Karaoke Forums

the point is that most of your supporters are here, and most have reported many pirates. i want to see if anything changed and any of them saw anything happen to those reported pirates.



150,000 tracks and 0 discs is rather egregious in my mind, and would make a great example. i get it with someone who fluffed his collection of purchased discs with some torrents not being the same, THIS is the kind i am talking about being the worst and deserve to be made an example of. this should also be the easiest of the cases to make, much more so than a "technical infringer" or someone fluffing. these type of pirates are the ones that need to be removed from the business entirely and nailed with huge fines to show the others that there ARE consequences to piracy, right now none of them have ever seen any sign of consequences. Nail him to the wall. and i will be the first to jump up and sing your praises to everyone, but if he stays in business with no problems i will be the first to shout that as well.

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

Actually, they all buy from other Mfgers..

Saturn uses a Toyota motor, Fiat Owns Chrysler.. I could go on for days..

And it's not only automobile manufacturers.

_________________
You can be strange but not a stranger

Not only that, automakers sometimes have other automakers produce entire cars for them—something Chrysler did with Mitsubishi for more than 30 years.

Virtually all of the physical part of the vehicle creation has nothing to do with the "manufacturer"--that being, everything between the design and the assembly--but is instead the product of other companies producing the parts. The automotive industry is ALSO subjected to more governmental oversight and scrutiny than most industries in the US, which is in place to prevent most of the shenanigans in which non-regulated industries, such as the one of which is actually the subject of this forum, might otherwise be tempted to engage...

Just more weak, pomp-and-circumstantial, and distracting attempts to justify the attempted use of analogy...

And in so doing this you will be able to bring a suit against any KJ that isn't under your "Protection Plan" by simply seeing any of those manu's used on a computer!

Sue first, make them pay for an audit, and if they are legit just say oops sorry but still collect the $500 or so for the audit. What a racket.

PEP is not in the Karaoke business they are in the business of Killing Karaoke

_________________
I like everyone when I first meet them. If you don't like me that's not my problem it's YOURS!
A stranger is a friend you haven't met yet

I'm trying really hard to respect your opinion, but you're making it very difficult.

We won't own any of those brands in question, so we would not be able to sue over their infringement, even if we wanted to (which we don't).



Here's the flaw in your plan: It costs $400 to file the suit, several hundred to do the pre-suit investigation, and whatever it costs to do the audit (usually $200-$300 minimum, and sometimes a lot more). So your "plan" would have us down at least $100 to $200 plus the investigative costs.



It's hard to take pronouncements like this seriously when the "logic" underlying them is so flawed.

I walked into my local FORD dealer today and tried to order a brand new CAMARO. The salesman looked at me like I was crazy. They wouldn't let me order a Mercedes either. Go figure!

According to the contract with APS, you weren't requiring any specific knowledge, direct or otherwise, other than the number of suits filed, settled, and your percentage due on those settlements. So it's not like APS was hiding anything from SC at all. SC didn't care who was sued. Except for the "damage control" when APS sued Rodney and even then, it took Boris 108 days to drop the suit. "Rogue investigators and rouge attorneys" are apparently abundant...

If you like, I'd be happy to make that publicly-filed contract available here. (Where it details how the percentages would change based on the number of suits filed over a specific time frame).

Or, they can download it themselves. This was the suit against APS (for over $100,000 you claimed he owed you) that you walked away from, telling the court that you had no interest in pursuing it any further and that your business interests had moved on...

I wish I had so much money that I could just let someone walk away after ripping me off for that much... And I understand that Boris' amount was even higher but I've never seen a malpractice suit against her - just a whine with the state bar...

So, if we tally an informal scorecard, SC has been a victim of:
(1) Piracy (since 90% of us are pirates right?)
(2) Investigators (that don't turn over reports - if there actually was one)
(3) Attorneys that ignore their client but run off with their money
(4) Judges that don't know the law
(5) Greedy publishers that just want more money
and so on...


If that were me, I'd think seriously about a new career.....

Wow really that much. Geez there must be a lot of personal injury attorneys losing a bunch of money that will take your case and if they lose there is no charge. So I'm guessing all that money comes out of their pockets with no return. Makes me wonder how they stay in business.

_________________
I like everyone when I first meet them. If you don't like me that's not my problem it's YOURS!
A stranger is a friend you haven't met yet

Lawyers who work on a contingency will only take a case that is a slam dunk with a very good return or give them a lot of media time. Also, with most contingencies, the client can be responsible for certain fees and expenses. Always read before signing.

_________________
You can be strange but not a stranger

You suggested that it would be a good idea for us to run a scheme where we sue someone who's 1:1, audit them, then "pocket the $500" from the audit. The costs of bringing such a suit and conducting the audit are far in excess of $500. Contingent fees don't enter into it.

I hope you're not really expecting a response in the form of action from the attorney/marketing director because you're gonna be waiting a while...

You might need to give a specific time frame...... something reasonable for them... like a year... or two.... but you also might have to "advance the fee" for them too..

So, PEP licenses karaoke tracks to KJs so they can go out into the world and make a living.
Now, PEP will have their own KJs and will compete with the KJs that they licensed the tracks to.
PEP will also do booking for KJs that subscribe to PRIME if they pay a yearly fee. Will these gigs just be the table scraps that PEP couldn't staff themselves?
This doesn't seem like it a very 'fair business act'.

Fun question: since the GEM series has a finite number of licenses available, what tracks will these PEP employed KJs be using? Will PEP have to license their own tracks? Will this take away from the number of GEMs available?

It seems fairly obvious that PEP could "HELP" themselves by licensing red label copies to themselves or their affiliates.

Could they take advantage and reduce the "HELP" fee for themselves or Prime members?

If they already have high quality rips of their OEM products... they have 15,000 - 18,000 tracks at their disposal for a licensing fee that they can set.

Is there a minimum fee for the "HELP" license? Is there a minimum requirement for an amount that goes to the "publishers' pool" as indicated by PEP?

Could a "HELP" license be incorporated into the PRIME membership to assist an established KJ to expand?

Could there be a "HELP" license for CB in the pipeline?

Could there be a "HELP" license that combines both SC and CB?

Who's gonna "HELP" Pop Hits Monthly, or is that going to become freeware?

Why doesn't KSFgroup/Party-Tyme need "HELP"? Can anyone "HELP" All-Star Karaoke?

I don't really need "HELP". I probably won't ask for it... who knows?

I could see how PRIME could benefit from making me an affiliate who finds gigs, trains KJ's (with their materials) and receives karaoke tracks (or licensing agreements for tracks), promo materials, and equipment (either actual gear or substantial discounts) to support the operation(s). They're gonna need boots on the ground and the further away from dense populations, the more they're gonna need that perspective.

I've been giving the new program serious consideration, but at this moment I'm still on the fence.

_________________
Never the same show twice!

Harrington has already claimed that they will not ever create a "help license" for CB.
(that would undermine digitrax wouldn't it?)

He also claimed that his "employees" will not have a help license either....
(but they won't need one will they?)

It's up to you do decide if he's telling the truth, side-stepping on a technicality or just doesn't care who gets affected because KJ's are too stupid to know the difference.

Doesn't matter to me because I think (like all the other programs) this one won't go far and it's used only to satisfy their declaration with the trademark office and to shore up their lawsuits. I don't consider them to be competition, ever.

If they hire anyone and let them use whatever they can find/download of SC material and just "turn a blind eye" - because they own the trademark, then who is really the pirate here?

When pirates are outlawed, only outlaws can pirate..

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that all PEP needs is "permission" from themselves to allow SC/CB product to be used similar to a HELP licence. There in theory that can allow as much red label or Chartbuster product as they have...

In theory, but I don't think they will do that.

Also, mindful of the 6-7 year gap in karaoke music they would need to buy actual product from a vendor, as I am sure those manufacturers will be keeping an eye to make sure this program is legal. Or they might have a manu they are working with.

I do know that PEP buys CDs at a ridiculously low rates from lawsuit settlements (I have seen the paperwork) so its possible they have plenty of stock on hand to start this program. At least enough product to get a few rigs together that are interchangeable.

As for the GEM licence, as we don't actually have an idea of how much stock they have, it could be in the range of 500 units. Not like they are going to tell us.

Stock on hand is really just one part of this, but they are looking to outsource more then anything else. They might only be interested in 50 "owned" rigs. As they balk on losing money for any reason, I don't see them making 500 rigs to lease out to KJs. It wouldnt suprise me if they make these rigs work to own. As for the rest: They will pick people who are PRIME members in good standing, and (a)own a GEM set or (b) are registered PEP/SC/CB KJs. Hopefully it's people who actually OWN the products and not HELP licence users, although they are paying monthly soooo..... who knows.

Think about what you have said here. This, to me, has been the reason, all along that they have been suing KJs. It has had nothing to do with piracy. It has been a way to gather low cost resources. Those resources being systems and CD+Gs. This may have been the plan all along. How many THOUSANDS of discs might they have accumulated after all these years?? How many systems have they confiscated?? What better, and EASIER way of entering the KJ market then just taking what they need from those they sue?? Meanwhile, they call it fair competition. What a crock!!

_________________
I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

I might be wrong but I think they accumulated most of these discs when exchanging them for credit towards the Gem series discs. I would also bet that they acquired very few (if any) rigs as part of their lawsuit business model.