy. The strategy and techniques we have been using are largely the work of my staff and me.

I am posting to this board today as part of a new effort to provide the industry with information about what we are doing. My staff and I regularly monitor public comment on forums like this one in order to make our activities more responsive to the industry. Based upon our review, it is clear that there is a lot of misinformation out there.

It is my plan, periodically, to provide information, answer questions, and respond to concerns. We aren't doing this to squelch dissent. It is possible for reasonable minds to disagree about what is going on in the karaoke industry. Not everyone will view what I'm doing positively. Based on some of the comments I've read, it's clear that there are some people out there who aren't fans of my work. I can live with that, but it's also important that the factual information be accurate.

It should go without saying that I am not here to provide legal advice to anyone.

One more thing--as important as communication is, my time is limited. If a question is posted here, I may not see it, or I may not have time to respond. I can't guarantee an answer to every question. But I will do the best I can.

Thank You & Welcome.

This is a good thing. There has been WAY too much speculation, conjecture and rumor in this Karaoke game of telephone.

Thank you Mr. Harrington for bringing first hand information to Karaoke Scene regarding the litigation you are involved with as the legal representative in these Sound Choice cases.

Your comments will be useful in our debates here.

Thank you again for taking the time to be here.

_________________
"Just Say NO, To Justin Bieber & His Beatle Haircut"

Absolutely welcome to KaraokeScene.

I hope your experience here is a good one.

Please keep in mind that the debates here are exactly that: debates.

(For safety, please wear goggles, protective clothing and put on your boxing gloves)

I too offer my thanks for your future contribution to this forum in an effort to dispel the continual misinformation. Like many of us here, I understand some of all that is taking place. But the information we discuss is second-hand at best. You would do our community a great service in educating us from the legal perspective.

So, when you’re ready, I’m all ears (or eyes as it were) and keen to learn exactly what this action is; in layman’s terms. Personally I’m not interested in any particular or individual case, rather the specifics of what is, and is not, legal as it applies to this litigation.

_________________
EveningStar Entertainment & Events
JR & Michele LaPorte
Peoria, AZ

Welcome to the Scene. I sincerely hope that some of the dissension that has gone on here can be lessened by your presence and participation. Even though some of here have polar views on some things, I can honestly say that I know that there is one thing we ALL agree on. Piracy has hurt this industry badly and something needs to be done. Unfortunately, this is the point at which many of our opinions diverge. But to each his own, and hopefully, we can all have the patience and tolerance of one another to at least get along well enough to have some meaningful discourse on the subject.
Cheers!

I am really happy that you like the idea of Mr. Harrington contributing here on KS.

I am going to assume you have seen Mr. Harrington's comments like this one from this post dated August 3rd 2011:

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=21988&p=307806#p307806



I am sure he has cleared up any assumption that you may have regarding comments like this from you as recent as July 22nd 2011 from your post linked here:

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=21943&start=100&hilit=investigator&p=306547&view=show#p306547



Again, thank you Mr. Harrington for bringing the TRUTH to Karaoke Scene.

_________________
"Just Say NO, To Justin Bieber & His Beatle Haircut"

Sorry, to disappoint you, but it's cleared up nothing at all for me. I still feel the way I do about the "investigation", or lack thereof. My take is that if it was as thorough as claimed, there wouldn't have been any "mistakes", now would there? But that's just my opinion.
Having said that, I do think Mr. Harrington has much of value to contribute here, regardless of what I personally think.
So once again, welcome and let's keep the debates to the appropriate threads, shall we?

Not disappointed & do want to remain civil.

However, I pointed to the link in the other thread in hopes that Mr. Harrington may see them & respond.

_________________
"Just Say NO, To Justin Bieber & His Beatle Haircut"

Well in that case, he has addressed whether the "investigators" were licensed or not. They apparently weren't, so there's one question answered!

Welcome Mr. Harrington. i am also glad you're here. weather everyone on here can agree to how things should be done or not, we all do want to know what the real truth is and get the real information from the horses mouth.

_________________
Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

I also want to welcome Mr. Harrington to the forums. As a SC CB certified host, I'm glad to have someone here that really knows whats going on.

Speaking of the horses mouth, don't be surprised if some comments by others here come from the horses other end.

_________________
My first choice IS Sound Choice.

Welcome

I hope your posts here will shed some light on the legal details of the Karaoke industry.

Ahh Mr Harrington. So nice of you to join us here.

This will all be taken from here, your own state documents on who can be a PI.
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/enactedlegi ... r_74c.html


So my question to you Mr Harrington is simple. Under § 74C‑8C, last sentence regarding "Qualified Agent"



Are your investigators "managers" at your law firm and they've been registered with the State PI director?

Oh my gawd y'all, give it a rest will ya.

We have someone her who knows FIRST HAND what's going on. No speculation, someone WHO KNOWS, and people here keep questioning him on the most trivial things. People here argue just to argue.

Does the investigator have a license...I don't care. Personally I don't give a damm if Sound Choice and Chartbuster ever take a KJ to court. Just make the pirates pay for the stolen product.

MAKE THE PIRATE PAY FOR THE STOLEN PRODUCT.

Has the whole karaoke community here gone from "Down with pirates" to "Down with Sound Choice"? It's gotten so tiresome.

On the flip side, I'd like to see SC and CB concentrate more on the hard drive sellers on Ebay and Craigslist. They're more evil than the pirates. We need to take THEM out.

As for Mr. Harrington, lighten up on the guy. He's here to tell us first hand what's going on. No speculation, just the facts. He's here to help us, and people here keep belittling him on the most trivial and unimportant stuff.

Gawd people here make me want to scream.

_________________
My first choice IS Sound Choice.

Skid your attitude goes against the very ideals that this country was founded on. That every citizen is equal, and no citizen has the right to operate outside of the confines of the law.

So you're saying it's OK for Harrington to break a few laws because the pirates are?

This is my issue with the KIAA. Sure, we've all been decimated by the pirating rigs out there, but if we stoop to their levels, then we are no better than they are.

"Cheerleaders" and "Investigators" like yourself need to be aware of the consequences of dealing with Harrington. Do you think he'll be there for you if the State PI board decides to come after some of you "Unlicensed/Unregistered" Investigators? Seems this isn't the first time Harrington has used others as a scapegoat. I'm just warning all you "investigators" and "Cheerleaders". Before you do any of that, check the laws.

http://www.ncbar.com/discipline/DHC_Fil ... le_doc=207

In this case, Harrington hired a lawyer named Cipriani, who used to represent Lowes (Subsidiary of Stringliner). Cipriani and Harrington later used Cipriani's inside knowledge of Lowes to launch a lawsuit against Stringliner.

Harrington was cleared of any wrongdoing because he wasn't the one with the "inside information" but Cipriani was hung out to dry (I notice he's no longer a member of the Harrington Firm)

Again, before you sign anything, before you DO ANYTHING. Check the laws. Keep yourselves safe out there, and don't break laws.

Well, I CARE! And so do some others on here.

No one is belittling anyone else here, except you. There's some honest and legitimate questions here and and I would say that they are NOT unfair.


WOW! What an eyeopener, though it doesn't really surprise me.
Lawyers aren't the end all and be all of everything. They aren't god. They are people, just like you and I.
There's smart ones and there's dumb ones. Just like the rest of the regular population.

Sorry if the questioning here doesn't somehow live up to your standards, shall we submit our questions to you first? (not)


Fat chance Skid and you already know that. SC needs HD sellers to continue to flood the market with "new customers" for their lawsuits - which is their main business activity. Why would you burn down the factory that is producing your potential income stream?

SC and CB (in my opinon) aren't interested in the HD sellers simply because there is no money it. NOT suing them has a much better potential for income for the future.

Keep in mind that we are fully aware that these "facts" are also completely biased toward his client. He may "know what's going on first hand" but that is no guarantee of anything when it comes to the either the information he chooses to communicate or -just as importantly - omit.

I wonder if Deputy Bar Counsel William Farrell (the prosecutor at the end of the lowes case) would be interested in this at all. Mr Harrington, if everything you say is true, you have no objections to me asking Mr Farrell do you?

If anyone else would like to ask, you can send a letter to:

William N.Farrell Deputy Counsel State Bar 5596

C/O North Carolina State Bar
P.O. Box 25908
Raleigh, NC 27611

There's also a phone number listed, but let's not inundate Mr Farrell with phone calls.

916-828-4620

I'm not even satisfied with this anymore....

I'd rather see SC (or the KIAA in general) take people to court, with valid evidence collected by state authorized PI's. All T's crossed and all i's dotted so there is no way the plaintiff's can lose. Time to start treating criminals like criminals

In addition to damages, I'd like to see convicted, intentful pirates be ordered into a "Non-Compete" for a duration of no less than 4 years. For 4 years they may not own, or operate any services connected with the karaoke industry.

This would be advantageous to us (KJ's) The settlement model offers us(kj's) no justice for the years we've had to compete with the pirates, and only gives a benefit to the Manu.